Talk:Communication and Media Studies 2009-2010

Thanks to whomever just restructured our page -- it looks great!Aeon Elpis 01:38, November 28, 2009 (UTC)

Would anyone be interested in doing a counter (like what they are doing over here ) of who is reading?Aeon Elpis 01:38, November 28, 2009 (UTC)

Maybe, but the page is so long already that perhaps we should create a different page for the counter. --Tsharifi 04:34, November 28, 2009 (UTC)

While the counter is cool, it makes the page very difficult for me to read on my phone. :(

why isn't the WSISYG editor here anymore? :(
 * see info on main page, I tried cleaning things up but it's still gone, so I suspect it's an academicjobs.wikia issue

'''There was a WYSIWYG editor turned on and now it is off. Any chance that someone can help figure out how to do that?'''
 * A couple of possibilities: this is just one page on the academicjobs wiki, so someone who 'owns' the overall wiki may have tweaked some settings; also, once a page gets particularly long and complicated, the wysiwyg editor may get turned off as it's too slow to load. I'm going to clean up some formatting and see if that helps... edit: formatting done and html cleaned out, but wysiwyg is still mia... guess the page is just too long for it now. :(
 * - Thanks for the clean up effort! I think that you're right, the page is too big for WYSIWYG. Maybe we could tidy up some old info - like pushing responses onto one line? I have a sense that people will be more likely to participate if it is WYSIWYG. Also maybe we could ask someone at Wikia for help?
 * I suspect it's a matter of the number of bytes/words, rather than visual length -- so compressing may not do anything. We could move the "chit chat" section to the Talk page, perhaps... I'll give it a try right now and see whether that does anything. edit: doesn't seem to have helped; perhaps someone tweaked a setting on the overall wiki, or the overall wiki has gotten too unwieldy for the visual editor. Personally, I like using wikitext better anyway... :) I've left 'chit chat' on the Discussion page for now in any case.

FIXED!

Chit chat
moved here from main page 2/1/10 -- feel free to move back if necessary, but I think it works well here Hey everyone, while there is still sometime left, I'd guess that you're like me and starting to think "WTF am I going to do differently next year to get a job?" Quick poll - what do you think are the biggest contributing factors to your not progressing in the job search? Could we clarify with a few words why/how we are receiving certain indications here-i.e. why did you conclude that pubs, ABD, being too specialized, etc. was the variable?
 * Being ABD X7
 * Not having enough pubs X5
 * Not networking enough X4
 * Not being from a top program X2
 * Not having a top advisor x2
 * Not having a strong cover letter
 * Being too specialized X
 * Not being specialized enough x1
 * Not hiring in your area X3
 * Being too picky about location X2
 * Being too picky about type of school
 * Bad economy = fewer jobs = more applicants X13
 * They can't handle my realness/overall kickass awesomeness X3
 * Not having enough teaching experience x1
 * Not having enough technological/professional/production experience (for media studies jobs) X3
 * Not publishing in the "right" journals x1

THIS SITUATION SUCKS.

So what are people planning on doing from here on out?
 * I'm going to go adjunct at Fairfield University. Since I didn't get the TT position, I figure why not do the same job for much less money and prestige? It's gonna be awesome. (Ha! kudos to the author of this gem!)
 * I still have funding, so I'm going to be ABD for another year and try again next fall.
 * I don't have funding, so I am going to get a job (Starbucks?) and try again next fall.
 * I don't have funding, but I am going to self-fund next year and try again next fall.
 * Eff academia. I'm leaving forever.
 * I'm going to try for a post-doc X2
 * I'm putting myself on Match.com and hoping someone with money takes me in. (this comment is hilarious whoever you are!)
 * I'm moving back in with my parents X1
 * Keep on applying :) x4 I wouldn't be surprised to see more jobs come out in the next few months.
 * Giving it one more year -- will have PhD completed and at least one more pub for next year's market. If a PhD and 5 pubs aren't enough to get a job next year, I'm with "Eff academia" above. Me too - 7 publications and nothing! I will say 'Goodbye academia forever if I do not get a job this year"
 * Echo the post above. This is my 3rd year on the market and will likely be my last. Heading towards the private sector and non-profit if I don't get a gig for next year.


 * ADDITIONAL DEGREES/WORK EXPERIENCE?

