PATHWAY TO A SUCCESSFUL ACADEMIC CAREER.doc

PATHWAYS TO A SUCCESSFUL ACADEMIC CAREER

A PhD FORUM FORUM LECTURE, UNIVERSITY OF LAGOS

BY

PROFESSOR AYODEJI O. OLUKOJU, FNAL

TUESDAY, 26 JULY 2016

Preamble

I thank God, the Immortal, Invisible and Omniscient One, for the privilege
of addressing this assembly of colleagues and aspiring academic leaders. I
duly acknowledge the distinguished presence of the Dean, School of
Postgraduate Studies (SPGS), "the Dean of Deans," Professor Solomon
Akinboye (incidentally, a fellow product of the University of Nigeria); the
Sub-Dean, SPGS, Dr. K.O. Adekoya; Professor Adeyemi Daramola, Hall Master
and Dr. S.V. Akayaar, Hall Warden of Henry Carr Hall; Messrs Abimbola
Oyarinu and Jackson Aluede, and the other members of the executive
committee of the "PhD Forum" for this invitation to interact with our
graduate students and aspiring academics. Please, note that I am not an
expert or authority on such a wide subject and you should pardon me for
spicing my presentation with some personal examples.

Introduction

Without attempting to offer precise definitions, we shall begin this
discussion by highlighting the key issues in focus in this lecture.
"Pathways" is a rough delineation of benchmarks by which the "success" of
an "academic" "career" may be measured. The benchmarks are not meant as
rigid prerequisites but as helpful markers in both absolute and relative
terms. We shall identify what "success" means in the Nigerian and global
contexts. An "academic" is distinguished from an "intellectual" in terms of
where he/she works, in this case, in a tertiary institution, specifically,
a university. In this connection, while a successful academic is expected
to be an intellectual, the latter is not necessarily a scholar or an
academic. We also wish to emphasize that we are interested in academics who
would make a "career" (a paid, lifelong preoccupation) of their
intellectual or academic enterprise.

The Academic

For our purpose, academics begin their career as teachers in a tertiary
institution with the minimum qualification of a PhD-registrable Master's
degree, preferably after a good Bachelor's degree in the same discipline.
This ensures the disciplinary solidity and grounding of such persons in
their primary areas of teaching and research. There are, of course,
exceptions to this rule of the thumb in respect of gifted or industrious
persons. The academic's job schedule combines teaching with research and
publishing, project/thesis supervision, conduct of internal and external
examination, peer review of publications, participation in seminars,
workshops and conferences, consultancy and community service. In every
aspect of life and service, the academic is required to display integrity,
personal initiative, fidelity to the system, respect for constituted
authority, sacrifice and service.

The academic is called to be an intellectual, a thinker and producer of
knowledge. Outstanding academics are also public intellectuals, whose views
are sought on issues of national and global significance, and who are
challenged to make their discipline relevant to societal needs. While an
intellectual may not be an academic, an academic is required to be an
intellectual, harnessing his intellect to raise generations of specialists
in his/her field in the classroom and making his experience available to
policymakers in the public sector and private sector establishments.

Measuring the Success of an Academic

Various criteria, not universally agreed, benchmark success as an academic.
Among these are

the Doctoral degree (though many have achieved success without it),

Number and/or quality of publications

Citation of publications

Research grants and awards

Postdoctoral fellowships

Membership of research networks

Membership of boards of prestigious journals

the Professorship,

Headship of Departments, Faculties and tertiary institutions (as
Rectors, Provosts, Directors-General and Vice-Chancellors),

Political appointments and national/international assignments

Visibility in public discourse and consultancies

Property and material prosperity

Social relevance

Popularity of textbooks

Academy and higher Fellowships, NNLG, Booker and other Prizes, NNOM,
and the Nobel Prize

I shall now devote some space to highlighting the benchmarks for academic
academic success.

Becoming a Successful Career Academic

For those whose goal is to achieve excellence as academics as described
above, I shall make some suggestions toward actualizing their vision.

