"Anonymous said... Any news about the Harvard Latin job? And who got the offer from Wisconsin? Thanks"
Harvard now says Job offered and accepted for Latin, as does Wisconsin. So Harvard has been successful in hiring both in Greek and Latin. And Cornell at last says Job offered and accepted for a Greek or Latin position.
Re: Toronto. Only one offer was made and it was accepted. The earlier wiki information was incorrect, as has much other information on the wiki this year and last, which appears to have been put out by some idiot who has decided that the candidate from the most prestigious university simply must have gotten the job. Sorry kids, the wiki's no longer to be trusted for information about job offers.
Given the large amount of total b.s. that appeared as "fact" on the wiki this year, not in the Famae pages but on the wiki, is there any central authority to whom one could write to have false information removed? Do we need to change the wiki, as when that vandal wiped everything out and the password was instituted?
Really, the wish for an active central authority just shows that you don't get the very idea of a wiki. With the exception of obvious vandalism, the solution to misinformation is better information.
Speaking of better information, what is the source for the job at Memorial University of Newfoundland?
It's probably not anyone's dream job, but, in the current market, some job is probably better than no job, at least for some people. And some job in Classics may be better than some job in some other field if a person is hoping to slave along in the field in the long term.
Sadly, universities are creating more and more of these half time and lecturer positions. I still haven't really figured out who benefits from them, even from the Evil Administration's perspective. Sure, they cost less money than permanent positions (and they probably bring in the same amount or even more, given the cruel teaching loads often associated), but they also hurt the program and the students in both the short term and the long term. I know that all Administrators are blind, or at least very short-sighted, but I'll bet most of them know this is a horrible system. Don't worry, though, the athletic programs will still get all the funding they need, and more. And since it "all" comes from other sources, this won't have any effect on the success of the educational enterprise...
SIU SC member here. No, the half-time Lecturer position is not ideal. It's not ideal for us, either; that's what we could get approved by TPTB. The ad language was also not to our liking, but that too is institutional policy. For what it's worth, we on the SC are acutely aware of the exploitation of part-time labor, and we will do all we can to insure that the individual we hire is treated as fairly as possible. Please do email us with any inquiries, particularly if you have concerns "and/or" questions about the half-time nature of the job, salary, and benefits.
Some unsolicited advice. I was talking the other day with a friend who teaches in another humanities field, and who is in a pretty dreadful situation: last year she taught at one of the best universities in the country and apparently did quite well, getting good evaluations from good students, but this year she is at a giant public university that ain’t exactly Berkeley, and the students hate her and the way she teaches*, and have savaged her in their evaluations, and she is now deeply concerned about how she will be able to find another job with such poor evaluations. I myself have taught both elite private university students and mediocre state university students, and have experienced this sort of phenomenon (though not so extremely, I will hastily add!). I have no doubt that it can be harder to get good evaluations from mediocre-to-bad students, whether in Greek/Latin or a literature/civilization course**, and this can come back to haunt one when looking for jobs. Unfortunately, anyone who has not taught at a public university will not fully realize what one can be up against at such places, and if that person happens to be part of a search committee and is sitting in judgment of job candidates who already have a teaching track-record beyond grad school then he/she may well lean towards candidates who have been VAP’s the Georgetowns, Swarthmores, Vassars, etc. rather than those who have been at the U-Miami’s, Ohio States, Arizona States, etc. -- not because the former are better candidates, but because of this built-in bias in their respective evaluations.
My unsolicited advice, therefore, is that should any of you be so fortunate as to receive one-year offers from both a SLAC and a large public university you ought to seriously consider the possibility that the latter might prove to be damaging to your career.
* Some of the way she teaches is dictated to her by her department -- something that is more likely to happen at public universities where the same course is being taught in multiple sections. ** I have taught at a large public university where it was well known that student evaluations for large lecture courses tend to be a full rating level lower than smaller classes. For example, a 3.5/5.0 earned in a course of 200 is equivalent to a 4.5/5.0 in a seminar. I am far from confident that this is common knowledge.
