The professional goals entry seems like an anti-climactic end, but so it goes. Thing is, it is actually a pretty good way to end the list because it is a beginning of sorts. You see, the times they are a changing, and job security is a luxury I do not have. Oh sure, I am well-liked and doing a good job, but that, dear reader, does not a tenured professor make. What will I do to make my star a little shinier? What will I do to make just a little easier to renew my contract every three years? I will be productive!
Amid a uniquely treacherous summer, I made a personal commitment to add at least 3 things to my CV. I have done just that! I worked for TN DOE in partnership with Pearson on two projects for the EOC test, I was elected and now serve on the department’s Lower Division Committee, and I had a paper accepted to a conference coming up in March. I also participated in two service projects as well as added another course to my CV. My service to the Committee also includes an ad hoc committee for textbook selection for fall courses, so I am sure I can find a way to work that onto the old CV. I suppose that means I doubled my goal number, but for now I am just going to enjoy meeting the goal not surpassing it.
There will be more, but I am slowing down a bit to make sure the things I have added are not just words on a page. I have these other goals that include really getting into the service I can do now that I am no longer in school.
Where is the PhD you might wonder? Well, it’s out there, y’all, it really is. Life is really good for now, and I am not in any hurry to rock the boat that sits finally on a tranquil lake. The view is nice. I want to savor it, rejoice in it, and marinate for a bit. For the first time in my life I can say that I think I deserve to enjoy what I have been working so hard towards having. There is sun and rain, warm and cold, and, yes, joy and pain.
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