Develop capacity for wide-ranging reading across disciplinary lines
and intellectual curiousity – reflected in familiarity with current
literature; combine breadth with depth of knowledge

Have a solid research base – a credible and substantial PhD, that has
potential to make notable contributions to knowledge and for producing
multiple publications

Sharpen your research and personal focus and purpose; create a brand
and niche for yourself – one can be a generalist with a specialist
focus

Master the peculiar tools and best practices in your discipline

Know yourself: work on your shortcomings and optimize your
attributes[1]

Develop a well-rounded personality – do not be one-dimensional;
versatility is an asset

Have a winning mentality – be dogged, resilient and do not settle for
second best; strive for excellence

Develop analytical power - the capacity to conceptualize, pause and
ponder (reflect)

Work on your presentation skills:

Presentation skills are essential both for teaching and for presenting
at conferences. It is no longer acceptable to mumble through a
conference paper, but rather you need to present your work in a
confident manner, making strong eye contact and articulating with a
strong voice. Everyone can improve their presentation skills with
some good training and with practice.[2]

Challenge received wisdom – when others focus on the "why" question,
ask yourself: "Why not?" (the answer could lie in "Negating the
Question"[3])

Defend your integrity – personal/moral and academic (cf. moral
turpitude)

Acquire tools of the trade and be ICT-compliant – acquire a laptop,
hone typing skills, engage in daily surfing with search engines, check
e-mail several times daily and know how to compose your PPT

Develop your language power through wide reading; master registers of
discourse in various disciplines

Master different writing and referencing styles – understudy acclaimed
writers or scholars

Be diligent – the devil is in the details (precise citation,
documentation of files, volume/no and page numbers, publisher and
place of publication, etc.); go the extra mile; "hard work pays"

Engage in constant honest self-assessment and submit to peer review.
Be humble to learn, and open to correction and instruction. Be open to
criticism:

If you shrink at the mere hint of a criticism of your work, then
academia may not be right for you. Papers submitted to journals get
rejected, proposals for funding come back full of critical comments,
editors insist on rewriting and reworking the material before
publication, etc.[4]

Know that academics is a give-and-take world. "After all," argues Dr
Angelia Wilson, a Senior Lecturer, "it is an academic's job to read
other people's work and find holes in it."[5] Academics should,
therefore, "[f]rame criticism as a way to learn and improve."[6]

Yield to systematic mentoring – spiritual, intellectual, professional;
develop a cordial and respectful relationship; carry out supervisors'
assignments without delay, grumbling or rebellion/sabotage; collect
material for your own research while assisting your mentor; take this
as part of your training – only a successful mentee can mentor others
(serve to lead). Be a team player – collegiality is an asset for
professional accomplishment and social fulfilment. Maintain links with
your supervisors and mentors long after graduation. You would need
such contacts later.

Pace yourself in relation to peers and set realistic goals; keep your
ambition within reasonable limits

Set priorities – PhD, publications, etc before flashy cars and
expensive apparel; you cannot board an aircraft with your car but your
CV accompanies and goes ahead of you

Make every necessary sacrifice – time, comfort, privileges and
entitlements, pleasure (as opportunity costs)

Do strategic publishing – target the best journals (impact factor);
classify journals and migrate strategically (Africanist vs specialist
journals); sole authorship is recommended to create your own brand and
identity; where joint authorship is the norm, strive to be the first
or second author always; avoid predatory publishers and journals; go
for quality, not just numbers. "Always start with a top-tiered
journal, and if you think your paper has no shot at even a second-
tiered journal," Dr. Kate Wolitzky-Taylor counselled, "ask yourself
if this is really the type of work you want out there with your name
on it."[7]

Be open to, and jot down, your inspirations – be on the alert for your
"eureka moments," with writing material handy

Adopt optimal time management – no idle moment; reflect, read and
write while others are lounging – such as while connecting flights,
during flights, multiple public holidays, weekends, late or early
hours of the day, etc. "If you want to succeed as an academic (and
also have time for family, friends and personal interests)," an expert
counselled, "it is very important to be organised and highly
disciplined; understand your priorities and ensure you carve out
enough time for your own research; and complete urgent, but perhaps
less interesting tasks such as marking, as quickly as possible."[8]

Be gainfully, proactively and positively involved in committee work at
the Department, Faculty and University levels – this is how to acquire
leadership experience and sound knowledge of the workings of the
system; volunteering and social engagement is rewarding

