Acquiring tenure is much like earning a bachelor's degree: It takes roughly four years, requires hard work and dedication and is a big accomplishment in a professor's career.

Unlike graduating from college, though, professors applying for tenure only have, for the most part, one shot at being approved. It is an elusive milestone for assistant professors but a rewarding one as well.

Though the process of applying for and obtaining tenure is lengthy and stressful, assistant professors endowed with tenure are virtually protected from termination by the university and given almost complete freedom to teach and research as they wish.

All new faculty hired by a university, if they are just beginning an academic career, are given the title "assistant professor" and may choose between two positions, according to professor of political science Barrett McCormick. One will eventually lead to a bid for tenure and permanency at the university, while the other usually includes a "limited-term contract" which may or may not be renewable.

The non-tenure position may eventually lead to a "burn-out cycle," McCormick said, in which the assistant professor is hired for a short time — for example, when a tenured professor is on sabbatical — then must find new employment elsewhere.

Assistant professors hired on a tenure track have a maximum of six years to "demonstrate good teaching ability, a research and publishing history and service to the university and community," said professor of theology Patrick Carey.

Successfully fulfilling all three requirements, though, requires a lot of time and stress, McCormick said.

"The hardest things are research-related," McCormick said. An assistant professor must publish a book or a series of articles in a prestigious journal while teaching classes. During this time, the tenure clock is ticking — assistant professors start the application process for tenure during their fourth year at the university.

Assistant professors are given six years to compile their work and experience and begin applying for tenure late in their fourth year. The professor's department is responsible for putting together a detailed resume of the professor's work, McCormick said. It includes student letters and ratings, the professor's publications and evaluations from other scholars in the professor's field.

Then, according to professor of political science Michael Fleet, the professor's assessment starts.

The professor's file must pass through multiple review committees, beginning with a department-level board composed of senior and tenured professors. The professor's case then transfers to a college committee, which includes members of the entire college.

Fleet, who chairs one of three area committees in the College of Arts & Sciences, looks at the assistant professor's application for promotion or tenure, then reports to the dean of the college.

Finally, the chairs of all college or area committees meet to form the University Committee on Promotion and Tenure, chaired by T. Daniel Griffiths, vice provost for Research Graduate Programs.

"The committee reviews the material forwarded to it by the various departments and colleges or schools," Griffiths said, and "uses the guidelines of the department or school as well as university guidelines in arriving at a recommendation."

Once a decision is made by casting paper ballots, the recommendation is sent to the provost and finally decided by the president, he said.

The entire tenure application process takes about three months to complete, from the first department meetings in December to the president's announcement in early March.

If not approved for tenure, which is an uncommon occurrence, the assistant professor becomes "damaged goods," McCormick said, and will eventually be asked to leave the university.

"They are very likely looking at a new career," McCormick said. "The only places that would hire you are universities a notch lower than the university you applied for."

An initial denial of tenure, though, does not necessarily guarantee a lost career. Appeal procedures are available if the assistant professor feels they are necessary, and "some get in on the second shot," McCormick said.

Once tenured, the professor is allowed "access to academic freedom to teach the truth as they see it and to do research without outside interference," Carey said.

It "is a sign of maturity at the institution," Carey said. "It is a real privilege" to have this level of job security.

The professor's job is so secure, in fact, it is nearly impossible to get fired.

McCormick and Carey agreed it is rare to have a tenured professor removed. He remembers only "one case in all the time I've been at Marquette," he said, in which a professor was "persuaded to take long-term disability" for a severe mental disorder that was impeding his ability to teach.

Other than health reasons, though, there are few other reasons to face removal from the university.

"Demonstrative evidence of incompetence" and "moral turpitude" is also grounds for removal, Carey said, but both are hard to determine.

A financial disaster at the university also does not protect tenured faculty from getting fired, McCormick said. Other reasons include evidence of sexual harassment or stealing money from the university.