Stories of the Promotion

OK. I got my promotion last month. It turned out to be a little anti-climactic because I was told I got it end of January and the letter took 2 months to come to me because of some c***-up at personnel. Around middle of March, I emailed and asked when my letter was coming and after around 3 reminders, (plus reminders from my Head of School), personnel called me up and asked if I 'got the letter'. I said no. Then a bit of a ho and hum and oh dear and 'in any case it would only be effective May' and I said what? and a few more hums and mms and 'I suppose it would be good to have the letter wouldn't it' and I replied sarcastically ..er..yes...

I checked the next day with personnel if it was true that it was only to be effective May (this was middle of March). They said yes. I couldn't believe it. May!!!!! What world do they live in? A promotion only effective in May? On a non-RAE year, this would already not have been acceptable. On an RAE year, this is preprosterous! I was livid. Sent out application to 2 other universities in a fit of anger and I regret to say that when my Head of School walked in, I completely vented at him. Paul was really good. He patiently listened to my rants and tried his best to calm me down. I think about that day a lot. It was irrational to be so angry but it hit a raw nerve I guess. Feelings about being appreciated, about getting recognized for your work etc. boil up to the surface. Promotion is a sensitive thing and Paul said that I'm not the only one sensitive to promotion issues.

Anyway, after all the hullabaloo, I received a letter from personnel 5 days later apologizing for their mistake and my promotion was w.e.f. January after all. Sheeeesh...

Other stories

After I received news of my promotion, one colleague (who is a full professor) emailed me to say that, as Associate Professor, I should not be using 'Professor' as a title. The gist of my reply was:

Dear xxx,
The convention of using 'Professor' as a title is one that has been adopted by the university (please see school website for all the 'Professors' who are now associate professors, and the official use of 'professor' convention on the personnel website). Admittedly, as full professor, you probably deserve to use the title more than I do. Unfortunately, in this case, this is not my decision but that of the university's. Hence I will continue to brazenly use (and enjoy) the title.

Irene

I wonder if his email was with good intentions or was he just being catty....