SO.
Life update (kinda).

I just got off a Zoom meeting with our department head and it sounds like the best course of action for me this year is to apply for tenure renewal. I AM eligible to apply for tenure (though I’d be doing it a year early), but tenure renewal was suggested instead because:

a) if approved, it would add an extra three (?) years on my tenure track timeline, which means that if anything were to happen that would prevent me from applying for tenure next year (the last year I’m allowed to do so), I’d have an extra three years to apply without any sort of penalty.

b) I MAY be doing a brand new class next year, and it would be a class that would look really good on my application due to its uniqueness

c) the application for tenure renewal is exactly the same for tenure – cover letter, CV, and teaching dossier (the only difference is that when applying for tenure you have to also provide referees) – so it’s kind of like a “practice run” for the actual tenure application.

So yeah. I think I’m going to do that.