Tenure is a university process. I teach in a university. When you're hired as a professor (right after finishing your phd usually) you're hired as an assistant professor. And you're on a kind of "probation". You have six years (sometimes seven, sometimes five, depends on the school) to become a good university professor, to publish papers that indicate that you can do good research, and to do a certain amount of community and university service.
Then, at six years (in my case) I have to create a portfolio of everything I've written that got published in a journal, or a book. Every conference I've given a paper at. All of my course outlines, and evaluations (if you're in college and you think the end of semester evals dont matter, they do. a lot). And I write an essay saying what I've been doing, and why I'm worthy of tenure. Anyway, i get this portfolio together, people can send in letters of support if they want, and then its given to my dept, and between five and ten professors in other universities. If everyone approves, I get tenure, meaning a permanent position, and in my case a promotion to associate professor, and a raise. In most cases if you don't get tenure, you finish out the year, and then you have to leave. You get fired, basically. And you try to get another university position, and start all over again. It's quite a stressful thing.
So, I wish for tenure, and hope I'll get it.

Originally posted by Aspen and Misty
What is Tenure? I have never heard of this before.

Ash