Know the rules governing your rights and obligations as an employee –
promotions, financial support from the university and entitlements,
such as study leave, leave of absence, leave without pay; fulfil your
own obligations – complete and submit your APER form within the
designated time frame, respect deadlines, discharge your statutory
obligations (teaching, completing your syllabus, grading scripts and
turning in results on schedule, etc.) The observation of an American
post-doctoral fellow, after reviewing five years since his graduation
is worth quoting in extenso. He stated that in addition to mastering
formal rules:

you also need to understand many of the more subtle aspects of
academic life – how to build a reputation in your field of research,
how to make sure that your work is read, recognised, and cited, how to
belong to the right networks, etc. The formal, overt rules are clearly
stated and easy to notice. The informal rules and techniques of
academic labour often remain opaque to PhD students and early-career
scholars.[9]

He added that formal university structures are unable "to properly
socialise students into academic life and teach them these rules and
techniques." Such informal rules are only discovered "through contact,
collaboration and mentoring relationships with your supervisor and
other established academics."

Join networks, especially online communities of intellectual likeminds
(H-West Africa Net; Pambazuka; H-Maritime, etc). Develop mutually
beneficial research and publishing collaborations. The following tips
have been recommended for effective networking:

- Develop a positive attitude towards meeting potential contacts,
even if you are shy and not naturally extroverted.
- Identify relevant people in your field who may be future
collaborators or employers. 
- Start to develop your own professional network... See if your PhD
supervisor or Principal Investigator is prepared to share some of
their own network of contacts. 
- Attend the right conferences to present posters, papers or talks.
Again, try to be (appropriately) forthright and social at these
events. 
- Make yourself known to other researchers on academic online
networking sites like Academia.edu or Mendeley. Consider using
general professional networking sites, such as LinkedIn, to develop
contacts with potential external collaborators
- Ask yourself, who knows your work, beyond your own university or
research group? If you can't attend external academic events, see
which external researchers are coming to your own university (to
give talks or seminars) and attend these. Ask questions about their
research and find (genuine) opportunities to engage them in
conversation afterwards. Don't be afraid to ask if you can follow
up at a later time (without acting like a stalker).
- Find events outside your university to attend which will extend
your network. If you are a member of a professional institution or
scholarly association, take an active role in local or regional
meetings, special interest groups, mailing lists or conferences.
- Apply for funding to travel to other institutions for your research
or to conferences. As well as helping develop your network, this
also helps develop your ability to write persuasively in order to
win funding.[10]
Attend learned conferences – local and offshore – every year; look for
online CFP and share with others

Compete for Grants and Fellowships: a true test of your ranking as
scholar and researcher, and the best way to promote your career at no
cost to yourself

Have the ultimate aim of registering an enduring impact, leaving a
lasting legacy through relevant research, landmark publications in
high-impact outlets and worthy protégés.

