During my first year at MSU, I received positive responses about my second manuscript and began the revisions. Shortly afterward, my spouse suffered a life-threatening health condition which caused me to lose interest in regaining my rank. Book contracts, along with the revised manuscript, sat on my desk for nearly two years. I lost my bearings, but we survived as a family.

Reflecting upon my professional career seemed tantamount to taking one step forward and another backward. Or was it? Was this unique? How many others have had similar experiences? Was such a pattern peculiar to women? To African Americans? On another level, I thought of differences in university standards regarding tenure and promotion. How much of this was related to employment in a small, private historically Black college, a predominately white unionized state institution or a diverse major comprehensive university? The "carrot-and-club" approach gives pause to the intent of university bylaws which encourage faculty development but penalize its execution.

I also wondered if all of my colleagues -- male, female, Black and white -- had fulfilled the same guidelines to which I was subjected. In this swirl of questions, I concluded that the options I faced and the choices made were defined as much by gender and class as by race.

I suddenly realized that I had missed my exit. I glanced at the "pink slip" which fell onto the floor as I made a U-turn. I thought aloud, "I will never take this road again." I merged into the flow of traffic and hurried home to tell my family what the memo confirmed. I was a tenured, full professor, again.

Wilma King, a tenured professor at Michigan State University, is a visiting professor at the University of Houston on a one-year research fellowship.

COPYRIGHT 1996 Cox, Matthews & Associates
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group