A few weeks back, I was talking to my parents on the phone, and my mother asked "What do you want for Christmas?"
"Tenure," I said. Because, well, that's what's been on my mind.
This is going to be the Best Christmas Ever...
Search this blog
Profile
"Uncertain Principles" features the miscellaneous ramblings of a physicist at a small liberal arts college. Physics, politics, pop culture, and occasional conversations with his dog.
"Prof. Orzel gives the impression of an everyday guy who just happens to have a vast but hidden knowledge of physics." (anonymous student evaluation comment)
Emmy is a German Shepherd mix, and the Queen of Niskayuna. She likes treats, walks, chasing bunnies, and quantum physics.
Recent Posts
- links for 2008-10-07
- Obama Disappoints Me
- The Empress Is Not Pleased
- Job Search Criteria: Fit Matters
- Medicine Nobel for TLA's
- links for 2008-10-06
- All the Giants-Seahawks Commentary You Need
- Everything and More by David Foster Wallace
- Longitude by Dava Sobel
- links for 2008-10-05
Recent Comments
- agm on Obama Disappoints Me
- Alex on Job Search Criteria: Fit Matters
- Alex on Job Search Criteria: Fit Matters
- Lab Lemming on Obama Disappoints Me
- Jonathan Vos Post on Everything and More by David Foster Wallace
- Anonymous on Everything and More by David Foster Wallace
- Chad Orzel on Obama Disappoints Me
- Jonathan Vos Post on Everything and More by David Foster Wallace
- Ed Darrell on Obama Disappoints Me
- Janne on Job Search Criteria: Fit Matters
Greatest Hits
- What's With the Name?
- A Week in the Lab
- Domestic Security: A Dialogue
- "Perfect Albums"
- Poetry for Physicists
- Top Eleven: The Greatest Physics Experiment Ever
- How to Tell a True Lab Story
- Bunnies Made of Cheese
- Many Worlds, Many Treats
Chateau Steelypips
- Older Uncertain Principles
- The Library of Babel
- Japan Stories
- Outside of a Dog
- Kate Nepveu's LiveJournal
- Steelypips Main Page
- Chad's photosets on Flickr
- Chad's bookmarks on del.icio.us
Categories
- Academia
- Basic Concepts
- Biking
- Blogs
- Book Writing
- Booklog
- Conferences
- Dog
- Education
- Food
- Guest Bloggers
- Links Dump
- Maintenance
- Math
- News
- Personal
- Physics
- Pictures
- Politics
- Pop Culture
- SF
- Science
- Silliness
- Society
- Sports
- Technology
- War On Science
Blogroll
Scientists
- Mixed States
- Angry Physics
- Arcane Gazebo
- Backreaction
- bento-box
- BioCurious
- Cocktail Party Physics
- Cosmic Variance
- Entropy Bound
- Female Science Professor
- Horganism
- In the Pipeline
- Life as a Physicist
- Musings
- Nanoscale Views
- Michael Nielsen
- nOnoscience
- Not Even Wrong
- Not Exactly Rocket Science
- A Quantum Diaries Survivor
- Quantum Pontiff
- The Scientific Curmudgeon
- SciTech Daily
- Shtetl-Optimized
- Tales from the Learning Curve
- View From the Corner
- What's New
Academics
- Acephalous
- Chronicles of Dr. Crazy
- Confessions of a Community College Dean
- Crooked Timber
- Brad DeLong
- Easily Distracted
- Knowing and Doing
- Learning Curves
- The Little Professor
- Musical Perceptions
- Notional Slurry
- Pub Sociology
- Word Munger
- What Now?
- Yes, YelloCello
Interesting People
- Boing Boing
- Diary de la Vex
- Fafblog!
- Izzle Pfaff
- Making Light
- Open Reading Frame
- Republic of T.
- See You at Enceladus
- Snarkout
- Unmistakable Marks
- Whatever
Books
- Book Slut
- Tobias Buckell
- The Humblest Blog
- The Library of Babel
- Outside of a Dog
- Weasel Words
- Westerblog
Punditry
- Balkinization
- Grim Amusements
- Newsrack
- Off the Kuff
- Political Animal
- The Poor Man
- The Reality-Based Community
- Slacktivist
- Talking Points Memo
- Through the Looking Glass
- Unqualified Offerings
- Matthew Yglesias
Archives
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- December 2006
- November 2006
- October 2006
- September 2006
- August 2006
- July 2006
- June 2006
- May 2006
- April 2006
- March 2006
- February 2006
- January 2006
- December 2005
Subscribe via Email
Stay abreast of your favorite bloggers' latest and greatest via e-mail, via a daily digest.
