A brief update on the last 2 weeks, because I am short on time today:

My co-authors and I got our paper submitted on time to the special issue on global perspectives on diversity and inclusion in the organization. Phew. It actually turned out to be a very nice and productive collaboration.

The day after we submitted the paper, one co-author, Lindsey, and I had to return some edits on a book chapter to the book editors. The book is called Advances in Global Leadership. Edits submitted on time!

Hold on...Molly is waking up and crying

Vacation

7/26/2013 (I had started this post on the 26th, but as I was writing, there was meltdown, which required putting down my computer, diffusing the situation, and, well, at that point, mommy was in demand, so the blog had to wait): We are in Maine on vacation...sort of. Although we make this trip every year to visit both sides of the family, it really hasn't ever been a vacation. Last summer I returned from the summer break to start the fall semester feeling cognitively drained, physically tired, and mentally unprepared to start a new semester. I vowed then that the following summer I would allow myself a full two weeks of vacation. It is not happening. To some extent, I feel relief, as the work that continues during this trip is helpful towards making my tenure package look more appealing. I learned today, for example, that a paper was accepted to a journal. The papers is a bout a study that I conducted as a doctoral student at the University of Nebraska with undergraduate students who studied abroad. This means that I collected the data over 5 years ago. I first submitted a manuscript to a journal three and half years ago (we were on vacation in Thailand for the Christmas break when I submitted that paper and Molly was 18 months). That journal rejected the paper, so my co-author and I revised it and sent to another journal. It was rejected there, too. I revised again, sent to another journal where it was invited for a revise and resubmit, referred to as an R&R in the field. We revised, we resubmitted, it was reviewed, and we were asked to revise and resubmit again. Which we did. That revision was reviewed again. We were invited to revise and resubmit again, which we did. Each review period was at least 3 months and we usually have about a month to make the revisions. So, at last on the third review, the paper was accepted. Yeah! It will likely be published in 2014.

So, that was some good news. But the real reason I'm not actually on vacation in Maine is because two co-authors and I decided to submit a paper to a special issue with a very short deadline.

Why?

In one year I "go up for tenure." This is my big professional news, which has meaning for academics, but seems to baffle everyone else. My friends and family furrow their brows, nod, and say "oh." A few daring souls will then follow this a response with asking what this actually means. Having had this experience several times in the last month motivated me to keep track of the last year before I go up for tenure for two reasons. The first is to help my friends and family experience the secret life of an academic. I have never considered being a professor very mysterious, but like all professions, it isn't clear to people outside the profession what people do all day. Even my husband has once commented "...whatever it is you do all day." So, with that in mind, I do feel it is important for the people who are closest to me to understand that teaching is only a part of what I do all day and that writing a paper for publication isn't the same as writing a term paper in college. The second reason for tracking my year before tenure is for myself. I may forget, one day, what it was like before reaching tenure. I may loose sight of touch how much pressure is felt by junior faculty before tenure or how important it is to protect junior faculty from activities that take away from what is evaluated in their tenure decisions. So it is a diary for my own memory, as I am finding more and more that my cognitive capacity is limited and that the various debits on my attention during a typical semester can make me absent minded. I assume this may also diminish my memory of the experience to some extent. Therefore, let the record begin. I hope that some may find it useful information to understanding loved ones and their experiences or simply knowing what to expect if embarking on an academic career.