Comparative 2010

Johns Hopkins Humanities Center

 * Email ack. 11/18 (x7)
 * There were a little under 600 applicants.
 * Wow!
 * I got an email ack. for this app too. Which wouldn't be extraordinary...except I didn't apply for it. WTF?
 * Does anyone know if they will be conducting MLA interviews?
 * No. Straight to campus visit. Heard through the grapevine that this is probably a replacement hire for a star - from what I've heard, straight to campus visit is typically the MO for such hires.  
 * Have those invitations already been sent out, then?
 * Can the person who says they won't be doing MLA interviews indicate where he or she got this info? Thank you.

Middle Tennessee State University link

 * 12/14: Is this the Early European Lit position? If so, there's some activity on it over on the Medieval page.
 * No, this is an Anglophone Lit & Culture position. Should be on the Anglophone page then, I guess!

University of Colorado link

 * Does anyone know how reference letters fit into the online application for this position? They ask for three letters, but it isn't clear what their expectation is in terms of transmission.
 * A: They spell it out on the special instructions section of the job description on the application site.Q: Does anyone else use Interfolio to manage letters of recommendation? Do any of you, like me, not trust this to work with Colorado's online system in the slightest? How is Interfolio supposed to know which letters to upload, especially if we have multiple letters from the same recommender?
 * A: I just had Interfolio send my letters to humanities@colorado.edu —that system was too weird to deal with. Q.  Does anyone know whether the system will e-mail your recommenders even if you had Interfolio send the letters directly?
 * A: the system sends e-mails automatically. You can enter your own e-mail address if you don't want your recommenders to be e-mailed. The department has a helpful FAQ on their website: http://humanities.colorado.edu/assistant-professor-faqs/
 * On Interfolio...If you make the e-mail address they send help@interfolio.com, then Interfolio uploads letters (but for some reason, they only did three when I requested four). Warning: Interfolio randomly charges you four dollars for this service (fine) but don't explain why. It just shows up as a balance on the account the next time you send a delivery. ---Thank you so; much I could not figure out that fee.
 * Interfolio only uploaded two of my requested letters (used the help@interfolio.com address). A phone call revealed that they haven't been receiving all of the letter requests from CU. It's worth double checking the CU system and then calling Interfolio to have them email the letters directly.
 * Sorry to be the grim reaper, but per their staff person in charge of processing the applications, there are more than 900 applications for this job.
 * 11/23: Not sure if others noticed this announcement on their website: "We intend to notify candidates selected for interview at the MLA Conference on or shortly before December 21." FYI...
 * Yikes! That cuts things a bit close...
 * Someone I know in another dept there tells me there's probably an inside candidate, too.
 * Misery-season Schadenfreude says: I HOPE there's an inside candidate and those guys are stuck wading through 900 30-pp writing samples anyway! Ha!!
 * WTF? December 21 is not enough notice. The MLA should have guidelines on when candidates should be notified.
 * I've heard wild stories about people getting calls for interviews in their hotel rooms at the MLA. See, it could be worse!
 * If you're on the market, it's assumed that you'll go to the convention. Plus, this is a humanities job, so they wouldn't be going by MLA guidelines.
 * A humanities job posted on the MLA JIL and for which interviewing is being done at the MLA Convention should indeed be adhering to MLA guidelines--it may be that w/ MLA moving after this year to a new date (first Thurs-Sun in January) this whole situation will change, but it would be interesting to know whether the notification is getting later and later (it may be that in a tough market, schools feel less like they need to notify their top candidates ASAP). I do think this is a major issue, and I *don't* think that in the current economic climate it should be "assumed" that job-seekers will buy a $300-700 plane ticket and spend $200-500 on a hotel room when they don't even know if they'll have an interview. One of the MLA's main functions is to oversee things like this, and while I know this isn't the place to have this conversation, if it's getting worse we should all consider contacting members of the appropriate MLA committees/organizations.
 * 12/7: Received email requesting MLA interview for 12/28.
 * They are scheduling interviews by email? That's very odd.
 * Evidence of the power of the wiki-critique?
 * Does this mean they have processed all 900 applications?
 * Anyone else get an interview request? I find it very strange that they would claim on the site that they would make notifications around the 21st, and then a request goes out on the 7th. Not doubting the veracity of the poster above, but I do think that they're not finished with requests. And with that many applicants, one would think there would be a greater number of wiki users to post that they also received an interview. So I say let's continue to hold on to hope for later requests.
 * Yes, I also received an interview invitation, but by telephone. (x3)
 * Can people please put a date for when they received the interview invitations? This would clarify if they're reading/inviting on rolling basis.
 * 12/7 (I'm one of the x3 who received a phone call) (X3)
 * Would you mind revealing your field?
 * Musicology - received interview invitation 12/7
 * I also received a phone call for an interview 12/7 (not one of the original x3)
 * Would you mind revealing your field?
 * Musicology - received interview invitation 12/7
 * I also received a phone call for an interview 12/7 (not one of the original x3)
 * I also received a phone call for an interview 12/7 (not one of the original x3)

University of Minnesota (cultural studies and comp lit)

 * Q: Where is this advertised? Thanks!


 * I couldn't link to it because I only found it on the MLA listings (password-protected) -- it's expired now but you can search for it under "expired listings" and it will come up.
 * This job is also listed on the Film & Media Studies page
 * Has anyone heard back regarding this position? I didn't even get an acknowledgment... (12/4) // A: I have also heard nothing. I have a sneaking suspicion that they have an inside candidate, but that is really based on nothing more than the fact that they seem to have a couple of grad student instructors who work on their desired areas. And U of MN seems like the kind of school that is not averse to hiring their own. But I hope (for my own sake) this is not the case, because from what I know it is a cool department. And I can attest that Minneapolis is a great place to live.
 * They do not hire recent grads into tt positions. Look at their faculty profiles.

University of Rochester link
What is this position? There's a pre-1865 American posting, I know, but I haven't seen a comparative position advertised. And the link to the Chronicle no longer works.

Comments
Is it just me, or are the Comparative listings (specifically, the lack thereof, which then results in ridiculous levels of competition) offered this year utterly depressing?

It's not just you, wiki friend. It's beyond depressing. Best wishes to you in all this madness.

Thanks for commiserating with me, wiki buddy. I wonder how comparatists fare in general against those who focus on a single national (or linguistic) tradition when it comes to jobs in English or Foreign Language departments... Best of luck to you too!

I have an inkling of how comparatists fare when it comes to English jobs. The Chair of English at my graduate institution told me that, for purposes of hiring, they make two piles of applications: one for people with English PhDs and the other for everyone else (including to Comp Lit). They never even touch the Comp Lit pile unless they've worked their way entirely through the English pile and found NOTHING promising. In this current job market, it seems unlikely that the Comp Lit pile gets considered at all. I can't speak for the situation at every institution, but I suspect that this sort of thing might be a common practice in English (and other national literature) departments.