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I am a tenure track assistant professor in the "Department of X and Y" which is a single department for now. Though my PhD is in X only, I now teach classes in both areas. My research is mostly in the field of X, and my tenure committee consists of researchers in X.

These two areas have a significant salary imbalance. The starting salary of assistant professor in Y is close to the salary of full professors in X.

This department is about to be split into "Department of X" and "Department of Y", and I sense that this may not be a very happy divorce. I am now approached by the future Dept. of Y to be involved. I can see 3 options:

  1. Stay in Dept. of X and forget about Y.
  2. Stay in Dept. of X and get a courtesy appointment from Dept. of Y.
  3. Get an joint appointment.
  4. Move to Dept. of Y completely

How should I evaluate my options?

My feeling, so far, is that option (1) should be the safe option. I may loose most of my students, but likely stay out of trouble. Option (2) means I teach for both departments, which may not make sense, as I will be getting my salary from Dept. of X (much lower) and do half of the job in Dept. Y. My teaching and service in Dept. Y will also not contribute to my tenure case. Option (3) makes more sense financially and can potentially broaden my research area, but it may be impossible to keep two department chairs happy (especially when there are conflicts between the two).

Are there other factors I should be considering?

Update: Option (4), moving to Dept. of Y completely, is not an offer that is currently on the table. It is unlikely to ever be there, as I don't have a PhD in Y.

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    I assume you are not considering "4. Go to Dept. Y and forget about X." – JRN Oct 01 '19 at 04:46
  • Why not go into Y, if they pay so much more? You're clearly qualified to teach it, and it sounds like they feel you might be able to shift your research into the field. – nick012000 Oct 01 '19 at 10:04
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    Do you care about more about your research or more about your salary? Is the salary at Dept. X sufficient for a good living? – Mark Oct 01 '19 at 10:38
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    Option (4), go to Dept. Y and forget about X, is not an option that is being offered or considered. Plus, it wouldn't be realistic to shift my research into field Y quickly enough to make a strong tenure case (I'm 3 years into my tenure clock). –  Oct 01 '19 at 14:03
  • Salary of Dept. X is sufficient for survival. Once I make it to the associate rank, it should be okay, but still pretty laughable when compared to the Salary of Dept. Y though. So the potential salary jump is a major attraction. Will 20% more money worth the trouble of working for two bosses? –  Oct 01 '19 at 14:10
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    Related: https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/83161/should-an-interdisciplinary-researcher-work-twice-as-hard. Also this: https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/123414/40589 – Dan Romik Oct 01 '19 at 14:28
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    I have been told that not yet tenured people should be very wary of joint appointments and tenure committee considerations. "one cannot serve two masters" and all that. How tenure is decided on a joint situation would be very important to consider! – BrianH Oct 01 '19 at 16:13
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    How much of a commitment is your decision now? Could you decide now to be solely Dept X, but in a year or two request a joint or courtesy appointment in Y? – iayork Oct 01 '19 at 16:32
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    I doubt lacking a PhD in Y matters as much as you make it sound – Bryan Krause Oct 01 '19 at 16:59
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    @BrianH - and if you are the first one up for tenure under the new structure, you likely become the guinea pig. Just how acrimonious the split was could impact the first individual quite badly. Tough position to be in, but we here have no insight into the politics of the split. – Jon Custer Oct 01 '19 at 17:32
  • Did you speak to your dean about this? I think most of the information you need to decide is given in the question. The rest of what you need to know has to do with the personalities of your colleagues in the departments. – Anonymous Physicist Oct 02 '19 at 02:26
  • "I may loose most of my students" Do you mean students in your classes or students who perform your research? They shouldn't be taking away your research students. – Anonymous Physicist Oct 02 '19 at 02:27
  • @AnonymousPhysicist - True, they cannot take away students who are support by my grant. But I will not be allowed to supervise undergraduate senior projects or graduate students in Dept. Y unless they want to change their majors. –  Oct 02 '19 at 04:51
  • @BryanKrause - Having a PhD in Y is a requirement now to get tenure in Dept. Y. Changing this is not easy. It would basically require all tenured faculties' vote (Dept. Y is really small now, so any one tenured faculty would have veto power on this, at least according to the current rule book). –  Oct 02 '19 at 04:58
  • Having a PhD in Y is a high bar. Is it possible to get papers published in Y and get recognized that way? It sounds like you enjoy Dept Y but the politics is too toxic to placate both sides. – Poidah Oct 04 '19 at 11:02

1 Answers1

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As in comments, for sure avoid getting yourself in the cross-hairs of political fights, as a tenure-track person.

Next, indeed, having mixed allegiances is not a good thing when you come up for tenure.

Possibly "being interdisciplinary" is a good thing, depending entirely on departmental politics. I've seen it go both ways (in my U.S. R1 univ): evidence of not being a real mathematician [sic], or, alternatively, being one of a new breed of mathematician.

paul garrett
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  • What's wrong with staying in Department X? Other than having fewer students in the short term, it sounds like Department X is doing well? I'm not sure what might be causing the fissure in your department, though. – Parrever Oct 05 '19 at 02:22
  • Nothing wrong with staying in Dept. X. Getting involved in Dept. Y would mean more money and more students. –  Oct 08 '19 at 02:59
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    I finally decided to stay with Dept. X. "Having mixed allegiances" does look like problematic when I come up for tenure. "Serving two masters" is probably not possible in terms of service. As Dept Y figuring out their tenure evaluation standard, there are just so many variables. 20% more salary may not worth the headache. So I'm staying. –  Oct 08 '19 at 03:03