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This page offers space for discussion of the African American 2012 page.

Demographics[]

When you add yourself to one of the categories below, don't forget to add one to the Total number at the bottom!

ABD (early):

ABD (will finish this academic year): 2

Ph.D. in hand (one-year, VAP, Lecturer, post-doc): 1

Ph.D. in hand (unable to find academic employment at the moment):

Assistant Professor: 2

Associate Professor: 1

Full Professor:

Lurker: 1

Search committee member:

Total: 7

Post- MLA Discussion[]

1/13 - Not sure where to start this conversation, so maybe I'll find some takers here while we wait to hear news. This is my first go around on the job market, and I'm not sure how to understand some of the post-MLA developments. I interviewed at some schools that have sent me "you are no longer being considered" emails; that seems pretty clear. I also interviewed at some schools that the wiki indicates have invited a candidate to campus, but haven't yet contacted me either way. Are campus interview invitations occasionally rolling? Are there a couple of consensus "first choice" candidates that all the schools are fighting over, and the rest of us wait it out? Are we in the mix until we get a clear "no," or is that just me being too optimistic? Obviously there isn't a formulaic answer to this, but wondering what other people's sense of things are. Good luck! Mookie13 02:50, January 14, 2012 (UTC)

  • 1/14-This is my first time on this side of the job market but I have been on some search committees. I was offered and accepted a TT during a dissertation fellowship so my understanding of the market is limited; take my opinions as you will. To my knowledge campus interviews are not usually rolling. Depending on the search and school resources up to four people may be invited for a campus visit. If any of that group says no to the on-campus interview or the entire group proves to be unacceptable in one way or another, then the semi-finalist pool will be revisited. Some schools announce this upfront but most do not. So you may not hear an official "no" until a contract is signed. I know in the last search my department conducted, we did, in fact, go back to the semi-finalist pool and in the end made a hire from there. So it happens but not too often. In terms of a "few consensus 'first choices'", I would like to think that the needs of schools are so varied that it would be hard for just a few to have all of interviews. But, of course, that may be my optimism shining through here. Finally, it seems that some folks think it's advantageous to mislead others here so if you really want to know what is happening with a job post-MLA, I would wait a bit and then send in a polite email to the chair of the search. My two cents.
  • 1/14 - Thanks for that. That was about what I thought; it's too bad there seem to be so few Af Am candidates participating on the wiki and there isn't more info out there. For example, I had been told by one of the committees at MLA that their schedule for campus invitations would be a little slow because they needed the provost's approval before even making an invite, and was surprised to see someone indicate a campus invitation just a couple of days later. So as you say, who knows what's what. And the no's I've gotten have been so definite, I'm holding out every hope for the ones that haven't said no yet, even if the wiki says otherwise!
  • 1/14 Searches are open until a contract is signed. I have seen searches at my school in which the top candidates invited for campus visits found other opportunities and the committee then went back into the "semi-finalist" pool. So, technically, you are still in the running until you receive a rejection. And sometimes you are *actually* in the running and could end with an offer.

1/14 - Re: Colgate MLA interview. I had a bunch of MLA interviews and with the exception of Colgate every committee was charming and engaged, knew my work and seemed interested in knowing more about me as a candidate; they all really felt like conversations, which I realize in retrospect is a huge credit to those committees. The Colgate committee was none of those things, and included the dept's Af Am-ist, whose interview "style" was simply to talk, at length and for the most part nonsensically, about topics that I would generously describe as tangientially related to my work. The other members of the committee made attempts to cut him off and turn his ramblings into questions, and after playing nice for a bit I tried to cut him off and get a word in edgewise, but no luck. There was much eye-rolling from the other committee members, and some outright argument between them about how things were proceeding. He may, of course, just not have liked me on paper as an applicant and this could have been his way of showing it. But his behavior reflected terribly on the dept and the institution, and in hindsight I wish I'd had the courage to say as much when he suddenly at the end of the interview asked me to say hi to a colleague of mine. Relatedly, I was surprised when I was preparing for my interviews to realize belatedly that Colgate had not solicited a writing sample; in hindsight I realize that should have changed my expectations for the interview, of course, and I should have been better prepared to introduce myself to a committee that was pretty unfamiliar with my work. This combination - a committee member hijacking the interview and a committee who knew nothing about me beyond the half a sentence I got out at the beginning - meant there was very little chance for them to assess my candidacy at all. Oh, and one of the committee members "had to leave" halfway through. I left the interview pretty rattled and was a bit reassured to see from some comments on the wiki that others had shared a similar experience. Just odd all around.

1/14 "I had a bunch of MLA interviews and with the exception of Colgate every committee was charming and engaged . . . The Colgate committee was none of those things." This describes my experience as well. Some of the committee members, such as the committee chair, seemed to have the potential to be quite charming and engaging; however, the interview was dominated by two members who seemed to be vying for control of the interview.

1/15: Agreed on the Colgate interview environment, especially as compared to other schools. As stacked as the odds are against interviewees, the interview is still a time for both sides to court each other. While the committee chair was lovely, the general environment felt toxic, and I left feeling really put off of a school that had seemed like it would be a great place to work. But I'm happy to have a ridiculous MLA interview war story, I suppose!

1/17: Re: Colgate. I was not invited for an MLA interview but received a rejection from Colagte today which indicated that they have constructed a post-MLA short list. Hopefully some of you should be hearing soon about on-campus interviews. -tx for the heads up!

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