eek

[pylduck]

From a job application announcement:

Successful applicants will teach the equivalent of seven courses a year (21 hours), provide service to the college and department, profess commitment to teaching a culturally diverse student population in an urban environment, and have a personal program of research and publication.

They're totally kidding, right? SEVEN courses a year PLUS research and publication?

Comments

[saltbox.livejournal.com]

Yeah wow. That's a lot. I kinda hope for an "on the second thought, we were just kidding about the research and publication." Or maybe that applicants would be doing the same class (though ugh! boring!) so as to limit the prep time.

ugh

[pylduck.livejournal.com]

I hear conflicting reports about what schools with 3/3+ teaching loads really want in candidates. Some people say that to mention research as if that's your primary interest is death for those kinds of jobs. But the language in most of the ones I've seen, the like one I posted, always says that continued research and publication your field is expected. Sigh. I want someone just to recruit me to a nice job.

Re: ugh

[saltbox.livejournal.com]

I'd found that you have to really feel your way around this. Last year when I interviewed, there were a lot of postings that said they wanted research and publication, but when I actually went for the interview, you could tell what the interviewers wanted to hear was a focus on the teaching. Cynical rule of thumb: never say anything first! Principled rule of thumb: say what you really want so you don't accidentally get stuck at a job you'll hate.

Re: ugh

[slanderous.livejournal.com]

Which do you follow? :)

Re: ugh

[saltbox.livejournal.com]

I luck out in that I feel about as strongly (or, conversely, as weakly) about both. What I really like the most is litigation (except I needed a change because of the administration in charge), but I keep my mouth shut about that because it's totally not what they want to hear. Teaching is fine, research is swell, and, honestly, I do enjoy them both, but what I'd really like to have is a regular income so I can do all the pro bono litigation I want!

Re: ugh

[slanderous.livejournal.com]

Is this a private college, a public or state university, or a research I? I think that makes a difference. Some private colleges want an emphasis on teaching, with an article or two on the side, for your tenure.

Man, I just want to be recruited too!

Re: ugh

[pylduck.livejournal.com]

It's a smaller college that's part of a larger city-wide (New York) university system. I guess I do just have to keep in mind that research means different things to different schools. And also, many of these schools with heavy teaching loads AND research expectations are probably trying to pull the "better" job candidates (a way of thinking about humanities scholars that I hate, often an emphasis on pedigree) even though they know they can't compete with Research I schools and the like.