Applying for TENURE in Florida's Political Scene

[@BrunoJedynak]

Go, Joel! Go! Congrats on speaking out BEFORE you got tenure. Please keep us posted on your progress to tenure. Best.

[@JoelRosenfeld]

Thanks, Bruno! I appreciate you having my back :)

[@nanoc.2103]

I must say as a person who went into education, I have to agree with the with the point of evaluating professors for their teaching. To many times have I personally seen professors who do not know how to differentiate their instruction for students with learning disabilities or whose lectures are literally the classroom textbook. K-12 teachers are constantly scrutinized for how they make the material accessible to all students who have a drive to learn the material; I don’t think professors should be absolved from the same scrutiny. My graduate education professors grew concerned when they visited the undergraduate campus to help better train professors and were met with staunch opposition and dissmissal.

[@nanoc.2103]

Don’t get me wrong, I hope you get tenure! Your enthusiasm is inspirational as I hope to go to math grad school myself one day! I just hope you also take some courses about good pedagogy/andragogy to help enrich your teaching.

[@JoelRosenfeld]

@@nanoc.2103 I agree that professors should be evaluated by their teaching, and truly, they are. If someone doesn’t measure up in teaching and shows no room for improvement, the chair can take disciplinary action up to beginning the process of termination. There’s just a lot of checks that happen before it can get to that point, and the PTR actually removes that extra security. Personally, I worked in education technology for 6 years before going to grad school. I was mentored by professors of education during that time, when I helped develop science and mathematics software for students in middle school and high school. I almost went into education technology for a doctorate, but decided math was the right path for me.

[@khaiylahwiththestyla8722]

Hearing that tenure in Florida is being threatened is shocking. I used to be against the tenure system for many of the reasons you have stated here. It felt like a free-for-all. After reading The University: An Owner’s Manual by Henry Rosovsky, my opinions have changed. Tenure is a rigorous process that adds a tangible pro to the choice of becoming an academic. This is needed! Although the glorious pursuit of knowledge gets people in the door, it may not keep many there with how much sacrifice is required. I hope you get tenure and the products of DeSantis’s choice causes him to rethink it. Good luck!

[@JoelRosenfeld]

Thank you! I appreciate it! I'll have to check out that book!

[@asn65001]

Good luck, professor! I hope you get tenure! Side note: I too have questioned the value of tenure after taking classes with some very poor, tenured professors. Can I really say that if it weren't for tenure, these professors would have long been terminated? No. But I have wondered whether those professors were less incentivized to care given their tenure. You weren't like them, and you went above and beyond to care and to educate, so you DESERVE it. Good luck

[@JoelRosenfeld]

I appreciate it! I hope those poor professors were the exception rather than the rule. I know many professors that have turned harder towards improving their teaching after tenure.

[@ytctrb]

Good luck with the process! Tenure is a precious thing, but apparently not the same everywhere. I find that the 'ongoing' positions in Australia are very close what you describe about the new Florida system. I have seen restructures and 'ongoing' staff who have invested their lives in their careers lost their jobs, as someone up the chain thought certain areas were no longer en vogue. Other university systems have constitutional protection of university professors, such as Germany. I would advise any aspiring academic to pick their destination country or state (and hence system) very carefully. Look closely. Very closely.

[@JoelRosenfeld]

Thank you! Yes, tenure is precious, and unfortunately, subject to the whims of the government. If I didn't have family in the area, I'd probably be applying to other universities right now. But I managed to get a position that was just a couple hours from my hometown, which is really unheard of in this industry. With small kids, it was the best choice to move back close to family.

[@mathjitsuteacher]

What can you to someone with a Phd in Math who has not much interest in doing research and only wants to teach? Is teaching at colleges an option?

