Never to be a professor

[Herewegoagain39]

I don’t know quite why I am posting. I am a senior lecturer and have been employed for the last 25 years. I am unlikely to ever make Professor despite the fact that many of my students have… whatever I do now I don’t have the track record. I have 3 children and battled for many years against older male professors telling me to give up and stay at home with the kids. . Attitudes have now changed but the consequences are still with me. I just feel so rubbish and am not sure how to get away from this feeling.

I know I’m very lucky - I am not in danger of being made redundant at the moment but I have another 10 years or so before I can retire.

I do think (from my establishment anyway) there’s better job security in being an SL compared to a prof? I’m an SL and very happy staying at this level. The extra stress for not much more money doesn’t seem worth it.

What are you missing? Does your institution have different routes for professor?
For what it's worth, I'd swop professorship for job security in the current shitshow.

what is happening in the whole Academica ? i thought that was one industry that was safe in the cost of living crisis ?

@PenelopeJoanSterling quite the reverse. There are 25% compulsory redundancies of academic staff at Exeter; 30% at Nottingham; some 400-500 academic posts at Edinburgh; similar compulsory sackings at Cardiff. They're just the ones I can recall off the top of my head. And mostly in the arts & humanities.

Academic careers are long & deep; redundancies cut at people's vocations and life's work in incredibly wasteful ways.

And contrary to popular belief, academics don't earn huge salaries - compared wth often less-well qualified professionals (lawyers, ciil servants, medicos) they are more well-qualified and paid far less.

Can I ask why you are not on track to becoming a Professor? If you've been in academia 25 years already, unless you've gone from one short-term contract to another, it is surprising you are not atleast in a position where if you ticked the right boxes you could be up for professorship.

Are you well published with lots of funding plus can you shit on people without hesitation because that was the key to success in one RG University I worked in. Or are you a devoted lecturer that the students adore and contributes this way because that counts for naught in some establishments.