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If I know a faculty member is up for tenure this year, is it appropriate to ask them for news about the tenure decision? If yes, are there norms around how to ask?

I'm a grad student and still figuring out professional norms. That being said, I hope this question can be a place to discuss the issue more generally than just grad student-faculty relations.

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    Positive tenure decisions are typically confirmed by a vote of the institution's governing board. Minutes of the board meetings are typically available to the public, so you could simply check for yourself.
    – Brian Borchers
    Commented Apr 24, 2018 at 2:26

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Getting tenure is a major life event for faculty. So the same rules apply that also apply for questions that revolve around "how is your unborn child doing", "how is your parents' health", "has your spouse recovered from that recent illness": these are kind questions to ask a human, and if the answer is positive, you get all of the credit. But if the answer is negative (tenure denied, parent died, child is born with a disability), it puts a rather serious damper on a conversation.

There is no good way to describe whether the question is appropriate. In the end, these are personal questions that relate to family and, in this case, career aspirations. Whether or not you are in a position to ask the question depends on how well you know the person, and whether you have a relationship good enough to have conversations about awkward and difficult topics.

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    Great answer. Are there people it would or would not be appropriate to ask for second-hand information? E.g. a Director of Graduate Studies or some other professor who's on good terms with the person? Even broad outlines of a tenure case (what is the timeline looking like, in months) seemed pretty mysterious to me as a grad student, and asking that same faculty member about logistics may be rough. (Imagine asking expecting parents: "So, how long is the typical human gestation period? Do you know how often it deviates from that? With your obstetrician's patients in particular?")
    – cactus_pardner
    Commented Apr 24, 2018 at 4:01
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    I think it's ok to ask others. They will either respond by saying "Her tenure case is doing great; she just got the approval of the dean", or "Well, it's complicated -- I think you need to talk to him about this in person". In the latter case, that's of course what you should specifically not do if you don't want to have an awkward conversation.
    – Wolfgang Bangerth
    Commented Apr 24, 2018 at 13:10
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    Based on this answer, also suggest looking at InterpersonalSkills.SE - where there may be advice on how to approach such a subject (if you do decide you want to).
    – Bilkokuya
    Commented Apr 24, 2018 at 13:22
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If I know a faculty member is up for tenure this year, is it appropriate to ask them for news about the tenure decision?

No.

It’s completely understandable that you are curious and want to know, and I’m pretty sure your desire to ask is motivated by noble feelings of sympathy and care for a fellow human being you interact with professionally. At the same time, this is a question that for many academics is very fraught and anxiety-producing. We are talking about a single binary bit into which 7-8 years of hard work and emotional self-investment are being channeled. A negative outcome can very possibly have career- and ego-crushing consequences for the person in question. Do you start to see why the value of that bit might be something that some people (especially people who are insecure and/or who have less than full confidence about the outcome) do not wish to discuss or be asked about? As Wolfgang said in his answer, you might get lucky and the discussion will go well, but it’s also possible that it will go disastrously wrong, or, more likely, it will just be a tense and awkward moment.

To summarize: It’s none of your business. Don’t discuss it unless: 1. the faculty member brings it up first, or 2. you heard from a reliable source that the person got tenure and wish to congratulate them.

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  • Or you're a close friend of the faculty member, obviously.
    – user9646
    Commented Apr 24, 2018 at 18:25
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    +1 Although Wolfgang’s answer is more general, I like the clarity of this answer in the scenario where you don’t know the prof well enough. Eg. if you don’t know them well enough to ask about a sick parent, don’t ask about tenure
    – Dr. Beeblebrox
    Commented Apr 24, 2018 at 21:46
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    @Dr.Beeblebrox thanks. The question is straightforward enough that I feel it is pointless (and even a bit misleading) to equivocate just to have the most general answer. Yes, there are situations where asking someone about their tenure case would be appropriate, but if you are unsure enough about it to ask if it’s appropriate, the answer is no.
    – Dan Romik
    Commented Apr 24, 2018 at 22:14

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