Professor Eric Olofson had spent two years at Wabash getting his research on infants and cognitive development up and running when he encountered a problem: a baby shortage. There weren’t enough infants to study in Crawfordsville.
He needed to switch gears in order to get something published, but he worried about how the change would affect his chances for tenure.
Olofson got needed reassurance from then Dean of the College Gary Phillips, but it took awhile to shift his study to preschool-age children, and the tenure clock was ticking.
“It was an overwhelming feeling of stress,” Olofson says. “Gary was understanding, and that was critically important. I’m thankful it worked out, but I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.”
Along his path to tenure, Olofson developed an immensely popular class on fatherhood that added yet another pre-tenure research interest. Olofson says seeing his students so passionate about the topic was invigorating.
“I never thought I would move in that direction,” Olofson explains. “It was the questions they asked about this, that, and the other thing that led me to subjects no one ever looked at. They told me that I should, so I am.”
Olofson earned tenure in 2014 and spent last year on sabbatical. He says the experience made him more innovative in the lab and in class because it gave him time to think. It allowed him to ask more questions and look at ways to do things differently.
“It was absolutely critical to have that time to reflect,” he says. “It helped my research, but I was also able to bring that research into the classroom. This time teaching Fatherhood was easily the most coherent from beginning to end and brought about the best classroom conversations we’d ever had.”
Olofson’s journey has come full circle, such that the stress and worries of the tenure process are behind him and only results lie ahead.
“In grad school, I didn’t so much plan for tenure as I dreamed of it being dragged in by unicorns and serenaded by leprechauns and fairies.” The Pacific Northwest native laughs. “It was this fantastical idea, something you strive for in the future. At the time, my daily concerns were simply, Is this study going to work?”
Hear Professor Olofson discuss fatherhood, kids, and today’s Wabash students on the Wabash On My Mind podcast at WM Online.