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News, Views and Careers for All of Higher Education

March 4

Newly Tenured — at Age 68

New York City College of Technology

Victoria Lichterman

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Once while in her 20s, Victoria Lichterman got two job offers within a week. One was full-time assistant professor status at Brooklyn College, where she then taught speech and theater. The other was a principal part in a television soap.

Being young, she turned down Brooklyn’s offer and, for just a matter of months before a change in producers, portrayed Dorothy Royce in Search for Tomorrow. “I’ve done a lot of acting in my life, a lot of acting, so trying to remember what this character did is not right on the top of my head. But I know that she ran a personnel office and, through that office, ruined people’s lives,” says Lichterman — who, of late, and much later in her own life, at last returned to academe.

“If someone had told me that I was going to start on a tenure track when I was 62, I would have laughed,” she says.

“But now I’m 68 and indeed, it’s been there, done that.”

Lichterman, an assistant professor of humanities, received tenure at New York City College of Technology this year, having signed on as a full-time junior faculty member six years ago at age 62 after a couple years as a part timer. “She’s just one of us, who came to tenure late in life,” says Cathy Santore, chair of the humanities department at City Tech, which is part of the City University of New York. “She’s worked extremely hard and with so much energy, I worried about her because I thought she’s just knocking herself out. She wants to keep up with the younger faculty but she went beyond what some of them are doing.”

“Actually,” Santore says, “she’s teaching me about age. When I said to her, ‘Victoria, you don’t have to work so hard,’ she said, ‘Oh, when you get to my age, you’ll see….You’ll just be so delighted that you can still do it that you’d like to do it.”

Lichterman, originally of Ohio, holds a master of fine arts degree in acting from the Yale School of Drama. She counts nearly 100 roles in television, theater and film to her credit, though talking about details of characters past strikes her as uninteresting. “There’s nothing sadder than old credits,” she says in trying to summarize a “checkered career” that spanned fiction and screen writing, acting, corporate training, and teaching. (And not always under one name. While home with her then-young daughter, she says she sold a piece of fiction to Redbook under the name “Victoria Robinson.” She acted under her maiden name, “Victoria Rauch.”)

Through it all, theater, she says, “weaves itself in and out of my life — appearing in a show and then doing something else and then appearing in something else. I know I’m not being very clear, but my life hasn’t been.”

She is in what she expects to be just the beginning of her days at City Tech. She teaches voice and diction and acting, but most enjoys teaching “effective speaking,” encouraging students to speak on practical matters like, “How do you read a contract? How do you know what you’re paying when you’re paying your credit card bill?” At last year’s Eastern Communication Association Conference, she presented both on “Addressing Intercultural Communication When ‘Difference’ is the Norm: Group Discussion Techniques for a Highly Diverse Student Population” and led, for the second time, a workshop on “Communication Skills for Teachers for Whom English is a Second Language.”

“We really have an incredibly diverse student population,” she says of City Tech. “Dozens of languages are the first languages at our school and we also have incredible diversity in our faculty population. One of the things that I’ve been trying to promote is better communication practices in the classroom between faculty and students.”

“There are so many simple things that are just good communication practices. Let’s suppose a student asks a question. If that question is asked with an accent, and the teacher, also with an accent, only answers that question to the student who asked it instead of repeating it clearly to the rest of the room and then answering it clearly, there’s a whole part of the lesson that’s lost. And this happens all the time.”

Lichterman is also developing a script as an educational tool to help students learn about genocide, and has done research on the history of white writers speaking through black characters. (That latter project evolved out of an unlikely beginning: a grant proposal for a screenplay about 1940s radio.)

In preparing presentations on her research, Lichterman – who says with a laugh that she didn’t know how to use a computer when she came to City Tech at the turn of this century — also had to relearn basic citation practices, which changed since she learned them. “At that age, you’re reeducating yourself it felt like just about every year.”

Well-aware of the old actor’s adage that few good parts are written for women over 50, Lichterman more generally says she objects to what she describes as “the real dismissal of the elderly in this society. You begin to see this the minute you get white hair.” Salespeople, for instance, address her differently: “The tone is ‘Hi’,” the actress in Lichterman says, pitching her voice up perfectly, “may I help you?” Yet, she notes in contrast to much of the rest of the world that at City Tech, her age has been a non-issue. Of course, other faculty there are of a similar age, but at different stages in their careers – either adjuncts or full timers who achieved tenure 30 years ago or more.

“There’s a definite philosophy in our society that after you’ve reached a certain age, it’s time to give up. And that’s very dangerous because first of all people are living much longer. And to look forward to 25 years of retirement is more years than I want,” says Lichterman. She plans to work as long as she feels she can do her job well and doesn’t foresee retiring anytime soon.

