The Value of Academic Blogging

Word filtered down from on high (literally: the University of Montreal is on a mountain and the central administration sits on its peak) today that my tenure application was approved by the University Council, effective June 1.

This is very nice news of course but I am not fishing for compliments. I only mention it because I have two important things to say.

First, thanks to all the loyal readers who wrote notes about the utility of this blog. I included these in my application and the tenure committee took note of them.

Second, the tenure committee took account of the blog in evaluating my teaching, research and contribution to institutional visibility, even though I put the emphasis in my application on my ‘conventional’ academic contributions. While peer-reviewed research and hands-on classroom work might remain the gold standard for legal scholars, this is some evidence that blogging can contribute positively to enhancing one’s academic reputation. It has been valuable as a research and teaching tool for me. I only wish that the blawgosphere had more members; hopefully this news will tempt some academic lawyers down from the fence.

This content has been updated on February 23, 2016 at 15:50.