Kirk,

it was from my 'teaching like I give a damn' archinect 'school' blog before it fell down (long story - don't bother asking why). But I did save the post on my other blog here.  Good luck and looking forward to your updates!

speaking of which you gonna revive the giving a damn bloggiting?  hope you do barry.  was a good idea regardless of any problems.

Jump, thanks for the support! I'm too busy chasing tenure to keep multiple blogs afloat (especially since blogging doesn't count in the publish-or-perish world that I'm now inhabiting) :-(

ah yeah. now that is something i really understand, barry

we'll peer review your blog for you, if you need. not that my opinion counts for anything...

wish my blog could be submitted for double-blind review at a journal with a high impact score, but alas 'journalism', as my former colleague blaine brownell advised, isn't gonna make the tenure cut (at least until till there is a generation change). hmmm, maybe I can turn my blog into a book (like geoff manough) from a prestigious university press - that does count.

Wow, I thought, Blaine Brownell!  

Then I find that there are two: the one I'm familiar with is a distinguished urban historian.   Sounds like I should get up to speed with the younger one, too.  Meanwhile... best of luck on the tenure acquistion, Barry.

Barry,

Cheers! Of course, 'Teaching Like I Give A Damn', it's all coming back to me now... It was sad to see that one drop off the School Blogisphere, but I understand your predicament. Will report back when I can add to your list of suggestions.

Kirk

how many publications do you need to get tenure barry?  is it a yearly thing or just a running total??

would be nice if buildings counted.

there is no hard and fast rule at Cal Poly for tenure as we're on the teacher/scholar model (teaching is our first duty). I'm aiming for at least 1-2 journal publication/year, 1-2 conference paper/year, and landing at least $100k/year funding (that$ my dream). A book is useful to. I can also use 'creative works' if  anybody is willing to pay me as a design consultant. Oh, we need good to excellent teaching reviews each year (and demonstrate progress). I'll know more later after meeting with the RTP committee (retention/tenure/promotion) later in October. Starting next year, I'll be reporting all activities for a progress review every year around now. Outside tenure review might be instituted shortly, if so the game changes.

what does outside mean barry? outside dept, college etc?

outside tenure reviews can mean all of the above. our current system at CPP is entirely internal to the department. in contrast, Berkeley uses the entire faculty body, so an architecture prof may have a physicist or physician reviewing their tenure file (ouch). Other schools ask peers at other institutions to review, so better known deans and profs get asked more often to review tenure files - this seems fair but result in personality mostly gets ignored (leading to lots of academics with poor inter-personal skills).

Not sure which 'outside review' method is being discussed at CPP as this is part of the current contract negotiations between the union and the chancellor.

at upenn they do all three... From what I understand from helping the professor that I RA for there is a review within the dept, followed by a review of a committee of faculty from within the school of design, followed by a review at the university level... Somewhere in there the tenure package is also reviewed by outside reviewers, some of which you get to choose others are selected my one of the review committees... "leading to lots of academics with poor inter-personal skills" AIN'T THAT THE TRUTH!!!

That's funny, Phillip.  I always counted academia as one of the few places where the truly socially awkward (if not backward) have a greater shot at big success.  Of course, normal personalities exist there, too (thank goodness), but not with the same frequency as in the general population, in my experience.

Barry: great good luck on the climb to tenure.  From the energy and creativity I sense in your posts and blog, you seem like a shoo-in... keep at it and keep us posted.

agree with the shoo in part.  also agree with the funny characters in uni setting.  it is sometimes a huge relief to get back to the office and everyone is just a bit weird over archtiecture but personal skills are part of the job description. 

normalcy is such an under-appreciated thing sometimes.

My experience working in government and dealing with the politics that entailed are proving to be a very valuable commodity in academia. (btw, we totally highjacked this thread)

it's very interesting though.  at least to me ;-)

good point philip.  accountability seems to be the thing that decides how kooky everyone is allowed to be and still keep their jobs.  it really explains why all the star architects tend to be such charming(or at least interestingly compelling)  people.  they have to be just to survive.

maybe I'm spoiled, but I really care about working with nice folks - life is too short. That explains why my hollywood career was spent mostly working in TV - that's where the nice(r) people are (not the !@#^ers making commercials or 'a-list' films). Academia really needs more 'charming' folks (or at more least normal personalities) to counter being called 'elitists' that the anti-intellectuals try slandering over-educated folks with.