Modern British 2010

STATS:
 * Search committee members:
 * PhD: 10
 * ABD: 5
 * ABD and will defend this year: 3
 * Post Doc: 1
 * FIrst time on market: 4
 * Three or more years on market: 4
 * Unemployed, looking for job:
 * Have short-term gig, looking for TT: 7
 * Have TT position, looking for new one: 1
 * Tenured but hankering after greener pastures:
 * Glutton for punishment: 1
 * Is nervously checking my cell phone and my e-mail every five minutes hoping to get an MLA invite: 2
 * Getting impatient! (The Americanists seem to have so much more gossip!): 2
 * Added a "gossip" column at the end of the job list
 * Feeling the dark encroachment of an old catastrophe: 2

Primary area of research:
 * Fiction: 7
 * Drama:
 * Poetry: 3
 * Other:
 * Modernism: 9
 * pre-1945: 4
 * post-1945: 7

__________________________

JOBS:

Bridgewater State College (MA) British and Irish modernism (Until Filled) Link

 * Does anyone have an idea if this position might be an inside hire?
 * Have you been given a reason to think it is?
 * I thought that I saw a VAP here that did British and Irish modernism, but I must have seen it at another school. I've looked at so many websites that they all begin to look the same...
 * Has anyone heard anything from BSC? (11/29)
 * No, but the deadline is Dec. 1st.

Colgate U, Deadline: November 20

 * These comments I've pasted in from the 20th/21stC American page
 * Q1: Anyone know what "modern fiction" means in this posting? Are they looking for a modernist or just 20c in general?
 * Q2: Are they strictly looking for an Americanist?
 * Not-really-an-A-but-an-observation: Based on the faculty interests online, it is a slightly weird, though interesting-looking, department: lots and lots of theater folks (they seem to have an institutional connection to the theater program) but from what i can see, almost no one who specializes in fiction of any period, particularly in the 19th and 20th centuries. So I'd guess this one is a pretty open search--Brit or American, and with "modern" fairly broadly defined. That's just my guess.

Eastern Illinois (11/6) 20th/21st C British

 * email ack. with link to online EEO (10/28) (11/18 x3, 11/19)

East Tennessee State U (12/11) Modern British

 * ack of application and AA form (11/30), (12/4)

Ithaca College (rolling) British modernLink

 * has anyone heard anything from Ithaca? A1: Nothing here. A2: No, but it's early days.
 * Is it still early days? (11/29)
 * Yes. It's not uncommon to not hear anything until mid-December. And of course you always hear the random story of a person getting a call for an MLA interview on Christmas... Or, even better, once the convention has started. (11/30)
 * Yes, but by then they've already looked at writing samples, etc., no?
 * But I don't think that anyone has received a request for a writing sample, right? Has anyone received a request?
 * That's precisely the question. I'm the impatient one from 2 and 4 posts ago. The response was that it was still early days vis-a-vis getting an interview. But my initial question concerned materials requests.
 * I was the "early days" poster. I still think there's plenty of time to hear before MLA, and I also agree with the other posters it's very common for schools not to request more materials before inviting to first interviews, based on past experiences.
 * Some schools never ask for a writing sample. Did they ask for letters of rec.? If so, they may just go straight to scheduling MLA interviews. Very common.
 * Yes, they did ask for rec. letters initially.

Marquette University (11/1) Modern British and Irish

 * Request for writing sample (11/2) (x2--I submitted 10/27)
 * So fast-- congrats! Can you say when you filed your application?
 * I'm not the OP, but have info from the 20th/21st c. American page (Marquette's also hiring in that area): They seem to be reading applications as they are submitted online. Several people were asked for writing samples well before the deadline passed. [Looks like most people got requests within a week after they submitted their applications.] (11/4)
 * To the OP, who reported request on 11/2, you applied specifically for the British job, right? (As opposed to the Americanist job?)
 * I'm the OP. I submitted my materials Oct 31 (for the British job, not the American).

MIT (10/20) Contemporary Literature or Media (not specifically British)

 * email ack. (11/5)
 * 20th/21st c. American page indicates requests for further materials were made on 10/30 and 11/13.
 * Same on the Film Studies page--looks like they may not have wanted British lit. people.

Providence College (11/02) Modernism / 20C British and Irish link

 * email ack. notifying me that transcript not yet received (thank these good people!) (11/12 x 2)
 * Anything, anyone? (11/29)
 * Nope--I emailed last week to follow up, and they said they were still reviewing applications.

