Restoration 2009

= Restoration/18th c. British =

I am currently...
 * ABD: 3
 * In a temporary/VAP/postdoc position: 3
 * In a tenure-track position:
 * On a Restoration/C18 search committee: 1
 * Just lurking:

[Discussion moved below.]

Jobs
American U
 * just thought I'd note that this is the 2nd year of this search.

Angelo State U (Long 18th)

Auburn
 * Additional materials requested November 3 (x5)
 * A: I got additional material request via email, then snail mail confirmation of application & demographic card came over a week later.

Bard College (17th/18th-c not including Romanticism)
 * got email acknowledgement
 * did you send your application very early? I haven't received any acknowlgt email yet
 * correction (to initial post): turns out I did not get an email ack. I thought I had, but upon searching my inbox, I see that I was wrong. Sorry for the confusion.
 * I got an e-mail auto-reply from "Bard Hrdept" when I sent my materials. It went into the spam folder and I had to dig around for it.
 * Oh, yes, I think that's what I was thinking of. And I think I deleted it. So, correction to my above correction is that I got that auto-reply.

College of St. Scholastica (MN) (women's, 18th or 19th)
 * Review begins Oct. 15

Colorado College (ability to teach core poetry classes-18thc and Romanticism)
 * 11/7: Application acknowledged by snail mail.
 * got email acknowledgement (x2)

Connecticut College (Concentration in Race and Ethnicity)
 * got email acknowledgement

Macalester
 * 11/10: Application acknowledged via snail mail, letter dated 10/31 (3)

McMaster U

Mississippi State
 * Application acknowledged via snail mail
 * 11/14 email request for more materials

Northwest Missouri State (18th or 19th)
 * Screening begins Nov. 1
 * Application acknowledged via snail mail

Pacific Lutheran (18th)
 * Application acknowledged via snail mail
 * Additional materials requested 11/12.

Roanoke College
 * 10/28 Received postcard saying app was rec'd.

Saint Anselm (18th)
 * got email acknowledgement (2)

Shepherd U (18th)
 * Application acknowledged via email 10/30.
 * MLA interviews to be arranged "in early December"

South Dakota State University (18th) Deadline: Nov. 30

The Citadel (18th) Review begins Nov. 7
 * Letters requested on Nov 3 (x2)
 * Letters requested on Nov 10

University of California-Los Angeles (transatlantic studies before 1900) Deadline: Nov. 3

U of Colorado-Boulder Open rank, from Advanced Asst on up.
 * I imagine (although I do not know) that people may have been individually invited to apply (their initial search failed, 2 years ago). They said they wanted to do interviews in November...anyone have any news about this search?
 * A: My advisor, who is a distinguished professor and good friends/previous colleagues with one of the search committee members, indicated that they're looking for someone at the Assoc/Full Prof rank. I also know that she's provided letters of rec for at least two senior people for this position.
 * Maybe the senior-ish people won't work out, and then they'll dig into the untapped goldmine of more junior apps. Or so I am hoping!

U Maryland--Baltimore County
 * Additional information requested October 28, October 30, and November 7th (x4)

U of Michigan (1660-1900)
 * Is this job still open? It says "pending approval" on the jil listing and I couldn't find it on the UM HR website today (11/4)
 * A: yes, received a nice acknowledgement of application via email 11/6 with timeline of hiring process.
 * A: more info on timeline: MLA interviews to be arranged "second week of December (December 8-12)" Campus interviews to be conducted  "January and February"
 * A: I got this letter too -- it did say "pending final approval of the search at the College level, we will interview these candidates at the MLA (Modern Language Association) Convention." Hopefully that's just butt-covering language and it will all work out.
 * E-mail acknowledgment rec'd 11/13. Here's hoping!
 * Ditto!

U of Ottawa (Rest/18th)

U of Southern California (Early Modern, 1600 - 1800)

Villanova
 * Search canceled? Applicants in some disciplines have been told that the College of A&S is postponing ALL hiring this year.
 * Response to above...I was told by a reliable source that the C18 search has been canceled.
 * The ad is still listed on their website.
 * Still listed? That's good to know. I'm feeling pessimistic, though.
 * Officially canceled; see JIL status update
 * FYI: Villanova is nevertheless mailing out letters with AA surveys attached (received 11/18)

Virginia Commonwealth University (British Enlightenment, etc) Q: I can't find a reference to this job on the JIL or on VCU's web site...can you tell me where to find some info? Thanks!
 * A: it was on the JIL, with a postmark deadline of 11/13. If it isn't there, it probably expired after the deadline (?). It was something like "Early English Colonialism with expertise in texts of the British Enlightenment."
 * A: Ah, that rings a bell. I probably by-passed it because it's not quite my area of focus.  Thanks so much for the clarification...I got nervous there for a second.
 * A: Also, "expertise in the slave-trade debate."

Yale
 * Received 2 postcards stapled together (1 AA survey) as acknowledgement of application (11/7).
 * Received the same 2 postcards (11/12) (ditto 11/17)

Discussion
Observation: I will let somebody list the jobs if they feel like it, but I will propose that, having tracked the eighteenth-century possibilities for four years, this is the second-best year. Only the preternatural selection of good positions two years ago (2007) was better. So enter the market with optimism!

A: I don't get it. (Sorry!) YOu're being sarcastic, right? There don't seem to be many openings this year to me!

A: This is my 3rd year on the market in one capacity or another, and I have to agree with the answer above. A good many of the "18th-century" jobs out there this year are being marketed as some version of "the long 19th century."

A: It seems inevitable that after having coopted other centuries for so long, we c18s would experience the same thing. I'm just focusing on the fact that I'm prepared to teach a wide array of materials, from a couple of centuries.

A: The part of the initial observation that I find to be most bizarre is the first clause. There aren't even 20 solidly 18th-century jobs here. Optimism is good, but realism is also acceptable...

A: I'm not sure about how the overall number of jobs compares with previous years. There are always less eighteenth-century jobs than early-modern jobs or Victorian jobs, just as there are less of us applying for them. This is a good year for good jobs. There are seven good research schools hiring (including USC's open-discipline 1600-1800 position and Northwestern's "around 1800" position). There are four really good liberal-arts colleges hiring.

A: Are there really fewer people in our field? It's certainly true at my university, but are there numbers or findings on that? Not that I don't enjoy the fact that we're a spectacular, unique, and very clubbable bunch! This is my 3rd year, too, for what it's worth, and I thought it was a pretty decent year given the economic slump that's caused lots of places, especially state schools, to enact hiring freezes.

A: I think there are definitely fewer of us, at least where I am. All the people in my dept who say "your century is so boring" are now saying "how come there are so many eighteenth century jobs? waah!" I think it's a pretty good year in terms of what's posted, but I'm trying to be realistic and assume that at least a few will get canceled. Good luck to all!

A: But note how restrictive most of these jobs are! USC's search is open discipline; there's not even a guarantee that they'll hire someone in English, let alone in 18th-c. Similarly, Northwestern's is a Romanticist job. And Bard excludes Romanticism and Conn College has a particular focus, etc. And note how many small, religiously-affiliated jobs and/or jobs with 4-4 or 4-3 teaching loads there are. This really isn't a great year for 18thc. Let's hope it gets better next year and that all of those schools with hiring freezes life them! :)

A: I agree that this isn't a great job list this year for 18th-C people. It's not awful, but there are fewer jobs, and fewer really desirable ones, than there were the last two years. And this is the third year in a row that Bard's running their search, which signals to me that there's something screwy at the institution (which, given Bard's reputation, isn't hard to believe).