While the words “tenure track” make it sound like there’s a smooth set of rails that will take you from hiring through to a position on the permanent tenured faculty, “tenure obstacle course” might in fact be a better description. During my 36 years on the faculty of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), I mentored dozens of faculty along that tenure track, almost every time successfully. As I gained experience, I found I could boil my mentoring system down to five goals that I would share with new hires and, when the time came for promotion, with tenure candidates. These aren’t necessarily easy goals to meet, but they’re the right stuff:
Character (Still) Counts: Moral Injury and the Case for Character Education
Many academic leaders remember the Character Counts! initiative from the 1990s and early 2000s. It was visible in schools and youth programs nationwide, emphasizing as core values the Six Pillars
Teresa Maggard Stephens
June 15, 2026
