A Personal Case Study in Career Development – Part 5

A New Beginning

In the fall of 1972, I began my new career as an assistant professor of physics at Villanova University.  At the time, I had no way of knowing that I would happily remain there for the next twenty years of my life.

Although the campus was familiar to me from my days as an undergraduate physics major, it felt very different when I returned as an assistant professor of physics nine years after my days as a student had ended.  During those nine years, I had earned a Master’s degree in two years, a Ph.D. in five years, and had taught as an assistant professor of physics at Temple University for two years.

I chose the Villanova position over the two other positions I had been offered at Temple University because, based on my Haldane experience, the entry-level position at Villanova had important advantages over the other two offers as far as my primary career goal was concerned: 1) it was not a staff position, and 2) I would not be joining a department where I had earned my Ph.D.

Keeping the End in Mind

As I walked onto Villanova’s beautiful campus for the first time as a faculty member, I felt confident that a world of opportunities had been opened to me.  I was excited about my teaching assignment, the opportunity to continue my research, and the prospect of getting involved in the life of the University.

Universities are amazing places for both students and employees but, as I soon learned, nothing can beat the life of a faculty member, which is very much like being self-employed.  Faculty members had and still have many of the benefits, much of the autonomy, but none of the responsibilities that attach to self-employment such as, for example, the responsibility for keeping the enterprise financially viable.

I was also pleased that, from the three wonderful offers my Haldane experience had taught me how to attract, I had secured a very desirable entry-level position from which to pursue my ultimate career goal of academic administration at the university level.  And although as a tenure-track assistant professor I was beginning that quest from the lowest rung of a very tall ladder, I knew that successfully climbing that ladder would depend a little on luck and a lot on how hard I was willing to work to make the climb.

The Definition of the word “Game”

Merriam-Webster defines a “game” as “a physical or mental activity or contest that has rules and that people do for pleasure.”

While I don’t claim that career development is always a game in the literal sense of the word, I have learned from experience—and therefore do suggest—that most human interactions possess a game-like quality in which aspects of the above definition become relevant.

For example, some human interactions, including those involved in the career development process, are competitive and therefore involve a contest between individuals that for most careers are less physical than mental, social, and spiritual—in the sense of long term life goals, a.k.a., personal legacy.  

The Need for Rules in Society

Also, virtually all human interactions are governed by rules, sometimes spoken or otherwise unspoken yet somehow understood.  After all, what is the transition from infancy to adulthood but a non-stop tutorial from parents, teachers, clergy and other “role models” about the rules of civilized society?

Those rules can vary by geography and culture as well as over time, but because humans are social creatures first and foremost, rules are absolutely critical to social harmony.  Without rules, chaos ensues.  Even with rules, which invariably restrict individual freedoms—for the benefit of the larger society—chaos is still always possible as long as even a modicum of individual freedom remains.

The price of total freedom from chaos in society is the total loss of individual freedom in that society.  A proper balance between group security on one hand and individual freedom on the other occurs every day in every society, including ours.  And a dynamic tension attends any movement of the fulcrum.    

On May 20, 1992, Barbara and I flew from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh to be introduced to the students, faculty and staff as Cal U’s new president and first lady.  Our tickets had been purchased in advance—before the Board of Governors had chosen a president—so we flew as John and Jane Doe.  We showed no ID whatsoever and walked onto the plane without being searched or screened in any way!

In less than one generation, the fulcrum between group security and individual freedom was moved due to the evil actions of hijackers who abused their individual freedoms and by doing so, sacrificed ours.

And that’s one of the rules.