Sharing my publications with colleagues

[polly_mer]

Personally I've found that, as long as one is not pretentious or ostentatious about it, your colleagues will probably appreciate your publishing.  If they don't, it's just defensiveness.

This is strongly dependent on where one is and what the unspoken expectations for full-time faculty are.  For example, these fora have often stated that no one is denied tenure for shirking service.  At small teaching schools where service is a lot of the job, shirking service in one's colleagues' eyes while having observable research activity means being denied tenure.  I've seen it happen multiple times. 

It's one thing to choose a different type of service than the one assigned (e.g., more direct student mentoring over a standing committee with no deliverables or community outreach over this week's ad hoc committee on random foolishness).

It's quite another to be observably spending significant time on something that isn't teaching, service, or family life while neglecting tasks that others had to pick up.  People are usually more forgiving about what others do if they aren't working extra to make up the difference.

One reason that people with solid research records don't get hired at certain institutions is those folks are likely to continue to do research at the expense of the actual job they have that's heavy on teaching and service.  Complaining about the lack of resources available for research just hammers home the point that the individual wants a different job than the one currently on tap.

Flat out stating something like "What do they do with their time if not research?" indicates the kind of attitude that leads to having to find another job because those who are carrying the service load expected at a teaching college with any sort of personal life don't have lots of free time.

[Wahoo Redux]

As I said, sometimes defensiveness rears its head at the office.

[Ruralguy]

I imagine that there is some defensiveness and insecurity at work, but its more complicated than that.  It would be a legitimate concern at a teaching institution if someone was making degrading remarks about people not working intensively on scholarship.  I don't think it would typically be a concern if the person were simply productive, sharing about results, etc, especially if they were a good teacher and colleague (not mean, sharing in service, etc.). In fact, at my mainly teaching oriented college, we have a scholarship component to every promotion, and have significant endowed awards that are given mostly or solely based on scholarship achievement.  So, we actually be more worried if the person were the opposite: not doing scholarship at all, making remarks about people who do research, etc. We're not an R1, and aren't looking for any kind of significant mission creep. But I just think standards for what a grad student, post-doc, junior faculty on up should be able to produce from a position at a particular type of school has gone up with time for just about any kind of program.

I agree with Polly though as well. You have to be very wary of "rules of thumb" that "everyone knows" or that "everyone agrees with." Know your institution well.  Beyond that, get to know the people you are working with, at least at the professional level so that you know what they care about. Work with them, not against them, even if they don't always agree with you. Definitely don't shirk some duty because "people only care about research." People also care about having dependable colleagues, and its easy enough to find people who are the whole package. Why keep someone who is a one trick pony, and, who by the way, doesn't write assessment reports and thinks everyone else is an idiot?

[polly_mer]

As I said, sometimes defensiveness rears its head at the office.

Yep, it's definitely defensiveness to be angry at shirkers for doing tasks for some other job instead of the actual job they have.

Regardless of what label you want to put on it, people get non-renewed and denied tenure for being out of step with expectations.  It is a bad idea to insist that the expectations ought to be different when one's job is on the line.

[Wahoo Redux]

So OP, as if we had to tell you, do your job, do your research, and don't be a weenie about it.

I research and write for the same reasons you do, personal pride in accomplishment and the pleasure of  taking part in the scholarly conversation in the Tower.  One can do this and not shirk your responsibilities.

[delsur]

My question for now is: I am on a tenure track right now, should I or should I not share with my colleagues' new research/publications and conference papers as a way to let them know what I am doing to help me with my tenure?. Or should I just talk about what they talk about: teaching.

Unless someone shows interest in reading your publications, I would not. You'll have to submit these for your tenure review so there's no need to "let them know" now. I agree with others that you should not look down on colleagues who are dedicated to teaching. This sort of disdain is common in grad school but it's not helpful at all.

At the same time, I understand that you feel isolated. And just like you are judgmental of your colleagues who don't do research, there will be those who judge you for doing too much research and write you off as uncooperative and selfish. This happens all the time in my department. I wish we could appreciate each other's strengths but apparently that's not possible.

[fast_and_bulbous]

If research is your passion, I'd keep doing it with as much vigor as possible but you are probably a bad fit for your current job. Most of us who were at schools like that published our way out, and are happier. I concur with the responses that say, don't cheerfully wave your preprints in the faces of people who will resent you because you are just highlighting their own institutionalized mediocrity.