« Bose, Fermi, Hanbury Brown, and Twiss | Main | Modified Gravity Eliminates Dark Matter? »
All That I Want
Category: Tenure Chase
Posted on: December 19, 2006 5:37 PM, by Chad Orzel
TrackBacks
(TrackBack URL for this entry: )
Comments
# 1 | Chad Orzel | December 19, 2006 5:39 PM
(OK, technically, I'm not officially an Associate Professor until the Trustees approve it in February, but the Dean said that worrying about that is sort of like worrying that an asteroid will destroy the Earth before then...)
# 2 | Stephen | December 19, 2006 6:01 PM
Then read this comment in February:
Congrats!
# 3 | Rob Knop | December 19, 2006 6:15 PM
Congratulations! That's most excellent news. You can now sleep at night (modulo asteroids).
All I want for Christmas is my NSF grant... but that would be more of a, I dunno, Spring Equinox present, or perhaps a Memorial Day present. Until then it's just stress.
-Rob
# 4 | Pam | December 19, 2006 6:17 PM
Woo-hoo!
Congratulations!
# 5 | John Novak | December 19, 2006 6:22 PM
Sort of a nice Christmas present-- congratulations.
I think I may bring this up to my boss and ask him what I need to do to get tenure here. (Because, you know, I don't get enough mockery in the workplace....)
# 6 | veejane | December 19, 2006 6:25 PM
Oh, awesome! Now (February's version of now) is the time to smoke whatever you've got! Because they can't get rid of you! You've got TENURE!!
Please get wasted on the drug of your choice (sugar is acceptable), come the actual occasion, and then spend 45 minutes posting and attempting badly to spell the word "tenure".
# 7 | jrolsma | December 19, 2006 6:36 PM
Congratulations! Good job! Many happy returns!
# 8 | Mike Kozlowski | December 19, 2006 6:38 PM
Sweet! Now we can get the loony, controversial posts that you've been saving up.
# 9 | Rob Konp | December 19, 2006 6:39 PM
Please get wasted on the drug of your choice (sugar is acceptable)
Wait... we're not supposed to get wasted on sugar until we have tenure?
Oops.
Anyway, I suspect few people are surprised that Chad got tenure. What this does also mean is that he can read all those tenure-track assistant professor applications without needing to feel threatened... :)
-Rob
# 10 | Hawk | December 19, 2006 6:44 PM
Congrats!
# 11 | Debra Doyle | December 19, 2006 6:50 PM
Congratulations on having achieved the Quest of the Holy Grail!
# 12 | Uncle Al | December 19, 2006 6:52 PM
Congratulations, best wishes, and godspeed. Today a place to stand, tomorrow a faster vacuum pump, and by next Thursday your own one-cup coffee brewer with Kopi Luwak and junior faculty in the grinder. "8^>)
# 13 | Scott Eric Kaufman | December 19, 2006 6:58 PM
Congratulations! However, now that you're a member of "The Man," the real question is:
Do you have any connections in the English department?
# 14 | John Scalzi | December 19, 2006 6:59 PM
w00t! Congratulations on your next 40 or so years.
# 15 | Jeff F | December 19, 2006 7:05 PM
Congrats Chad, and well deserved!
# 16 | Will | December 19, 2006 7:06 PM
Congratulations!
# 17 | Patrick Nielsen Hayden | December 19, 2006 7:13 PM
Most excellent woo and also hoo!
# 18 | cisko | December 19, 2006 7:15 PM
Congratulations! Not surprising, but great news. Union did good.
# 19 | fidelio | December 19, 2006 7:18 PM
As I told your wife: happyhappy joyjoy!
Congratulations.
# 20 | Yoon Ha Lee | December 19, 2006 7:21 PM
Congratulations!
# 21 | Rajesh | December 19, 2006 7:21 PM
Congratulations!
# 22 | PZ Myers | December 19, 2006 7:23 PM
Waiting until February is nothing. In my tenure decision, I was told the news in early November, and then informed that it wouldn't really be official until July. That's many more chances of a major meteor strike, you know, and by the time the letter from the Big Guys came, I'd pretty much forgotten to care.