- Still have 10 jobs left to hear from, but I applied to get a second MA in religion (1 year program) that will supplement my PhD in rhetoric (I do rhetoric of religion) if I don't get an offer. Hope it doesn't come to that, but it might help with apps next year. -- is a 2nd MA really going to help? I was considering doing an 2nd MA in research methods and faculty (and various internet forums) seemed to argue that it wouldn't help. ''Its a good question and I'm not sure exactly how much of a difference it would make I think it depends on the particular situation. I talked to several people, my advisor, the dean of the divinity school I applied to, etc. Most of those I talked to see it as 1. a vita booster (its an amazing school-one of the best in the world), and 2. it would certainly give me an edge as a researcher on the topic. How many of us studying religious comm actually have training in the philosophy of religion? I don't know if anyone in our field has that. I think our field's understaning of religious comm is severely lacking. So this could produce publications and understandings of the rhetoric of religion that haven't even been addressed yet--issues we don't even understand yet. But on the other hand, you're right: it might not be worth it. I just figured it was worth applying in case it came down to it. I think it would beat working at a restaurant for a year, particularly if I were to get funding.. ''
 * FYI- Chris Lundberg, who is a Northwestern grad and has been an assistant prof at UNC-Chapel Hill for a couple years now, studies religious rhetoric AND has a divinity degree.
 * awesome, thanks for the info!

- I'll throw in my two cents having chaired several searches and sat on a number of committees. It has become so common for PhD students to pump out articles that the sheer number has become meaningless to some of us, but not the R1 institutions. If you are going for a journalism/mass comm job, you should have some real experience in the field to get you over the hump. I'm not on the search committee for our current search, but I know the committee tossed out a number of candidates because they lacked work experience. At a national conference I once asked a grad student why he wanted to teach students to become media pros when he never was one. That stumped him. We don't care too much that you've published a lot with your dissertation committee, because we want to know if you can publish after you leave. While a prominent adviser might get our attention, we are thinking of hiring you and not the adviser. Lastly, most applicants haven't done any service in grad school. Find some service to show you understand you are willing to do it. I hope that helps.


 * SERVICE?

- I want to second the point about service. While it varies from school to school, in most places service is a huge part of the job. If you can show you've chaired student organizations or have served on committees, that will improve your overall resume.

- This couldn't be more true. While I am currently on the market (4th year ABD), I got to be on our search committee last year when we had a position open. I was shocked in what I learned from the other members of the committee when it comes to evaluating candidates. We went right past many (but not all) of the people who had endless pubs. The finalists were people who showed promise to be able to work on their own and presented themselves more as human beings (service, etc). Its an interesting process when you see it from the other side of the table.

- I do service - I'm on the financial aid committee for the entire U, I'm student rep to an NCA division, I'm a reviewer for a number of journals. I list all this on my CV. Should I actually discuss it in my cover letter?

- YES! I'm a job applicant offering this advice, but have been told by a number of people to include a separate paragraph for service, in addition to two other paragraphs devoted to teaching and research. AND then I have gotten asked about this service during phone and on-campus interviews. ''X2 definitely include it in your letter. Prominently.''

- As the two cents-er again, I'd include the service as a paragraph. Consider writing in the order of teaching, research, service based on the ad itself--how the ad prioritizes each. One place might put teaching first and another research. Follow that priority. Most departments are good about asking the same questions of each candidate (legal issue), but then have some room to ask specific questions based on what they see in your letter and CV. Most places are good about prioritizing needs--not all--but most. Decisions often come down to that little thing you can do but someone else can't, but that the skill isn't a highlighted issue. We've had candidates we've brought in who have been obviously #1 and #2 after the visit, while other times it will be a tie. In the latter case we ask ourselves if one of the candidates has something to bring to the table that no one else in the department has. It wasn't a factor in ranking them before the visit because most times the visit helps to separate them. I'll also add that we've grown tired of applicants from top grad programs who haven't had their own classes to teach. If you want a job at an institution that cares about teaching and your grad program isn't giving you classes to teach, you are in a hole. The person from the R2 school with solid teaching has an advantage at my place over the R1 person with no class ownership. This differs based on the institution's mission. Obviously, the market is tough and there are some really good people out there not finding jobs who deserve them, but this is my perspective after being on both sides of the search process.


 * TEACHING PORTFOLIO?

- To chime in a bit here, I've been on the market for two years now, and although my dissertation and pubs have improved a bit since last year, I really think most of the calls I've been getting have been due at least in part to the amount of time I spent improving my teaching portfolio for this round. I put a lot of time and effort into crafting it as a rhetorical document which really showcases my teaching -- rather than (like last year) chucking some syllabi and evals together with a teaching philosophy and calling a day -- and I think it's tipped the balance in a couple of cases. Granted, I haven't gotten any offers (yet... *crosses fingers*) but I have gotten a lot more phone interviews than I did last year, and the teaching portfolio is the only part of my application that has changed really significantly (I have one additional pub and am still ABD).

- To the person who posted just above - might I ask what you are putting in the teaching portfolio beyond the teaching philosophy, syllabi and evals?

