Restoration 2009

Restoration/18th c. British
[Discussion moved below.]

American U

Angelo State U (Long 18th)

Auburn
 * Additional materials requested November 3 (x3)

Bard College (17th/18th-c not including Romanticism)

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.

Connecticut College (Concentration in Race and Ethnicity)

Macalester

McMaster U

Mississippi State

Northwest Missouri State (18th or 19th) Screening begins Nov. 1

Pacific Lutheran (18th)

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

Saint Anselm (18th)

Shepherd U (18th)

The Citadel (18th)

Review begins Nov. 7
 * Letters requested on Nov 3

U of Colorado-Boulder Open rank, from Advanced Asst on up.

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)

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

U of Ottowa (Rest/18th)

Villanova
 * Search canceled? Applicants in some disciplines have been told that the College of A&S is postponing ALL hiring this year.

Yale

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).