Have faith in God

The Making of a Professor

By popular consensus, the professoriate is the ultimate in academic
success. The image of the professor is captured in the following passage:
"For most academics becoming a full professor is a career pinnacle, the
reward for many years of dedicated work and intellectual creativity. It is
public recognition of achievement and it carries with it considerable
status. Professors are a source of fascination and admiration. They stalk
the pages of history. There is real mystique about, for example, the Oxford
don or the Ivy League professor."[11]
Let me state clearly at this juncture that, unlike the genuine ones that we
are discussing here, there are phoney professors around. Associate
Professors who left the university without attaining the full professorship
are often addressed as "professor" by uninformed or sycophantic pressmen
and aides. Nigerians will recall that a former civilian Minister and a
former Director-General of a research institute, who left as Associate
Professors allowed themselves to be addressed as "professor." There is also
the pathetic case of someone who was made an adjunct (that is, honorary)
professor but chose to address herself as "professor." A few other
Nigerians have appropriated the title without realizing that there is a
process leading to the appointment of professors, which I shall explain
shortly. Hopefully, title-crazy Nigerians, who love to be addressed as "Dr"
and would pay anything and approach any phoney offshore university for
dubious and empty honorary doctorates, will not debase the professorship in
like manner. The irony is that those who desire to be addressed as "Dr" are
among the most obscurantist of Nigerians, who despise scholarship and
academics.
That said, we need to consider a fundamental question: Are professors made
or born? Professors are made, not born, so stated Robert Morrell in a
recent illuminating piece. He cited the "astonishing history" of J.H.
Hofmeyr, which he described as "arguably of a professor born." Hofmeyr was
born in Cape Town in 1894, matriculated at 12, obtained a master's degree
at 17 and became a professor at the age of 23. But this was an uncommon
exception. For, most professors are made by dint of diligence. "The routes
they travel are many and tortuous," Morell observed, " mostly achieved
after decades of effort and invariably in the face of obstacles."[12]
In Nigeria, the journey to the peak of the academic career begins at the
level of the Assistant Lecturer (AL) and runs through the rungs of
Lecturers II and I, Senior Lecturer, Associate Professor or Reader and
culminates in the full professorship.[13] Appointment as an AL is
contingent upon possessing a Master's degree in the relevant field with a
PhD-registrable grade. Moving up to the next grade (Lecturer II) requires a
PhD degree or, under certain circumstances, a stated number of
publications, years of service and evidence of progress on the PhD
programme. The same prerequisites – years of service, a PhD degree and
requisite number of publications and, in some contexts, availability of
vacancies - determine upward mobility. The Senior Lectureship is a crucial
post, where most academics appear to stagnate for some years, depending on
vacancies at the professorial level (both Associate and Full
Professorship). A good number of Senior Lecturers (SLs) retire at that
level for several reasons, notably for lack of a PhD or sufficient
publications for elevation. The SL serves as a career grade for such
persons. That said, SLs could move to the next level by promotion or by
appointment. However, they can be appointed full professors, skipping the
Associate Professorship, by appointment. The process involves a newspaper
advertisement, shortlisting by the Department and Faculty appointments and
promotions (A&P) committees, external assessment, interview and approval by
the university's A&P committee and the Governing Council. Morell has
pointed out that "[a]t most universities promotion involves having to meet
criteria in three or four areas: research and publication, teaching and
learning, administration, management and leadership, and a fourth area,
social responsiveness."[14]
The ideal picture painted above is without prejudice to the differential
value accorded by various disciplines to sole-authored or joint
publications, conference proceedings, chapters in books and professional
fellowships and qualifications. Moreover, we should acknowledge that a
number of dynamics intervene in the process leading to the peak of the
academic career. Some of these dynamics are Publications, Positioning,
Perseverance, Providence, Prayers and Politics. In all circumstances,
Providence (divine intervention), prayers and perseverance are critical,
especially when inexplicable delays take place. Delay is often occasioned
by campus politics, where factional, ethnic, religious and other non-
academic considerations (patronage, nepotism, old schoolboy networks,
social club membership, etc.) infiltrate the system.[15] Mediocre academics
rely upon, and profit from, such considerations; they often supersede
better qualified candidates disadvantaged by primordial and other
considerations. Ironically, the better academics are often deliberately
kept down to teach them a lesson for their so-called stubbornness or
arrogance. By "positioning," I refer to being fully prepared and available
when there are openings for elevation. This means satisfying the minimum
requirements regarding years of experience, completing and submitting
properly completed APER forms, getting ready the requisite number and mix
of publications, complying with instructions and readiness to respond at
short notice.
The fundamental criterion is the ability to generate the required number,
quality and mix of publications. For example, publications in
domestic/local journals and edited books, supported by letters of
acceptance are accepted up to the rank of SL. However, some major
universities in Nigeria accept forthcoming publications up to the rank of
professor but the University of Lagos does not. From the SL to full
professorship, one is also expected to produce a certain number (1:3:6) of
offshore/foreign/international publications to qualify for shortlisting and
processing for promotion or appointment. Furthermore, a total number of
publications (12:18:22) is required for elevation to the SL, AP and
Professorship. Let me digress by stating my personal view on these
criteria. I am in broad agreement with them except in the following
respects. First, any publication domiciled in Nigeria is domestic but could
be of international standard. But such do not qualify as "international"
publications by any definition. Second, though many so-called
international/offshore publications are of the predatory type, rating below
home-based ones, I believe that every serious academic that demands respect
must be published and read outside Nigeria. To do otherwise is to raise
"local champions," who parade what soldiers call "field ranks" that are
irrelevant elsewhere. My third caveat is that the most credible test of the
competitiveness of an academic is the ability to publish in thoroughly peer-
reviewed learned journals published by professional associations or
credible Departments or Faculties in established universities and research
institutes all over the world.
The proliferation of universities and the need to meet NUC programme
accreditation requirements have undermined the dignity of the professoriate
and eroded standards. Although labour migration across universities is
normal and inevitable, the way that some academics have been hopping from a
lower post in one university to a higher one at another, sometimes on an
annual basis, does a lot of disservice to the profession and the
professoriate. I am not saying that everyone migrating from one university
to another to occupy the professorship is unqualified but I am asserting on
the basis of experience that some academic nomads have exploited the
desperation of some universities to attain the rank without due competitive
process.
After all is said and done, the professoriate is a noble and worthy career
goal. The paths to it vary from person to person, and according to
institutional and national contexts. "Globally, however," Morell concludes,
"promotion [in the academia] is secured by achievement and labour and in a
globally competitive environment this results in demanding work regimes and
long, long hours."[16] He added that: "Professors are not simply declared;
they have to earn their stripes and be seen to earn their stripes."
Otherwise they will lack legitimacy within and beyond the academy.