- I set my teaching portfolio up in sections. The first section is general info -- philosophy, list of courses I've taught and additional courses I'm prepared to teach. I have experience with traditional semester-long resident instruction, distance education, and continuing education, so each of those are the next three sections, arranged more or less chronologically within-section: list of courses taught with descriptions, two sample syllabi for each (I used 'Track Changes' in Word to mark up one of the syllabi, adding comments here and there to explain certain verbiage, assignments, policies, what I'd do differently now that the course is over, etc.), two sample lesson plans in each, one or two examples of course-related student contact (feedback on papers/outlines, etc), evals (including student, peer, and supervisor evaluations), and unsolicited post-semester student contacts. The final section is "other experience" which talks about the teacher training program at my institution, my experience outside the academy, guest lectures, various certificates, etc. The whole thing checks in at just under a hundred pages, but I generally only send the first two sections (about 45 pages total) and send the last three on request -- there is an indication on my table of contents to this effect, and very few SCs have requested the second half, so I haven't spent QUITE as much money on postage as I could have! Some people will say that this is too long -- and maybe there are SCs who didn't want to read that much and tossed me into the 'no' pile -- but I wanted to present my whole teaching experience rather than just the beginning (philosophy and syllabi) and end (evals). I really thought long and hard about the story I wanted to tell and designed the portfolio to that end.
 * WOW!
 * - That's a lot of verbiage!


 * I am the OP of the teaching portfolio stuff above. I just got a job offer (it's a teaching position), and the SC members said both during the interview and while making the job offer that they found my teaching materials very impressive. If you want a teaching position, it's definitely worth the time and energy! Congratulations :-)

- At UGA, this is what I was told to include in my teaching portfolio, though I never actually used it in its entirety for any one job application/interview: http://www.ctl.uga.edu/teach_asst/teaching_portfolio.htm


 * MOVING EXPENSES?

- This may be a stupid question (or not), but when one is given money for moving expenses, is that a lump pay-out or are there restrictions on how it is used? This is the cart before the horse, since I don't have a job offer, but I noticed on the other page that offers include moving expenses. As I entertain fantasies of getting a job, I'm wondering if one can use that as money to help support herself during the summer before the real paycheck starts to come in. Or is it strictly for movers, deposits, house-hunting expenses, etc.?

- not a stupid question at all! I think it's very rarely a lump sum. I received an offer this year that included moving expenses "up to" a percentage of my salary. I need to provide at least 2 quotes and submit moving receipts before I can be reimbursed. To help finance the move, you might be able to negotiate summer support (ie, a "summer ninth" is 1/9 of your nine-month salary) that you can take that first summer as a visitor. My offer included "relocation support" that "includes expenses for moving household items, transportation for you and your family en route to the University, and personal travel expenses to secure living quarters. Some reimbursable expenses may be considered taxable. Please obtain two estimates and submit them to xx by date.") Hope this helps!

- This may sound like another stupid question. I am finding small typos in my applications (in the cover/application letter), this after 2 rounds of a paid editor and having a close friend look at them... I am wondering how fatal this is. Do application letters with one or more typos get tossed right away? Thanks!
 * TYPOS IN APPLICATION?

- I wouldn't stress about it. I had a couple of cover letters with typos that I have noticed later on and both of them, ironically, led to an on-campus interview and a phone interview respectively. I think that if they want you, they want you.

- I think typos are kind of a big deal, at least my uncle who was a tenured history professor for years said that the search committees he was on would immediately throw out applicants who had typos in their cover letters or on their curriculum vitae. That said, perhaps his experience was a bit harsh given that the history discipline has been oversaturated with PhDs for awhile now. I'm sorry to be a downer :-(


 * I think that if they make any cuts based on typos and you are prone to types, it is probably better that you do not get offered the job. Personally, there is a limit to the pedantry I would put with at work, and nonsense like the inability to discern quality in the face of inconsequential error is unacceptable.

I have an ethical question and i'd like to hear what people think. I know someone who got a job this year that I am sure lied on their CV. This person misrepresented their pubs - listed one as forthcoming that was only under review and another as in press that isn't. This person obvioiusly isn't being ethical. Does anybody know if search chairs actually check into what people put on their CV? I was really surprised it wasn't caught and would like to know what others think.
 * ETHICS


 * -- Wow, that really sucks and that person doesn't deserve the job. I haven't heard of search chairs checking but I'll wait to hear what others say.

A bit of fun: You know you've been on the market too long when...

 * you decide that googling house prices near a certain university will jinx your chances of an interview
 * you check the voicemail on your cell phone even when there's no (1) next to 'Voicemail' in the menu, just in case
 * you find yourself answering everyday (non-interview) questions using the thesis-explanation-example model