Four years ago, I did not receive tenure at a place I was teaching. It was totally and completely undeserved. I achieved excellence in all areas of my work there. Students gave me an award for being “all that a woman should be”. I published my dissertation as a book. I also did original interviews with people working on grassroots organization projects to stop the building of a private prison in their communities, and published it as a chapter in a 3-vol. series on privatization of prisons. And I attended a conference in New Orleans and published the article I presented there. I served on committees, including being the coordinator for my department’s accreditation assessments. I oversaw the student-led Psychology-Sociology CLub, attended all their meetings and offered guidance. Lastly, my students won FIRST AND SECOND PLACE at a statewide research conference. To this day I do not know why I didn’t receive tenure because they are not required to tell you. I appealed all the way to the end, to no avail. (What did they know that I don’t know? Did they have some misinformation? Did someone just not like me? Did they not like my religion?) There was no explanation. When I questioned their assessment of me in 3 categories, I was told, “We have no numbers to back it up. That’s just what we decided on, we didn’t want to be restricted by numbers.” (Oh, really? Who gave you the arbitrary power of God? and why am I working here??) Welcome to the world of Academia. I was advised by colleagues to bring a lawsuit (and later found out others have done that there, and won), but in the end, I decided my emotional state and body couldn’t deal with that, so I went on anti-depressants and moved on. Thank God.
Let me just say, when God closes a window, He sometimes opens a DOOR. I am so happy now in my current position where I effectively use my skills to help students where they need me most. With all this being said, Here is a little haiku for anyone from my former school reading this:
With a promotion,
God has brought me to this place,
also with a raise.
cfblack, 02-11-2017
Doctor Grandma 
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