So, yeah, celebrate on your time, and bugger whatever schedule the bureaucrats are on.
# 23 | Jennifer Ouellette | December 19, 2006 7:26 PM
That's terrific! I'm sure you more than deserve it! Congrats!
# 24 | Michael I | December 19, 2006 7:31 PM
Congratulations!
# 25 | Trent | December 19, 2006 7:34 PM
Dude, that rocks! Hearty congratulations!
# 26 | Dave Bacon | December 19, 2006 7:36 PM
Awesome! Congrats!
# 27 | Devin L. Ganger | December 19, 2006 7:38 PM
Yay, Chad! That is most excellent news.
# 28 | Scott Raun | December 19, 2006 7:46 PM
Dancing Rodents! (AKA Conga Rats)
# 29 | Texas_Tiger | December 19, 2006 8:02 PM
Many happy congratulations!!!!
# 30 | Tom Renbarger | December 19, 2006 8:07 PM
Nicely done, Chad, congrats!
# 31 | Ron Avitzur | December 19, 2006 8:10 PM
Happy Holidays indeed!
# 32 | Tom | December 19, 2006 8:24 PM
Congrats!!!
# 33 | Scott Spiegelberg | December 19, 2006 8:26 PM
Congratulations! Thanks for proving that bloggers can get tenure. And now I start my pre-tenure leave, to prepare for the wringer next fall.
# 34 | Perry | December 19, 2006 8:29 PM
Congrats. Now if you can avoid attractive female undergrads, you are SET! Job well done mate!
# 35 | Bill | December 19, 2006 8:31 PM
Congratulations!
# 36 | Dan Goodman | December 19, 2006 8:39 PM
Congratulations!
# 37 | Tony Zbaraschuk | December 19, 2006 8:45 PM
Congratulations! Well-deserved!
# 38 | Moshe | December 19, 2006 9:05 PM
Congratulations!!! I guess you are no longer on the tenure track.
(Like PZ above, I will also have to wait till July for my official confirmation...)
# 39 | Aaron Bergman | December 19, 2006 9:27 PM
Congratulations!
# 40 | Richard Suitor | December 19, 2006 9:33 PM
Congratulations!
(professional lurker)
# 41 | KevinQ | December 19, 2006 9:45 PM
Followed the link from Scalzi to say Congratulations.
K
# 42 | Jeff Huo | December 19, 2006 9:47 PM
Congratulations!
You were amongst the first of us on rasfwr-j to earn your Doctorate (and coin the now-immmortal phrase, "That's *Dr* ____, to you, punk!"; among the first to earn a faculty position, and now among the first to earn tenure. Congrats again on yet another trailblazing moment. :-)
# 43 | greythistle | December 19, 2006 9:48 PM
Congrats! Pretty sweet timing.
# 44 | Mary Kay | December 19, 2006 9:56 PM
Congratulations. I'm so happy for you and Kate both. We're going to be at Boskone, let us take you out to dinner to celebrate. It may even be official by then....
MKK
# 45 | Christopher Davis | December 19, 2006 10:12 PM
Congratulations on your well-deserved tenure. I'll echo Mary Kay in hoping that it's official in time for Boskone celebrating.
# 46 | Soni | December 19, 2006 10:14 PM
Blogfather Scalzi said to come over here and whup a "Congrats" upside your head. I hear and obey.
Congratulations! Time to put that alarm clock where it really goes - the circular file.
# 47 | Doug Natelson | December 19, 2006 10:16 PM
Mazel Tov! It is weird how diffuse the process is. With your doctorate, you defend, people clap, and that's that. With tenure, you're told that later the board will do something so that at the start of the next fiscal year.... Anyway, congratulations again!
# 48 | Emmet | December 19, 2006 10:20 PM
Most excellent well done !
# 49 | Brad Holden | December 19, 2006 10:22 PM
Congrats Chad! That is awesome.
# 50 | paoconnell | December 19, 2006 10:29 PM
Congrats Chad! Kate too! Now go for that Nobel Prize...
# 51 | Melissa Devnich | December 19, 2006 10:36 PM
Congratulations! What a great Christmas present.
# 52 | James | December 19, 2006 10:42 PM
Congrats!
# 53 | Bob Oldendorf | December 19, 2006 10:59 PM
Congratulations . . . PROFESSOR.
# 54 | Maura | December 19, 2006 11:06 PM
oh congratulations! well done!
