It's been a long three to five years

Me, August 2016, joining the University of Illinois sociology department:

Me, May 2021, reading the letter verifying tenure status in the sociology department at the University of Minnesota

It’s been a long three to five years on the tenure track, depending on how strictly you want to apply rollback statuses. I am [1] much more cynical about the mechanisms that generate outcomes in higher education [2] grateful of the many folks in this field who nevertheless operate with a weird amount of generosity to help expand other’s opportunities and move forward their careers [3] humbled by the sheer amount of luck and randomness that influences who ends up getting to this point.