Like others in this field, Kerry L. Haynie drew from personal experience to develop what became Duke University’s Summer Institute on Tenure and Professional Advancement. One day, two years into his first job, he was walking across campus with a senior colleague who mentioned that Haynie should start thinking about his third-year review. Haynie had no idea what he meant.
Junior faculty members of color, he said, “are often excluded from networks, due mostly to benign neglect,” and so “we tend to find out important information late in the game.” But he worried that admitting his blind spot could damage his reputation, so he feigned comprehension. Then, he went home and phoned a friend, who explained the critical part of the tenure process.