[@JoelRosenfeld]

You could find a position teaching at pretty much any college or university. If you only want to teach, and not do research, then these are positions under the title "Instructor" or "Professor of Instruction." They usually are the ones teaching Precalculus and the Calculus sequence at a university, and have few opportunities to teach upper division courses. If you want a professor position where you only teach, then Small Liberal Arts Colleges are a good option. Though, these days, there will be at least some expectation for research at those colleges, where you are expected to work with undergraduates on novel projects. Does this answer your question?

[@70percentrubbingalc]

Good luck, imo you're more than deserving. Your channel is unique and regardless what happens I hope you continue to make videos!

[@JoelRosenfeld]

Thank you! That really means a lot to me :)

[@shoopinc]

Would this apply only to the Florida state schools? Or to private institutions as well? That is where the great research will concentrate if tenure is taken away from public institutions.

[@JoelRosenfeld]

This legislation applies to public universities and colleges. Private institutions are not impacted by this. However, private institutions frequently follow the example of public institutions with a bit of a lag. Also, right now there are not a lot of strong PhD granting private institutions in Florida. I think UM is the only one.

[@kemarcummings1555]

Good luck 🤞

[@JoelRosenfeld]

Thank you!

[@Brandon-sc3rz]

desantis has always been really bad with colleges. it’s honestly a shock that florida has as many good schools as it does. i think it says even more about how good our schools are; that they stay top tier even with desantis constantly causing issues. as a student i never looked too deeply into it beyond a couple years ago when i thought i would have to pick a political party and then tell my school that’s what i believe in. i’ve never thought about how seriously he affects the professors and i’m sorry that you have to deal with all that bs.

[@JoelRosenfeld]

Yeah, it certainly adds a big layer of stress to an already stressful process. I can only hope the next governor will be better.

[@davidsewell4999]

" ..i thought i would have to pick a political party and then tell my school that’s what i believe in." - Why would you have to tell your school?

[@Brandon-sc3rz]

@@davidsewell4999 a few years ago desantis tried to make a push to get schools to admit more republicans. the way he wanted to do that was by having all students, current and prospective, tell the school which party they supported then withhold funding until the democrat to republican ratio was where he wanted it. i hope it’s obvious why that never got very far

[@davidsewell4999]

@@Brandon-sc3rz The only thing I found from what your describing is a CNN article that says that it was fake news.

[@El0melette]

Good luck.

[@JoelRosenfeld]

Thank you!

[@wademitchell3817]

Ron De-NotSo-Nice

[@DarinBrownSJDCMath]

Sorry you have to live and work in a state with a fascist governor.

[@JoelRosenfeld]

He won’t be here forever. Hopefully, the next governor will be ineffective…

[@ryansamuel8835]

Please go somewhere else with your skills, you have established almost no attack from DeSantis against you and contrived this political argument. Maybe this tenure review allows the taxpayers of Florida some degree of oversight over the indoctrination of marxism in their schools. Perhaps you should be concerned that the public has lost respect for the institution. You study math dude, DeSantis is a big supporter of you and you will see how Texas and Florida institutions will skyrocket due to good governance, getting rid of the chaff, not people like you, the target are marxists, they do not operate as true academics and getting rid of them will free a ton of money, administrative bloat for people like you. He isn’t doing anything to you bro, this was an intentional political attack, whether you know it or not, you have been convinced to target him

[@JoelRosenfeld]

He isn’t doing anything to me, right now. But political winds change. Many right wing politicians have spoken out against science in the past. Maybe desantis isn’t coming for my job, but he has paved the way for his successors to. There already are systems in place to remove professors. Tenure has never been absolute. But this new method removes experts from that decision chain, and leaves the decision to nonexperts, who don’t necessarily know how to evaluate someone’s work.

[@JoelRosenfeld]

And this isn’t a political attack. I am simply stating facts about his decisions and quoting things that he said. Otherwise I speak about the disadvantages imposed by the PTR. Construing this as a political attack is a big mischaracterization. The same sort of mischaracterization that I’m afraid someone with a bone to pick will fire me with one day.