Musings on the Sidelines: Leadership and Learning During the Tenure-Track Experience

This chapter is a self-reflective narrative of the trials and triumphs of earning promotion and tenure at an urban university in the mid-southern United States. As such, this is an examination of the inherent spaces where leadership is received, and leadership is given during this probationary period in academia. Particular attention will be paid to the uniqueness of this urban university where spaces for significant personal growth for assistant professors are created that are rarely found at other institutions, yet this uniqueness places a great amount of pressure on junior faculty members to embark on leadership roles typically reserved for senior/tenured professors at other universities. In the end, this chapter delves into the intensity of learning and leading during the tenure-track years.