MY MEMORIES

Charles Glenn Petersen

Oshkosh (continued)

At the beginning of Fall semester of 1982, with two years of the job, I applied for early promotion and tenure under the University guidelines. I had been teaching for 10 years, I had been an Assistant Professor for 6 years and a department chairman for 2 years and had been given tenure after 4 years at Northwest Missouri State. The guidelines required approval of the tenured full professors in the department. They opposed it, even though I had support from the Assistant Dean and the Dean. One of the professors told me, “I had to wait 6 years for tenure, you’ll have to wait 6 years.” I was not about to continue as a non-tenured Department Chairman. Nancy and I saw no future for us at Oshkosh and began quietly looking for a different place to teach.

In the Spring of 1983, my 3-year term as Department Chairman was coming to an end. I let it be known that I would not be applying for a second 3-year term. We gave no notice to the University that we were leaving, but the search for new employment began in earnest.

We went on 3 different interview trips and although Nancy was initially not interested in moving to Mississippi, it turned out to be the best position for the both of us. So we gave notice to UW - Oshkosh and prepared for our move to Mississippi.

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