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On this page, you'll find my current timeline for research publication as a tenure-track assistant professor. I am publicizing this plan as a gesture toward other tenure aspirants, that is, I am showcasing my plan to better help others understand what a tenure clock looks like and how to map a research agenda onto it. For transparency, I am on the tenure track at a fairly large public research university (R1). That said, my tenure requirements are pretty typical for universities of this size and type, though I have heard of different tenure set-ups (such as some private university English departments needing two books at minumum over 10 years to attain tenure in addition to teaching and service requirements).
My tenure clock is six years, meaning I would go up for tenure in 2028 (I started my current role in Fall 2022). My tenure requirements, like most places, can be a bit amiguous, but the generally agreed upon parameters are 1) a full-length book project or 2) its equivalent in article publications (i.e., 6 – 8 articles in high-impact journals).
Pre-Tenure
Fall 2025: Submit smaller book project to University of Minnesota Press
Spring 2026: Finalize and submit sample chapters and book proposal for larger project.
Summer / Fall 2026: Work on remainder of book project and submit by end of year.
Spring / Summer 2027: Revise larger book project and begin drafting tenure portfolio.
Fall 2027: Finalize writing projects and tenure portfolio.
Fall 2028: Submit tenure portfolio by August.
2029: Wait for what will hopefully be good news.
Post-Tenure
2030: Take on leadership roles across the department, university and field levels commensurate with Associate Professor rank.
2031: Begin working on new book project based on gathered data while initiating community-engaged projects and archival work.
2032 –2033: Finalize new projects and submit publications based on oral history project while compiling application for Full Professor.
2034: Finish application and go up for Full Professor.
2035: Wait again for what will hopefully be good news.
Overall, as current research faculty, I plan to maintain the pace of my scholarly production, and barring unforeseen circumstances, my plan is to have my smaller book project to peer reviewers by the end of the Fall 2025 semester while continuing work on my larger book project. In Spring 2026, I also plan to finalize edits for my revise and resubmits for multiple journals (these are articles that did not quite fit into my book projects) and begin finalizing my larger book project.
After this wave of projects, I plan to continue working on an oral history project with a frequent collaborator with the goal of creating a nationwide archive of the United States that offers alternative geographies of sexual health. I also plan to commence research and writing on a third book project I am tentatively calling Seeing Sex as a Virus, which will focus on the visual rhetorics of using muscular men of color to advertise sexual health medication within public health campaigns, stemming from data collected for the last five years across gay-specific dating applications and from work done for my larger book project. This third book, coupled with sustained excellence in service and teaching, will ideally pave the path forward for promotion to full professor in the five years after attaining tenure.
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