“I think that what’s so wonderful about having a career at this late stage is that you’re in the beginnings and not endings.”

— Elizabeth Redden

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Comments

That was very inspirational, thank you. As a newly retired computer programmer possibly trying to gain admission to higher education but starting off as a tutor in ESL, I appreciate hearing of career changes made in later years. I am trying to combine training in Montessori and Objectivist philosophy with this new discipline (ESL) to achieve results in teaching educated people who want to learn English at adulthood.

Jack, at 8:30 am EST on March 4, 2008

It is common for accomplished artists and performers to accept academic appointments in late career. It is a lot less common for those returning to grad school to attain tenure track positions or tenure in later life. I went back to school at age 40 and graduated with a Ph.D. in 1993, then spent literally 9 years finding a tenure track position. I received numerous interviews every year but was never quite the person offered the position (always second choice). Age discrimination is alive and well in academia. Finally I received a job offer and was awarded tenure last year, at age 59. I was overqualified by the time I was finally hired and have more than kept up with junior faculty expectations since then. These “feel good” essays about exemplary older folks should not convince anyone that there isn’t work to be done removing prejudice against older faculty. Lately I’ve been seeing discussions about “deadwood” in departments, always older faculty. To me, this is just coded language for negative attitudes toward older workers. Young deadwood don’t get tenure or aren’t renewed, but no one applies negative labels to such folks, or attributes their failures to age. I don’t find this profile charming. I find it annoying because it is so misleading about the job market for those trying to enter academia after raising children or a career in industry.

Sally, at 9:10 am EST on March 4, 2008

You are awesome, Ms. Lichterman!

Let’s have more on ageism and the people who rise above it in Higher Ed.

awcomeon, at 11:30 am EST on March 4, 2008

deadwood

Sally raises excellent points, though I beg to differ about the “deadwood” label. I’ve seen plenty of older faculty who are productive, great colleagues, generous, and so on. But I’ve also had senior colleagues who have had their feet up on their desks for years. The issue is not their age, but the fact that they are truly dead weight: people who fail to retire because doing so would decrease their income and increase their workload. Why would someone leave a job in which they work nine hours a week and get a very respectable full salary and benefits? It does happen that most (but not all) of these sorts are older, but the knock on them is not their age. Younger acholars who fail to get tenure might be called “washouts” etc., but their youth is not the issue.

Simplex Scholasticus, at 12:45 pm EST on March 4, 2008

Thanks for the encouragement

I appreciate this article as I am completing a PhD this year at age 65 and deciding then if I try tenure track or stay in administration. I appreciate the food for thought this article brings up, and second the ideas that those of us coming to academic activities later in life bring both our experiences and a ‘youung’ enthusiasm to our work. I am really enjoying this time of life and urge everyone to do likewise!

mary, at 1:15 pm EST on March 4, 2008

Newly Tenured — at Age 68

Interesting article. However, I have to agree that this is the exception, rather than the rule. Age discrimination is pervasive in our society, and the federal government doesn’t seem to be concerned about it at all.

Bill Goswick, at 3:35 pm EST on March 4, 2008

NewlyTenured at age 68

Like many posters, I did find this a very positive article but also agree with some of Sally’s reservations. It is expertise and productivity that should count and not age. Unfortunately, “ageism” is very rife in academia as those who apply for positions find out. Many hiring committees often exhibit professional jealously and shame for their own lack of achievements in addition to the age discrimination practises they use. “Ageism” is much worse in England than the USA as cited cases involving the BBC and academia show. If Bunuel and Seijun Suzuki can direct films into their 80s, there is no reason why post-60s accomplished and talented individuals should not receive the same consideration as younger colleagues. However, some reservations expressed may be suitably remedied by the introduction of “post-tenure"evaluation dealing with research and publications rather than fund-raising actvities or service. In this way, older and younger “deadwood” faculty can be removed so the field is clear for others, especially those beyond a certain age who can be highly productive in their respective fields and not suffer from ageism in academia.

Viper, at 4:10 pm EST on March 4, 2008

Perhaps the key to tenure at “a certain age” is to have a less linear route to academe. Victoria Lichterman had a non academic career for a long time. The linear path may not always work. I am now, at 60, in a tenure-track position, after 33 years in public secondary education, during which I earned a PhD at 47. I then spent five years at another university in non-tenure track positions. What got me the position I have now is the combination of my scholarly work and my secondary-ed experience. It has been a rich, complex, and interesting ride!

Agnes, at 4:25 pm EST on March 4, 2008

Hang Tough!!!

