The document summarizes five important things the author wishes he had known when applying for tenure: 1) Getting strong external review letters requires getting one's name known in the field through conferences and speaking engagements to avoid declines; 2) Demonstrating intellectual independence through author order, equal contribution statements, and number of sole-authored works; 3) Understanding how research contributions will be assessed in terms of field, journal quality, and future productivity signals; 4) Crafting a clear dossier with an accessible CV, statement of accomplishments, and limiting supplemental materials; 5) Realizing evaluators have preconceptions and little time so reasons for promotion must be very apparent.

1. Applying for tenure: Five things I wish I had known . . .
Ajay K. Kohli
Gary T. and Elizabeth R. Jones Chair
Georgia Institute of Technology
DOCSIG, AMA Winter Educators’ Conference
February 20, 2014

2. Agenda
• Getting external letters
• Demonstrating intellectual independence
• Research contribution assessments
• Putting together the dossier
• Evaluator information processing
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3. Thing 1: Getting external letters
•
Writing a good letter takes a lot
of time
•
Letter writers are very busy
people, and don’t get paid to
write
•
Declines can raise questions
•
Get name out (conferences,
school speaker series . . .)
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4. Thing 2: Demonstrating intellectual independence
•
Number of articles with advisor
•
Number of co-authors on a
paper
•
Lead author? If no, equal
contribution notated in article?
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5. Thing 3: Research contribution assessment
•
Whether known in the field for a
topic vs. multi-topic?
•
Articles in journals of mixed
quality – additive or averaging
model?
•
In marketing vs. non-marketing
journals
•
Pipeline status – cues of future
productivity
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6. Thing 4: Putting together the dossier
•
Your “Statement of
Accomplishment” is the
“CliffsNotes” for letter writers
•
CV and Statement of
Accomplishments needs to be
easy to process
– Use bullets
– Use bolds, italics, underlines
– But don’t emphasize everything!
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7. Thing 4: Putting together the dossier . . . (cont’d)
•
Limit the “supplemental
materials”
– If something is really important,
incorporate it in the CV or Statement
itself
•
Cover all “line items” if possible
– “Talking points”
•
Don’t “play games” with information
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8. Thing 5: Evaluator information processing
•
Prior impressions influence
evaluations
– And every encounter or lack thereof
leaves an impression
•
Higher level folks have less time
and expertise related to your
work
– Make the reasons why you should
be promoted very apparent in your
materials
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9. After this . . .
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10. Thank you!
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