Doubtless we'll be having lots of discussions in the next month or so about getting an academic job and/or getting tenure – 'tis the season…
But I'm also turning my mind to the question of what happens post tenure career-planning wise. For the last couple of years, I've been asked to sit on a panel at my university to speak to recently tenured faculty about their new role in the university and what they might think about contributing post-tenure. We generally cover things like taking on leadership roles within the university, mentoring junior faculty and students, and generally being involved in university initiatives that may resonate with you.
But there's lots of other things one can think about doing post-tenure that are probably much easier to do than in the pre-tenure years. Further study is one option, particularly for those interested in expanding their research into more interdisciplinary areas. I have a number of colleagues who have taken advantage of tuition waivers to undertake further studies in other schools and departments around the university. I also experimented with distance education in computer science for a couple of years at an overseas university.
Then there's always the possibility to branch out into different research formats than the typical "tenure focused law review articles". One could work on a casebook, a monograph, join a research team and pursue grant funding. If one is mobile, it's possible to apply for semester or year-long fellowships in areas of interest.
And of course there's the option to take some time to pursue new initiatives in teaching, explore new technologies in this context, interdisciplinary formats, team teaching etc. It's probably possible post-tenure to take more risks in the classroom than one might be prepared to take pre-tenure.
And of course there's the option to pursue the administrative track for those who have an interest in it – one could direct a new center or program, pursue an associate deanship and/or go on the dean market.
Does anyone have other ideas for new avenues of interest to pursue post-tenure? Many folks are happy just doing what they're doing, but I do know a lot of mid-career faculty in particular who are thinking about what to do after the tenure vote is through. It's often quite an anti-climax after the fact.
It seems like a lot of people write books (and here I'm referring to trade books rather than casebooks) post-tenure. As a recently-tenured myself, I'm wondering what motivates folks to do that. Is it driven by the size of the particular project, which is more suitable for the book length? Or the desire to reach a wider or different audience? Or just looking for a change in format (eg, lighter footnoting, etc.)?