# 55 | Steinn Sigurdsson | December 19, 2006 11:13 PM
Congratulations!
Wait, did someone say rasfwr-j?!
r-j!?!
Man, we better hope the trustees don't hear about this...
Enjoy the moment.
# 56 | Mike Steeves | December 19, 2006 11:30 PM
Wow.
That's awesome -- sometimes, the good guys do win....
# 57 | Lou | December 19, 2006 11:52 PM
Congratulations Chad!
# 58 | James Macdonald | December 20, 2006 12:12 AM
Woooo!
Go, you!
# 59 | cheem | December 20, 2006 12:24 AM
Congrats!
Many happy returns!
# 60 | Tania | December 20, 2006 12:49 AM
Yahoo!! Next stop, sabbatical!!
# 61 | Kristjan Wager | December 20, 2006 2:50 AM
Congratulations!
# 62 | Therese Norén | December 20, 2006 2:51 AM
Congratulations!
I tried to tell KJ about it this morning, and had to resort to saying tenure untranslated. There's no such thing here, and no appropriate translation.
# 63 | Teresa Nielsen Hayden | December 20, 2006 8:45 AM
Hurrah! Congratulations! May you never have to do anything harder (except for stuff you enjoy).
# 64 | Dennis | December 20, 2006 8:46 AM
Congratulations!
# 65 | jim | December 20, 2006 8:56 AM
Yes! And, like everyone else, congratulations.
# 66 | John Dilick | December 20, 2006 9:10 AM
Woo!
Congratulations, Chad. Annette and I are thrilled for you.
# 67 | Skwid | December 20, 2006 9:25 AM
Wahoo! Congratulations, Chad. Never had any doubts you'd get it, but what a terrific Christmas surprise!
# 68 | Jamie Bowden | December 20, 2006 9:43 AM
Fuckin' aye!
# 69 | Adrienne | December 20, 2006 10:05 AM
Congrats, congrats, and more congrats after that.
# 70 | Captain Button | December 20, 2006 10:17 AM
Congratulations!
# 71 | Dr Chuck Pearson | December 20, 2006 10:17 AM
Let me be among the last to confer congratulations...:)
# 72 | theophylact | December 20, 2006 10:23 AM
Mazel tov!
# 73 | Andrew Orzel | December 20, 2006 10:24 AM
That's great news, Chad. Congrats!
# 74 | David Owen-Cruise | December 20, 2006 10:31 AM
He shoots! He scores! The crowd, it goes wild!
# 75 | Zeynep Dilli | December 20, 2006 10:49 AM
Congratulations!
# 76 | agm | December 20, 2006 11:35 AM
Hmm, how long to one congratulations? Who knows, but here's one more.
# 77 | Jeff M | December 20, 2006 11:55 AM
Cool! Congrats, Chad.
# 78 | Dave Munger | December 20, 2006 12:34 PM
Awesome! I expect to see some hard relaxation over the next few weeks in honor of your achievement.
# 79 | Leigh Butler | December 20, 2006 12:42 PM
Belated congrats to you, Chad.
Now you can begin seriously cultivating your eccentricities with little fear of reprisal!
# 80 | J-Dog | December 20, 2006 12:53 PM
So, you now change the blog name to Certain Principals?
Congratulations!
So, next step = Curmudgeon?
# 81 | coturnix | December 20, 2006 12:53 PM
Great news! Congratulations!!!!!
# 82 | Dan Blum | December 20, 2006 1:19 PM
Congratulations!
# 83 | Stephen G | December 20, 2006 1:50 PM
Congratulations! To pass along what a sweet old lady said at the conclusion of an acquaintance's defense, "Congratulations, Doctor. No sonofabitch can ever do that to you again."
# 84 | Liz | December 20, 2006 2:06 PM
On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me
Tenure on the Facultyyyyyyyy
Congratulations!
# 85 | Larry Moran | December 20, 2006 2:40 PM
All the best! Celebrate now - they can't take it away from you.
# 86 | Josh | December 20, 2006 3:00 PM
Sweet! Congratulations!
# 87 | Julie Stahlhut | December 20, 2006 3:06 PM
Many congrats, Chad!
The day after one of my committee members got tenure, I answered the phone in his lab, thus becoming the one who took the phone call that informed him that a university vehicle had just accidentally crushed his car in the faculty parking lot. Now, this fellow could get more than a little stressed out, so I waited for him to finish giving some instructions to a new student at the bench, and then broke the news to him. Instead of blowing up, though, he just smiled and said that he knew the university was well-enough insured to handle the problem.
