When Susan Albertine accepted the position of vice provost for undergraduate studies at Temple University, she gave up the security of tenure to take a “leadership position that I thought was very compelling. It was a risk worth taking.” When a new president came on board, however, she and her colleagues were informed that they would be let go.

They were not altogether surprised. The president had reorganized his previous institution, and the practice is not uncommon. “He wanted his own people, his own organization. In my case, it wasn’t a matter of direct conflict or any sense that I was held to be less than competent in what I was doing. I was just not his choice, and I don’t think I would have worked well with him either,” Albertine says.

Albertine was able to land on her feet. She accepted the position of dean of the School of Culture & Society at The College of New Jersey, but the experience of being terminated stayed with her, and she continues to discuss the topic with colleagues who have been through or are going through a similar situation.

There are many reasons for losing a job, and frequently academic leaders do not lose their jobs for reasons related to their competence, drive, or vision. “People lose jobs when there’s a regime change, when there’s an administrative reorganization, when there’s no longer a good fit between the incumbent and a new dean, provost, or president. Many really strong and creative academic leaders have come through an experience like that and have learned something really valuable through the experience, but nobody talks about it,” Albertine says.

Well, almost nobody. Albertine has informally networked with displaced academic leaders. “I have helped some people get new jobs, and some people have helped me. We have learned from each other. It was a matter of opening up and talking about the situation and understanding how you can do well and even land on your feet and make it through a reorganization in a healthy way rather than collapsing under the weight of failure. Because it’s not a failure,” Albertine says.

For starters, Albertine thinks academic leaders should face the possibility of termination and “prepare in a way that is reasonable, not alarmist or paranoid.” She recommends keeping your CV up to date and maintaining good relationships with placement firms.

Recovery
Losing a job can be traumatic, particularly for academics who invest so much time and energy in their jobs and derive great meaning and satisfaction from their work.

Albertine recommends taking time to work on your recovery. “I think taking some time away and having a sense of your own recovery is critically important. You’re going to meet people who are dismayed and disappointed or who are angry because they don’t like what happened to you. The people who reported to you might be hurt and might express that as anger or betrayal, although they care about you. There’s this complex emotional relationship. You have to pay attention to it.”

“While I would never say, ‘run away from it,’ I do think a period of recovery, getting to know yourself better, to be confident and ready to go in and interact with people is really important,” Albertine says.

The effects of being terminated or asked to resign can be quite different depending on whether or not you have tenure. If you have tenure, the issue is whether or not to remain at the institution and if you do stay, for how long? There is consolation in having a faculty position to fall back on; however, depending on the circumstances, remaining at the institution can be difficult.

If you decide to accept a faculty position with the idea of moving on to a leadership position at another institution eventually, you need to maintain an active role within your institution and within external organizations.

Albertine recommends applying the skills and perspective you gained as an administrator to committee work you haven’t done before. “Become active on committees or volunteer to do development work. Everybody loves that.” This shows the administration that you take your citizenship seriously and helps to renew relationships with colleagues and the institution.

If you do not have tenure, resignation or termination gives the prospect of developing potential jobs leads a greater sense of urgency. You may have a year or a few months, depending on the terms of your contract.

As someone who has had to look for a new academic leadership position and who has served on search committees, Albertine recommends maintaining your work as a leader outside your institution. “It’s a good sign if you’re involved in a national, regional, or scholarly project throughout the change,” Albertine says.

A gap in activity on your CV could be a problem if you do not have an adequate explanation for a search committee. “Search committees can be pretty perceptive in finding a gap on your CV and asking what you did during that time. It could have been family concerns or illness. Of course, there are regulations about the kinds of personal questions that search committees can ask candidates, but they can open the door for candidates to talk about those kinds of things, and occasionally there are really compelling reasons why somebody had to step out of academe for a while. There are reasons, and you need to be able to explain why.”

One way to maintain relevant activity in the absence of an official leadership position is to maintain relationships beyond your institution. “Professional networking beyond the institution is very important as you go through these changes. Your professional organization, if you’ve been active in it, will support you as you go through these changes.”

Working as a consultant is another option that can keep you actively involved in academe as you search for a new position.

The “Killer Question”
Perhaps the most important factor in landing a new leadership position is being prepared to answer what Albertine refers to as the “killer question”: Why did you leave? “There’s no single way to answer, obviously, but I can tell you if your response to that question is in any way unprofessional or negative, you’re probably killing your candidacy. It takes experience and practice to be able to talk about having lost a job in a way that puts the experience in a positive light or at least shows growth and acceptance, and most important, does not criticize in any way the [institution] or the person who let you go.”

Parting Thoughts
Albertine says that maintaining a sense of humor is essential to getting through the changes brought about by termination. Counseling can also be beneficial. It helps to get some perspective on the situation. Regardless of how bad it may feel to be fired, you are not alone.

“Many academic leaders who are successful have lost jobs. I started to realize this a few years ago because I have friends who are provosts, presidents, and deans, and several of the most influential of them had lost jobs and had not only survived but actually done better through the experience.”

By Susan Albertine (albertin@tcnj.edu), From Academic Leader, March 2006

This article first appeared in Magna Publications' newsletter Academic Leader. If you are an academic dean, provost, academic vice-president, department chair/head or have any role in academic leadership, then Academic Leader is for you! But don't take our word for it--try it free for 3 months and make the decision for yourself!