Conclusion
As a concluding remark on how to become a successful academic, I shall
quote an anonymous author: "Self-awareness, savvy strategies and practical
skills make the difference between tenure and failure. Even small changes
may produce big effects over time."[17]
When I started out as a young academic on May 2, 1984, my career goal was
not the professorship. My good friend, and former classmate at Nsukka and
Ibadan, Musa Igezunyia Mohammed Abutudu, Associate Professor of Political
Science, University of Benin, will attest that I focused on "PhD and PoP."
The professorship, if it came, would be an icing on the cake. I reasoned
that if I obtained a PhD and produced a "pile of papers" (PoP) in leading
journals, I would earn international recognition that I considered more
critical than a professorship. God helping me, I obtained the PhD in 1991,
more than eight years after the take-off of the programme, earned
accelerated promotions to LI and SL in rapid succession, and attained the
professorship in 1998, seven years after attaining the SL grade. I did not
pass through the Associate Professor grade. But well before the
professorship, I had been blessed with several publications in high-impact
journals, which facilitated my postdoctoral research fellowship
applications. So, I have derived greater fulfilment from the postdoctoral
fellowships, recognition and citation of my publications, appointment to
boards of leading international journals and various other accomplishments,
culminating in the Fellowship of the Nigerian Academy of Letters, the apex
body of professors of humanities disciplines, in 2011. Yet, I have not
stopped publishing and engaging in research. It has been a rewarding life
as an academic, travelling the world as a visiting researcher, keynote
speaker or conference paper presenter, and being recognized in various
ways. It is now your turn to make a success of your academic career. I wish
you all the best and God's blessings as you embark upon this fascinating
journey.
I thank you for your patience. God bless.
-----------------------
[1] This is among five important strategies identified by a Harvard-based
scholar: "Know your strengths; Set specific goals; Be positive; Be
resilient; and Make time to recover."
http://www.extension.harvard.edu/inside-extension/5-strategies-academic-
success-using-your-strengths, accessed on 24 July 2016.
[2] http://www.academiccareer.manchester.ac.uk/about/do/skills/, accessed
on 24 July 2016.

[3] Karl Marx, The Grundrisse, "The Chapter on Money," 1857, p.127
asserted: "Frequently the only possible answer is a critique of the
question and the only solution is to negate the question."
[4] http://www.academiccareer.manchester.ac.uk/about/do/skills/, accessed
on 24 July 2016.

[5] Cited in Ibid.

[6] "Ten tips to a successful academic career," https://www.div12.org/ten-
tips-to-a-successful-academic-career/, 24 July 2016.

[7] "Ten tips to a successful academic career," https://www.div12.org/ten-
tips-to-a-successful-academic-career/, 24 July 2016.
[8] http://www.academiccareer.manchester.ac.uk/about/do/skills/, accessed
on 24 July 2016.

[9] Daniel Nehring, "To build a successful academic career, you need to
play by the rules," 6 February 2013,
http://www.socialsciencespace.com/2013/02/to-build-a-successful-academic-
career-you-need-to-play-by-the-rules-but-what-are-the-rules/, accessed on
24 July 2016.

[10] http://www.academiccareer.manchester.ac.uk/about/do/skills/, accessed
on 24 July 2016.

[11] Robert Morrel, "Professors are made by hard work,"
http://thechronicleofeducation.com/2016/07/21/professors-made-hard-work/,
accessed on 22 July 2016.

[12] Ibid.

[13] I am adopting the University of Lagos model in this discussion.

[14] Morell, "Professors are made by hard work."

[15] This is without prejudice to affirmative action by consensus and
according to the rules but not at the expense of competence.

[16] Morell, "Professors are made by hard work."

[17] http://www.successfulacademic.com/, accessed on 24 July 2016.