That's when I knew what a big milestone tenure was! :-)
# 88 | Captain C | December 20, 2006 3:18 PM
Congratulations!!! WOOHOO!!! I'll down a Kiltlifter for you when I'm in Arizona in a couple weeks.
# 89 | BR | December 20, 2006 3:33 PM
So you get tenure and promoted to Associate at the same time? (I got promoted the next year.)
# 90 | gregor | December 20, 2006 3:48 PM
Congratulations.
Brings back the memories of my horrid experience on the subject at an Ivy League university. At the beginning of the winter semester which was supposed to be my first sabbatical after six years there, I got the horrible news in the mail, even though I had two and a half years left in the contract and I did not even know that they were voting on my case.
# 91 | Jim Toth | December 20, 2006 3:52 PM
Hurray!
# 92 | Emily | December 20, 2006 3:52 PM
Hey, congrats!
# 93 | CapitalistImperialistPig | December 20, 2006 5:28 PM
Congratulations. And may The Cabal be with you.
# 94 | Del Cotter | December 20, 2006 5:30 PM
Congratulations, Chad!
But just for safety's sake, wait until February to start coming into work in your pyjamas and telling people you would like to be known from now on as Madame Pompadour.
# 95 | Marilee | December 20, 2006 5:49 PM
Congrats!
# 96 | Chas | December 20, 2006 6:40 PM
Woohoo!
Tonight's party has officially switched from a "Day That Ends in 'Y'" party to a "Chad has tenure" party.
Note: While the Party Purpose variable is quantized, our hypothesis is that discrete variations in P.P. will not lead to discernable variation in empirical results (i.e. degree of hangover on the OMFG scale).
# 97 | Thumb | December 20, 2006 6:43 PM
Heh! Was there any doubt?
[ducks]
# 98 | Sean Carroll | December 20, 2006 8:05 PM
Congratulations! Party time now.
# 99 | Aaron Bergman | December 20, 2006 8:43 PM
Is it horrible that the title of this post keeps on bringing to mind a horrrible Ace of Base song?
# 100 | lunkhead | December 20, 2006 9:04 PM
Four paws up!
# 101 | Abi | December 20, 2006 9:07 PM
Wow! Congrats, Chad!
# 102 | "Charles Dodgson" | December 20, 2006 10:53 PM
So, now you're in on the seekrit konsp1raC to reestablish the Soviet Union in America that David Horowitz keeps talking about. Excellent news! Please send reports!
# 103 | Captain Button | December 21, 2006 8:42 AM
"Is it horrible that the title of this post keeps on bringing to mind a horrrible Ace of Base song?"
No. Being reminded of a Spice Girls song, OTOH...
# 104 | Chad Orzel | December 21, 2006 2:21 PM
Is it horrible that the title of this post keeps on bringing to mind a horrrible Ace of Base song?
For you, probably. Since I somehow managed to miss the whole Ace of Base thing, I have no problem with it.
I had in mind the recently acquired "All I Want" by the Weepies, part of the Christmas Tunes Experiment. While the actual title lack a "that," there's one in the chorus.
Many thanks to everyone who has commented. It's a kick to have so many people chiming in. And, hey, the first triple-digit comment thread on Uncertain Principles...
# 105 | Redleg | December 21, 2006 2:30 PM
Congrats to you. It is quite an accomplishment. I just found out the good news about my own tenure and promotion. It will be a very nice Christmas for me too.
# 106 | Mike Bruce | December 21, 2006 4:57 PM
Congratulations.
# 107 | Babbler | December 21, 2006 5:03 PM
That's wonderful! Congratulations, and may more success come you way.
# 108 | wolfgang | December 22, 2006 11:49 AM
Congratulations!
Now you can blog all that nasty stuff and finally start working on the alien-warp-drive you always wanted to build ...
# 109 | Dave Hemming | December 23, 2006 5:44 AM
A Big Old British Congratulations and Merry Christmas! (I was tipped off by Kevin Drum of all people).
# 110 | Hannah | December 27, 2006 1:26 AM
Hello. Your friend John Scalzi said to congratulate you on your tenure. So congratulations on getting your tenure!!
I'm not particularly sure what tenure is. I know it's pretty prestigious, I learned that from ER.
Anyway, that just proves I watch too much TV.
Congrats again on tenure!