Advisor likely not getting tenure

[EmmaW]

Hi everyone,

I hope to get some advice on my situation. I'm in my 4th year of PhD. I have only one year left after the spring semester (graduating May 2020). My advisor is up for tenure review by the end of this semester and she will find out the result by May 2019. Since she hasn't got a lot of publications, I think it's likely that she will not get tenure. She is an awesome professor and researcher and I think everyone in my department knows that. It's just that she aims very high and tries to publish papers using huge models that take a long time to finish to get the papers out. Anyway...

My situation is that I'm close to ABD and like I said I only have 1 year left. I have been a good student, winning a few awards for teaching and researching within the department. I'm well liked among other professors in the department. I'm usually funded half by my advisor's grant and half by doing TA work. There are a few professors in the department that work in the same field I do and who I can certainly be happy to work with if my advisor has to go but they already have a few students and I'm not sure about their funding capabilities.

My question is, hypothetically if my advisor didn't get tenure, what should I do if I certainly do not want to follow her to her new institution (given that I have family here and close to getting done). Is it wise to start talking to the program director now? Is there anything I should do now or I should wait until my advisor finds out about her tenure result? I'm pretty worried about my future & would appreciate some advice. Thanks so much.

[PokePsych]

My initial thought would be is to ask whether you can work out some co-advisor situation. So have her still be your main advisor, but have someone basically 'graduate' you in your own department. 

This is not uncommon; I'm also working through a bit of a similar structure at the moment (but will move to my advisor's new place because I do have substantial time ahead and nothing binding me here - he just couldn't bring me this year already as he got the job pretty late etc.). Although there's a lot of folks here in general who actually spend most in their time in the education department but are officially graduating in social psych (they do interdisciplinary stuff) - so they also work with 2 people basically.

[MarineBluePsy]

It seems the best person for you to talk to is your current advisor.  Chances are she has thought about how her tenure status will affect you and will have some input regarding your options.  If you're nearly done it really doesn't make sense for you to move, but perhaps there is a way for her to stay on in some capacity to continue supervising you or involve a co-supervisor.

[juilletmercredi]

At most universities, people who are denied tenure get a "terminal year"; since academic hiring works on the academic calendar, it's usually an opportunity for the professor to at least have employment while looking for another job. So, if your university is like most other universities, your advisor's final year will coincide with your final year.

She will, however, be very busy - and in the spring of your fifth year, will likely be traveling a lot to do on-campus interviews.

Usually, what happens in these situations is that your old advisor technically becomes your outside reader for your dissertation, but in practice still serves as a primary advisor. Then you find another professor in the department who can serve as your technical primary advisor and chair of your committee, but in practice will be a regular committee member.

If you have concerns, approach your advisor and talk to her. You don't have to say that you're worried she won't get tenure. However, certainly every academic knows that tenure denial is a possibility, so you can say that you want to talk about the potentiality.