Those faculty who don't do research aren't professors, in my opinion, they are indeed "teachers" and likely teaching out of date material.

[eigen]

If research is your passion, I'd keep doing it with as much vigor as possible but you are probably a bad fit for your current job. Most of us who were at schools like that published our way out, and are happier. I concur with the responses that say, don't cheerfully wave your preprints in the faces of people who will resent you because you are just highlighting their own institutionalized mediocrity.

Those faculty who don't do research aren't professors, in my opinion, they are indeed "teachers" and likely teaching out of date material.

This is an example of gatekeeping at its finest, right here.

[Dr_Badger]

Just popping in to share my own experience.

I'm tenured at a nontraditional institution (large, private, nonprofit arts college) where there used to be a culture of suspicion around research in the old days. Faculty who did research were thought to be taking time away from perfecting their teaching.

Then, before I arrived as a new hire, the college hired a couple of promising superstar scholars who did research and talked about it a lot. Those colleagues who came before me pushed for better research support and reduced courseloads.

Now, our campus culture trends more towards supporting research through grants, release time, and workload policies that protect research time. I benefited from these changes when I arrived on campus as a junior scholar. I also felt tons of of pressure to excel in teaching and research at all times simultaneously. My path to tenure was a stressful 6 years.

My point is that you may be able to gently shift the culture in time. But don't try to shift it too violently, or you will pile on the pressure for junior faculty. 

[Ruralguy]

From the other thread of TTTPs, I'd say it's unlikely he'll be influencing the culture at his school , at least not now. We have evolved to at least being a place that appreciates scholarship. We're leery of lowering teaching load though, and I think grants and research releases are another 2 decades off. So, all told it can take decades to evolve in this manner. Of course major gifts to the school can also help.

[larryc]

You are asking the wrong question, and I fear you are on a bad track with your departmental colleagues.

The right question is: "How can I get my colleagues to support my research agenda at a teaching institution?" You seem to look at your colleagues as slackers of deadwood or hicks. And believe me, they know what you are thinking. And you know that they know, that is why you hesitate to do what would otherwise be a normal collegial thing, sharing your research accomplishments.

You need to get them on your side, have them feel an investment in your career. Talk to them about their passions. Teaching is a good subject--ask them about what assignments work in their classes. The best restaurants. Where to go for a hike or bike ride. Build human relationships.

And put yourself in their shoes--if you'd been at your current institution for twenty years, with no research support and a mortgage and family, what would your career look like today?

Make your colleagues into your allies and they will cheer for your research.

[Bonnie]

Those faculty who don't do research aren't professors, in my opinion, they are indeed "teachers" and likely teaching out of date material.

This leap is offensive. I am one of the least productive in scholarship in my unit, and I'm okay with that. I've just not followed the workload creep that has happened over the last decade. But I read in my field and related fields voraciously. I am often the person on a graduate student committee who has the most to offer in guidance on literature reviews. And all that reading influences my courses, which are updated at least annually and more often each semester. And I will say my courses are more current than many of the faculty who are pushing out pubs in numbers far beyond the expectation of our unit. 

[polly_mer]

Make your colleagues into your allies and they will cheer for your research.

That seems overly optimistic.  I would go with "Make your colleagues into your allies and it's much more likely you will get tenure, even as a known researcher".

Being the friendliest person doesn't matter if you are still seen as shirking your duties.  It just means you will get a lovely going away party after being denied tenure for lack of service and inadequate teaching.

[Ruralguy]

Yes, always do your best at doing the job you were hired to do. Everything else is everything else.
You should definitely keep publishing and maybe even try to apply out. But don't concern yourself
about conversing with colleagues about your research. Even if they care about theirs, they may not really care about yours. Just talk to them on their own terms, and if an interesting research nugget comes up, mention it.
But nobody really wants to hear "Im so tired from publishing my 50th paper this year. hey Bob, wanna read it?"
I'm not really saying you should give up on research or even talking about it to some colleagues....just realize that some just aren't going to be into it. If that guy or gal also just finished their second term on T and P or the Faculty Senate, they are not going to appreciate you thinking of them as useless.

[Wahoo Redux]

One can publish a lot and not shirk one's responsibilities.

One can even do a great job and write a great book, or two, or three, or more.

There are plenty of such scholars in the world.