As much time as I spend fooling around with InsideHigherEd, you would imagine I was a big fan. Sorry gang, but the truth’s out.

Aside from falling madly in love with Victoria Lichterman and, therefore, not wanting to say a single negative thing about her status and aspirations, I do want to weigh in.

I am 71 years old and have been teaching (two years of high school, three years of junior college, and the rest at colleges and universities) for 48 years. I am currently teaching at Duke ... and let me tell you it is a very stimulating, really enjoyable experience. My colleagues are very bright and interesting, and, like most elite universities, the graduate students are terrific, but the undergraduates will knock you off your feet. They are – as the saying goes – to die for.

I will give you but a brief look at my career, starting after my very rewarding experience teaching high school mathematics and physics, teaching mathematics and business at a Lutheran junior college for women, and playing basketball for the Pepsi Cola All Stars.

Radford College ... mathematics ... tenure track

Virginia Tech ... mathematics ... tenure track

West Virginia ... statistics and political science ... tenure track

Princeton ... statistics ... soft money for three years

Yale ... political science ... tenure track

Michigan ... Institute for Social Research and political science ... tenure track

UNC Asheville ... mathematics and political science ... tenure track

James Madison ... mathematics ... tenure track

Michigan ... statistics and management science ... tenure track

Decision Dynamics Incorporated (president)

Shenandoah University ... statistics and management science

Duke ... visitor ... not tenure track

I have never had tenure and I have never been an adjunct professor. Most of the positions I left, I did so because there were really exciting opportunities and challenges awaiting me at the next position. I left UNC-A because I had offended waaay too many individuals to ever get tenure there. I left Shenandoah University because they fired me for not fitting in (they do not have a tenure system).

My point: If you are adventuresome and “competent,” you can have a Hell of a lot of fun in academe and without ever being obsessed with tenure. Maybe it was easier for me ... maybe times have changed.

I have so much empathy for adjuncts you couldn’t possibly measure it, but I would never accede to being exploited as an adjunct. I would much prefer a job in construction or working for a nursery or starting my own small business. The advantage of starting from adjunct status is that you have so much experience working for nothing and being treated with disrespect that there are a huge number of alternatives that are wonderfully preferable.

But Sally is right ... in academe, ageism is rampant. The number of Victoria Lichtermans who are treated with the respect they so richly deserve is minuscule in comparison to the enormous number of older scholars whose competence is unquestionable but who are treated like shit by a bunch of marginally competent, wannabe business managers.

The U.S. has a reputation for being the envy of the world when it comes to higher education. In my opinion that reputation has been earned by, at most, fifty universities at the top of the heap, and the enormous number of pretenders waaaaaay below that group are, yes indeed, waaaaay below that group. So when we discuss matters like this one there is a significant divide between the policies and procedures of the deserving and the “policies” and “procedures” of the pretenders. I have a friend who some years ago had both an AA degree from a community college and some exceptional work experience with the Feds in D.C. He decided he wanted an MBA (without getting a bachelors degree) and applied to eight universities. He was accepted at only three of the eight ... Harvard, Wharton, and Chicago. Poor boy, he went to Chicago, excelled there, and, subsequently, had a wonderful career in business.

As much as I love this story about Ms. Lichterman, I would not make too much of it ... certainly not insofar as American universities are concerned. So Ms. Lichterman, you can rest assured that, if the opportunity ever presents itself, I would love to ask you out for dinner. And I hope you won’t be discouraged by these evaluations. Students are a bit weird these days ...

http://www.ratemyprofessors.com/ShowRatings.jsp?tid=93892

Hang tough!

Frizbane Manley, at 7:30 pm EST on March 4, 2008

Tenure Track

Congratulations, Victoria. As someone who came back to academia for an MA at age 55 and now happily teaching as an adjunct instructor (who would love to have tenure), I would like to point out that part of her success may be due to her MFA, a terminal degree (though I would argue that the work in my MA thesis is as good as many MFA theses). Perhaps the fine arts has more flexibility for hiring and tenure than academic humanities.

Sara, at 10:55 am EST on March 5, 2008

Being 68

Why do we always talk about new sucess at an older age? What about me, everyman? I did not have the intelligence to become a PHD but I have taught children dance all my life, ran an ad agency and now only have the energy to sell ad promotions. Yet I am happier that I was because it took a lifetime to learn to love myself. All the hype over John Wayne and Katherine Hepburn, Ann Rand as examples were impossible to live up to. It would make any young person feel defeateded it did me. It took me this long to learn that live is a spiritual quest not a material one. Great for the PHD’s. I can teach you a fantastic time step.

Clarke Winchester, None at None, at 5:40 pm EDT on May 15, 2008

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