Ripon College (11/1)

 * ack via snail mail (11/9)
 * Anything, anyone? (11/29)
 * Interview request by e-mail on Monday (11/30)

Rowan University (NJ) (11/02) 20thC / 21stC British

 * email ack 10/23 (two days after application) --- Q: has anyone else who e-mailed an application gotten an ack yet? --- A: yes, email ack (10/25, 10/31) --- Q2: thanks. maybe better to put it this way: has anyone else who e-mailed an application NOT gotten an ack yet? --- A2: I just spoke with the dept. chair, who said they are having e-mail trouble. So if you haven't received an ack, that's why. (I consolidated this thread; hope no one minds.)
 * WS request 11/14
 * Request for writing sample and statement of teaching philosophy 11/14
 * same request 11/7, 12/2

St. Olaf College (10/15) Global lits in English and 20/21C British link

 * email ack (10/15), (11/1) (x2)

University of Chicago (11/6) American, British, or Anglophone literatures from 1880 to 1950

 * Request for writing sample 11/23
 * Request for writing sample 11/30 (x2)

University of Chicago (11/6) American, British, or Anglophone literatures from 1950 to present
Request for writing sample 24/11
 * American page lists requests for extra materials (11/23) (but right now the requests seem to be for the 1880-1950 range) [From OP: Oops--sorry! That info wasn't yet up when I posted this update here.]
 * American page now lists 3 requests for Writing Samples, 1950-present. (12/2)

University of Nevada - Reno (10/29) 20th C. British and/or Post-Colonial link

 * Request for writing sample and dossier (letters, Xscripts) (11/11)

University of North Carolina - Greensboro (11/20) Post 1900 British and Anglophone Literature link

 * Snail mail ack. with AA form (11/16), (11/21) (ditto 11/28)

Do you mind saying how you got this request? I just got the acknowledgment via snail mail today!
 * Request for writing sample, teaching philosophy, letters of rec. (12/2)
 * The request for additional materials came via email.

University of North Florida (11/2) Early 20th Link

 * Request for writing sample (11/9x2) (11/13)
 * Has anyone who got a ws request heard anything further from UNF? (11/29)
 * No.

University of Wisconsin - La Crosse (11/20) British and/or Irish Modernist Literature Link

 * request for rec letters, made straight to recommenders 11/5 (PS, from OP: I think this automatically happens when you file an application)
 * Has anyone who made an application to La Crosse *not* gotten a dossier request? I'm trying to confirm the accuracy of the last post.
 * It's definitely automatic. My recommenders notified me of the request the very same day I filed the application. (I know that doesn't *exactly* answer your question, but hope it helps.)
 * Yes, that's exactly what i was wondering about. Thank you!
 * It seems like their composition search is proceeding (MLA interviews), so maybe now they will get to the British Lit. search.

University of Wisconsin at Madison (11/27) post-1945 British and Irish literature

 * Has anyone had an ack of application?
 * Yes; letter received 11/13 (x2), 11/23 (x2), 12/1, 12/4

Westminster College (MO) (11/13) 20th C British or American

 * Snail mail ack. with AA form (11/23)

Gossip
Rejection Letters
 * How about posting the odd rejection letter here, the best and the worst? We can start a rejection letter hall of fame/infamy.

Best jobs/Worst jobs
 * All right: what's the choice job among the above? What's the dead end? Opinions?
 * Best Job: U Chicago. No contest.  And you never know a dead-end until you're in it.
 * UW Madison would be my favorite. I interviewed with UNF recently and liked them enormously. Too bad the search failed.
 * Providence is my favorite--I want a LAC on the East Coast. And, I went to UChicago and have seen these jobs keep opening up because they keep denying very good people tenure. Not where I would like to work.

Search Committee Members (The Dark Side--ha ha)


 * Can you tell us what you look at the wiki for?
 * I thought it was obvious! We are all either posting info or desperately checking--some of us every 10 mins.--to see if others have been contacted for materials, an interview, etc. Or we look for other updates (i.e. a job being canceled). In a system where we are basically powerless, this wiki affords some sense of control; at least we can see what's happening out there, even if it's unhealthy for us to do so. ;)
 * I am also interested in WHO is getting requests for more materials, interviews, etc., and ultimately jobs: Ph.D.'s in hand mostly? Top 10 Ph.D. program graduates only? For specific jobs, what areas of expertise are being contacted? I really don't know HOW to make myself a better candidate (I already have multiple publications, for example) and it's comforting to know that, well, there's nothing I can do about not being a U Chicago graduate or not working in poetry, or not already being an Assistant Professor. But, yes, I know some of us beyond these parameters do, in fact, get good jobs. It also feels good to post when you do get a request, as well as, when you don't, to share disappointment through humor (see, for example, the categories of searchers we've created) with a job-seeking world that, while still virtual, is a little more tangible through the God-or-Foucault-bless-the-Wiki.
 * Questions for SC MEMBERS


 * 1) Why do YOU check the Wiki?
 * 2) Why do you request more materials days apart?
 * 3) Do you reject without reading a candidate's material if you can tell from her letter she works, say, later or earlier than you would ideally like?