Theory 2010

Offers Made

Rider University (made and accepted, 2/18)

Kutztown University of Pennsylvania (made and accepted)

'Macalester College' made and accepted

Campus Visits Scheduled

Kutztown University of Pennsylvania (1/4)

Macalester College (1/6)

Rhode Island College (2/2)

Rider University (1/26)

Kutztown University of Pennsylvania  Linka

ack: (11/17) (11/19)

Q: In what form (email, snail mail) did this come? I haven't received an acknowledgment from them as of today (11/18)

A: Snail mail. I submitted the app on Oct 26th. The postmark on the letter is 11/14.

Thanks. I just got it today by snail mail, actually.

Q: Anyone hear anything about when they will let people know? I see their other jobs (comp) they have set up MLA interviews. Thanks!

Q: I agree with the above poster--anyone hear anything? Are they still going through with the job? ANyone know when they said they would be hearing? Thanks! (12/5)

A: Request for MLA interview by email, 12/9

Q:Congrats on the job interview! Anyone else here about this? I know I'm grasping at straws here but only one person on the wiki has heard so far? Or, like some other jobs on the wiki, is this a rolling MLA interview process? Or, as I probably should just come to acceptance--they made thier picks? Anyway, congrats on all those who got interviews!

A: interview request (2X) also by email, also 12/9.  Just learning of this site.  Cheers.

Q: Request for an MLA interview (12/22) This seems very late - to be held next week. As you might expect, they seem anxious to set the appointment. Any other recent interview offers? Or thoughts on interpreting this move?

A: I'd guess that someone they planned to interview withdrew from the search, most likely because s/he accepted one of the many jobs that were making offers before MLA this year. That would have left an extra slot for them to fill at MLA. Or maybe they just decided to interview more people than they'd originally planned?

A:  The lit program in their department can be a bit of a mess--a few smart people and some folks who wound up there because no one else would have them.

Q: Does anyone remember the names of the other committee members beside Charles Cullum?  I want to write individual thank yous. But I don't remember the others' names.  I think one was Jennifer Forsyth.  No idea on the other Prof.  Thanks.

A: Jennifer Forsyth and Ray Tumbleson. I take offense to the person who wrote the critique. My sense of the department from the interview is that they are young, energetic, and truly excited about making the department a vibrant intellectual community. Take your negativity elsewhere. This is market is as bad as it gets. Interviews, campus visits, offers anywhere are to be celebrated and cherished. And this is an excellent job.  (Thank you.  And I agree; it is a good job.)

• Call for campus visit on 1/4
• Anyone else received a call for a campus visit? It would be very good to know. Thanks.
• Does anyone know if Kutztown has made a job offer? And, if so, what the status is? Thanks.

--Yes, offer made and accepted about a week and a half ago.

Congrats! Just out of curiosity, was the offer actually not made until about a week and a half ago? Or did you accept it a week and a half ago (when it was made a week or two earlier). Thanks!

Macalester College (11/1)

• Request for more materials: 11/23 (x6)
• Request for MLA interview: 12/9 (by phone) (x4)
• Request for Campus Interview: 1/6

• Q: can I ask whether this came by email or regular mail?
  • A: email.
• Kind rejection, by email, 11.30 Very kind! Received 400 applications (x15)

• Would be interested to know what kind of theory they're actually looking for.
  • A: Apparently not psychoanalytic, Foucauldian, and gender/sexuality...kicked me to the curb. Then again, this is an open-rank search, no?  BTW, they hired an excellent 18th-century person last year who does psychoanalytic.
  • A: I received the rejection yesterday too, and work on race theory.  I applied for a literature search there last year (American lit, I think?) that was canceled and was a lot less organized (received acknowledgement really late, though maybe it was because of the canceled search).
  • A: I work on post-structural theory and continental philosophical approaches to literature. Rejected as well. I would be interested to know if those who are advancing are Assistant or Associate Professors, given the open-rank call. A: postdoctoral fellow for me.
  • A: I got a request for more materials. I do contemporary fiction & critical theory (embodiment, identity & technology), literature and science/medicine, some disability studies. I'm a postdoc now. Don't know if that helps you. This stuff is all so random! (12/9 addition: I got an MLA interview too, if that is helpful. Also I pitched new media studies in my letter).
  • -- have almost the exact same interests as above, but I do nineteenth century fiction instead of contemporary. Also a postdoc.
  • A: Also a request for more, currently a VAP, work on postcolonial theory & aesthetic theory
  • Request for more, ABD, contemporary; historicist
  • Has this job been accepted? (I assume an offer must have been made by now, though I don't know anything for sure.)
  • I was told to expect a call on March 1st, tho that would be at least 2 weeks after the last campus visit.
  • Congrats to the person who received the offer. Are you willing to share your present status: ABD, postdoc, asst prof...? Thanks.
  • Ditto on the congrats...and boo to the SC decision to notify rejected campus vistors via what was essentially a form letter. Surely being on campus for 3 days merits the humanity of a personal phone call, no matter how awkward or unpleasant the SC finds such calls...
  • Respectfully disagree with above re: phone call, which would be much more unpleasant for me as a candidate than I think it would be for the SC. I prefer being rejected by mail--that way I don't have to react immediately, or at all, if I don't want to. Also, phone calls are, for me at least, associated with good news from an SC, so it would be even more awful to be expecting good news only to realize I'm being rejected.
  • I had one of those from another school recently, and I agree with the first poster. I guess it's subjective, but I think that since it's way more typical (at least according to the faculty I've spoken to) to get a personal rejection at this stage in the process, it does seem like a weird choice when schools break that professional convention. Plus even though obviously those conversations are awkward on both ends, at least I feel after them like I've been afforded some collegial respect, rather than being "protected" from the discomfort. Of course it's all vastly better than the situation of never even being contacted at all after a campus visit, which is just too awful for words.

Rhode Island College (1/8/2010) LINK

• Specialization in British literature of either Renaissance, 18th, 19th, 20th, or 21st c. AND literary theory (see also British Open page)
• According to Renaissance page, they asked for additional materials on 1/28 and scheduled a campus visit on 2/2.
• Any movement on this job?

Rider University (NJ) Link

• MLA interview request by phone (11/19 x2)
• Did they ever ask for writing samples?
  • A: No, but took letters up front.
• Rider advises they will be making flyback requests Jan. 25
  • Q: How do you know this? Were you contacted post-interview?
  • A: I didn't post the above date, but they did say late Jan./early Feb. in the interview.
  • A: I contacted them b/c I have a postdoc offer, and they gave me the specific timeline
• Campus visit scheduled via phone 1/26 (x2)
• Offer made and accepted 2/18
• Received bizarre rejection email thanking me for my interest in the composition position. Wha?
• It must have been a typo. They were running a composition search, too, this year.