Today, I was so very pleased to learn the outcome of my promotion application: I have been promoted to Associate Professor!
Gosh, what a relief! Putting together a promotion application is a lot of effort. I had a full draft 6 months before the due date and revised and revised and revised after gathering feedback from anyone I could. My final submission was 26 pages and 11,000+ words long. I wanted to do everything in my power to make sure I was successful on my first attempt.
Somewhat appropriately, I saw the email announcement while on the phone with my PhD advisor and still close collaborator, Ben Newell. I have him to thank/blame for putting me on this path to professorship.
Of course, there are so many other people to thank including my collaborators, those who shared their own promotion application with me, those who read drafts of my application (Prof Carl Rhodes, Prof Kathy Walsh, Professor Leona Tam, Professor Paul Burke, Professor Jingjing Zhang, Associate Professor David Waller, Associate Professor Ofer Mintz, and Associate Professor Natalina Zlatevska), those who agreed to write letters of support for me (Scientia Professor John Roberts, Professor Robert Hoffmann, and Professor Shai Danziger), those who served as anonymous external reviewers (I know Professor Jill Lei was one), and, of course, those on the committee who ultimately made the decision.
I always felt a little awkward with the titles “Lecturer” and “Senior Lecturer”, which mean very different things in the USA, so I am glad to put them behind me. I am now looking forward to focusing on more leadership positions at the university, including serving as director of the UTS Behavioural Lab.