Italian 2010-2011


 * Galileo_facing_the_Roman_Inquisition.jpg

Your Current Position
ABD, but looking to defend this year: 1

VAP: 1

Adjunct:

PhD in hand, currently unemployed:

PhD in hand, currently in non-TT job: 1

Currently in TT job:

Other:

Your Field
Medieval:

Renaissance:

17th:

18th:

19th:

20th: 2

Cinema: 1

SLA/Pedagogy (language and culture):

Linguistics and sociolinguistics:

Other? Define:

Your Language Background
Native speaker:

Non-native speaker: 3

Heritage speaker:

Jobs
Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA

Tenure Track as Assistant Professor of Italian, entry-level, beginning August 2011.

Review of materials will begin on October 15, 2010

Requirements
 * no more than four years of full-time post-doctoral teaching experience at the time of appointment
 * PhD in Italian Studies


 * native or near-native fluency in Italian and English

Preferences


 * strong experience in language instruction
 * experience (or demonstrated interest) in teaching a course on either Dante or Italian Renaissance culture

UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA

Tenure-Track position at Assistant Professor level, to begin July 1, 2011.

Application deadline: November 30, 2010.

Requirements
 * Only applications from candidates with the Ph.D. already in hand will be considered.
 * Specialization: any field of Italian literature, history or culture between 1559 and 1870, with the ability to contribute to an interdisciplinary curriculum ranging from the Middle Ages to the present day.

Preferences
 * We especially welcome applications from individuals who will contribute to diversity and equal opportunity in higher education. Send letter of application, complete dossier including

Logistics
 * Appointments for interviews at the 2011 MLA Convention in Los Angeles will be made in December.
 * CV and at least three recommendations (refer potential letter-writers to the UC Berkeley Statement of Confidentiality at http://apo.chance.berkeley.edu/evalltr.html), and a writing sample (in English or Italian; no more than 25 pages), to Steven Botterill, Chair, Department of Italian Studies, 6303 Dwinelle Hall, UC, Berkeley, CA 94720-2620.
 * Postmark deadline for completed application is November 30, 2010.

Word on the Street
If there were 128 jobs last year for the TT position at DePaul (won by a graduate of Harvard), certainly this year promises even more competition with so many newly-minted Phds out of work. It is, of course, impossible to predict the amount of jobs that will available this year. But the ADFL's mid-year report from last year offers disheartening statistics.

The mid-year chart ("Number and percentage share of jobs advertised in the October MLA Job Information List) runs from 1997-2009.

The Italian numbers depict a clear and evident crisis.

1997: 22

1998: 20

1999: 25

2000: 24

2001: 29

2002: 30

2003: 18

2004: 18

2005: 12

2006: 19

2007: 20

2008: 24

2009: 4

Or, percentage-wise, from a high of 5.6% (2002, 2008) of foreign language JIL jobs to 2.0% (2009).

With renewed competition now from scholars in Italy and English-speaking countries (especially, of course, the UK),

it is becoming more and more difficult to find not merely a tenure-track job but even an adjunct position.