Thank you to everyone who left the kind comments on yeterday’s post! I have been so worried about the tenure decision coming down that I feel completely wrung out now that the stress has been pulled away. It seems almost as if the stress were the only thing keeping me upright.
The reaction to my news on campus has been very gratifying. My chair was very happy to hear the news, and one of the other profs in the department gave me the old high five. The sweetest reaction, though, has been from the students. I posted my news on Facebook, so many of them knew last night that the good news had come through.
When I walked into my American lit class tonight, everyone turned to me with huge smiles, so I raised my hands in the cyclist’s victory salute. They all started clapping and cheering. A couple of students who like to cook had made chocolate goodies, so we passed around fudge and chocolate butterscotch cookies and munched contentedly while discussing the day’s reading assignment. They have insisted that they need to take me out for dinner, so on Thurday, we’re going to get pizza somewhere near campus.
I’m very glad to have students like this. It makes tenure even more appealing.
The Hobgoblin of Little Minds 
Lovely!
The students are the point and the purpose and the very best bit. I’m really glad to be back working with them again, even if it isn’t with literature still. They all knew you’d get tenure because their instinct tells them who’s worthwhile. And they are never wrong.
Hurrah and congratulations and may the chocolate continue to flow. I think students have good instincts about these things, and they can certainly tell their good profs from their bad ones.
What lovely people your students are. It sounds like a very fun class — but I’m guessing your classes are like that anyway, except maybe without the chocolate. (Bring on the chocolate, I say — how can you go wrong???)
What nice students you have! It is clear they care about you. It is even more clear what a good teacher you are! Enjoy the celebrations!