At the start of March, the Board of Trustees approved tenure for six faculty members at its most recent meeting. After years of hard work and dedication to teaching at the College, Associate Professor of Art History Susan Jarosi, Assistant Professor of Government Erica De Bruin, Assistant Professor of Geosciences Catherine Beck, Assistant Professor of Classics Jesse Weiner, Assistant Professor of Philosophy Alexandra Plakias ’02, and Assistant Professor of Sociology Jaime Kucinakas became tenured professors for Hamilton College. When asked about their experience with the tenure process, Plakias, Kucinskas, and Beck all expressed gratitude for the Hamilton community’s support of their hard work leading up to their tenure, which included teaching, self-evaluating and publishing.

Reflecting on the tenure process, Plakias shared that “while the process can be stressful, it’s also an opportunity to stop and take stock of how much we’ve accomplished in our time here — something we don’t always take the time to do.”

Kucinkas reflected on the challenges of tenure, explaining that “the expectations are set when you are hired about how much you need to publish and how you should develop as a teacher, and you have a set amount of time to do it. Turning my dissertation into a readable book was a big part of that challenge for me, especially when working for tenure during a pandemic.”

The pandemic made tenure work more challenging for these six faculty members. Beck described how “the combination of COVID-19 closures and having my second child at the end of the spring 2020 semester definitely added a layer of stress.” In response to the pandemic-related challenges, mentors, students, family members and friends of each of the six professors gave extra support.

The pandemic has put a damper on the professors ability to celebrate their tenure, but they still expressed their excitement in the future, particularly looking forward to the next part of their careers and potential celebration when it is safe to do so. Kucinskas said “I am excited to look forward to a new chapter and brainstorm more ambitious and innovative research ideas, creative pedagogy, and more ways of bringing academic ideas to the public in hopes of making more of an impact with our work.” Beck is looking forward to celebrating her tenure with a “vacation or a party”.

All the newly tenured professors expressed gratitude to colleagues and loved ones when speaking about the process, and also a desire to make a profound impact on their department in the future.