In our new thread soliciting questions on tips for faculty on the tenure-track, the OP asks: how involved should you get in department politics or the direction of the department (if at all)? This is a good question, and not an easy one to answer. On the one hand, departmental politics (and university politics, for that…

In our new thread soliciting questions on tips for faculty on the tenure-track, Timmy J writes: The upshot of my question is this: do you care about all the weird trivial crap it seems like people expect you to care about? If so, how do you bring yourself to do so? If not, is it ever…

In our new thread soliciting questions on tips for faculty on the tenure-track, a reader writes: Is it (un)wise to write controversial stuff on the TT even if it’s published in good journals—theism/atheism, nihilism, socialism/libertarianism, materialism/idealism, etc.? This is a good question, and I'm not sure what the answer is. On the one hand, there…

In the OP of the thread I recently posted asking readers to share any questions they may have about how to flourish on the tenure track to discuss in this new series, a reader asks whether it is important to '[get] to know academics outside your department (is this important? why or why not?).' These…