As an assistant professor of art history at Prestigious Research University, Catherine Evans (not her real name) has a job many would envy. Her partner has a tenure-track position at the same university — the academic equivalent of winning the lottery.
To Evans, however, the tenure track has proved “incredibly isolating and lonely,” and she is preparing to leave academe. She recently wrote me to ask about the etiquette of resigning her position.
When I contacted department heads at various universities to ask their opinions on the subject, they found my question strange. No one leaves a tenure-track job, especially in a bad economy, they said. In fact, in interviewing hundreds of Ph.D.'s in nonacademic jobs over the last several years, I was surprised to find that approximately half of them were once tenure-track faculty members. While leaving a tenure-track job is not common, it happens more often than most academics realize.
For Evans, as for many of the other former professors I interviewed, faculty life exacerbated doubts they had harbored about the profession for many years. “Grad students bond, commiserate, and bounce ideas off one another constantly. Faculty don’t,” she says, at least not in her experience at two different universities. “As a faculty member, I’ve lost most of the support mechanisms I had depended on in grad school.”
On the other hand, some former academics loved academic life but felt driven from the profession by working conditions, such as having to live in a remote location (often far from a partner or spouse) or working among hostile colleagues.
Whether they are seeking a job at another institution or leaving the profession altogether, faculty members face a unique set of circumstances in making a career change. To answer Evans’s question, I interviewed two professors who have recently left tenure-track jobs — one who hopes to find a better position within academe and another who has left the profession entirely.
For academics who want to leave an intolerable job but remain in the profession, making a graceful exit is crucial. After three years as an assistant professor of French at Small Rural College, David Nussman (not his real name) decided that he could no longer live in the tiny, isolated town. As a single person, he missed city life. Since he hopes to find another tenure-track position in a more desirable location, Nussman planned his departure in a way that would not antagonize his colleagues.
First, he notified his department during the summer that he wanted to take a leave the following spring semester, giving the department adequate time to hire an adjunct to cover his classes. During his semester off, Nussman found an adjunct position in an urban area and then sent a letter of resignation to Small Rural College. Again, the department had plenty of time to find a replacement.
The politics of resigning from a small department can be tricky, Nussman says, because departments invest a great deal of energy in selecting and acclimating new hires. Since academic circles are small, maintaining goodwill with former colleagues is vital for anyone who wants a future in the profession.
Leaving on good terms is less important for faculty members who want to leave academe forever. Their biggest challenge is searching for a new job from a remote location (unless you’re lucky enough to teach in a place where you’d like to stay and where there are plenty of jobs).
Eric Iversen, a former assistant professor of English at a Southern university that he declined to name, left academe for reasons almost identical to those cited by Evans. “Graduate school is like intellectual fantasy camp,” Iversen said, “but as faculty, you have no classmates, no peers in your area, no one to talk to about research and teaching.” Two weeks into his first year as an assistant professor, he began to think about leaving. Iversen spent the rest of the year planning his next move and preparing to resign.
First he addressed the question of where to live; he chose Washington, D.C., because he knew the city and had friends there. Next, he began thinking about what kind of career to pursue. Thinking back, he realized that the five years he had spent lobbying the campus administration for better graduate-student health insurance were the most satisfying part of graduate school for him. With an eye on a career in lobbying for higher education, he began networking via e-mail to find out how he could get started in the field. Ultimately, a staffer at the foundation that had financed his final year in graduate school turned out to be a great resource on lobbying jobs. He is now director of corporate affairs for the American Society for Engineering Education.
Although Iversen’s department was supportive of his decision to leave and treated him well, he recommends putting your own needs above your department’s if you plan to leave academe entirely. Start searching whenever you’re ready, and if you get a job offer in the middle of a semester, take it. Someone can always be found to take over your classes, he says, but the offer may not wait.
Since Evans plans to leave the profession altogether, she need not worry unduly about the effect of her decision on her department. However, since her partner will continue to teach at the institution and she intends to stay in the area, she will want to give as much notice as possible without limiting her own options.
In every case, the most important part of resigning a faculty position is ensuring that the politics surrounding your departure don’t prevent you from living the life you want, whether that may be found inside or outside the academy.