14: The Illusive Rank and Promotion Journey

The academic rank and promotion committee evaluation process typically grants professors (a general term used for all professors) an opportunity to attain this often-elusive ranking from assistant professor to full professor. In some institutions promotion includes tenure, but tenure is not necessarily a guarantee in community colleges. Nonetheless, there remains this peer evaluative process of rank and promotion that many professors have mixed emotions. An understanding of social identity theory coupled with intersectionality as the lens I used to understand the elusive process provides some reasons why the process seemed tenuous at times because of its own group membership. The author admittedly, did not understand the innuendos and writing between the lines that thwarted her initial efforts for promotion although she believed that she was qualified. This chapter offers insight into the rank and promotion process by providing strategies that helped one professor reach the rank of full professor. These strategies included active listening, growth mindset and understanding one’s institutional or department’s culture. This chapter seeks to share the author’s personal experiences navigating the rank and promotion process along with the decision to concede the process until she gained a full understanding of what was necessary to be successful in curating a portfolio that would yield the results of her ambitions, ultimately full professor.