That "unsolicited advice" is useful, but the situation is more complicated than public vs private. You have to know local expectations at all places. There are some prestigious private depts where students will complain to the chair if they don't get a A for spelling their name right. The are some public places that are so secure that they can afford to have a reputation for giving hard grades, which tends to deter the whiners. It's crucially important for a visitor to know whether the dept has to coddle students to survive. Their are also regional differences: someone from either coast can seem too sarcastic in the south, and women can be rated lower for not being mothering. Always find out what the expectations are.
One possible solution, it seems to me, is to address the evaluations directly in the teaching statement. Moreover, rather than trying to "explain away" the scores by describing the students or the institution (it is generally public knowledge that eval scores in large courses tend to be lower because they are general education courses), it might be more helpful to describe the course as a learning experience: What did one learn from it? How did (or didn't) it change one's pedagogical practices? Having tough teaching experiences is part of what makes one better prepared to teach all kinds of courses and students, and one can hopefully play these experiences to one's advantage. In short, give the committee a narrative within which to interpret the scores--and a narrative that doesn't solely blame the students (even if that is the case, it paints one as an uncharitable and inflexible teacher and colleague). Everyone's had a crappy class--what committees care about is what you did with it.
@Anon 8:09--ahh, thanks for the info. That is so strange because I've only heard the opposite about that particular department. The same phrase (classics is over) was used a few days ago in this discussion thread. Perhaps the author of that comment is here now?
I'm the one who said Classics is over (and was being partially facetious), but I don't know anything about the Knoxville situation. In fact, I have interviewed with them before (not this year) without incident.
UTKnoxville seems like a great place with interesting and nice people. People who crack their eggs on the big end might not like that they prefer the little end, but that negative comment is very peculiar.
Yeah, it seems especially pointed. Maybe more details will come to light. Who knows, given the strange/outright incorrect info that was circulated on the wiki this year.
Instead of reverting to earlier versions and deleting information on the wiki just post a correction. As somebody who isn't me said above, "the solution to misinformation is better information."
If you look at the wikis for ancient history and art history you will see that they track IP addresses. This may discourage misinformation, true. But it also discourages information at all, especially at the beginning. Our wiki does not track IP addresses. That is the point of sharing a common log-in, I think. There is no wiki administrator. Only us job-seekers. If you know that information is wrong, then correct it by saying that it is wrong or even better, correct it by posting the correct information.
The wiki says that U-Illinois was interviewing at CAMWS. What other schools were doing this under the radar?
And am I wrong to think it inappropriate for departments to interview candidates at a regional conference without that being announced well in advance, as occurs with APA interviews? Meaning, if the APA has all of these rules in place, including (evidently) that job ads say whether or not interviews will take place at the annual conference, why are departments able to make CAMWS an improptu interviewing venue when not everyone has a fair chance?
RE: the jeer for UT Knoxville (on the Classics wiki). I have worked there. It is the happiest classics department I have ever known - the polar opposite of dysfunctional. That jeer could not possibly be more at odds with reality.
About the Illinois job. . . does it also not strike people as weird/fishy that they interviewed at CAMWS, when applications weren't due until the Wednesday prior and letters of recommendation are due today? I suppose it makes me think that they already know who they're going to hire, and the solicitation of applications is just a formality.
These are the numbers a quick perusal of the wiki gave me. I excluded positions that were listed as canceled. This is (obviously) an unscientific count:
Numbers for 2014 (numbers for 2013)
General non-TT 31 (39) General TT 18 (18) Art/Archaeology non-TT 7 (5) Art/Archaeology TT 15 (17) Greek or Latin non TT 0 (1) Greek or Latin TT 3 (3) Greek non-TT 7 (3) Greek TT 12 (12) Latin non-TT 4 (4) Latin TT 12 (9) History non-TT 3 (4) History TT 13 (27--sic!) Postdocs/Fellowships 11 (14) Other 5 (7)
I became a project manager. It's full of people with PhDs and even ex-TT people. It helps if you've been an RA or can show you've worked on a collaborative project, but it's a very good and smooth transition out of academia. Think management consultancy without the stress (but also without the insane income).
Maybe? It can be hard to tell when people don't fill out the wiki, though. FWIW, the years I got positions, I didn't put them on the wiki (and neither did anyone else) -- I am a Berkeley grad.
Through friends I know Penn cleaned up this year as well, something like at least 4-5 known TT positions. I'm sure Stanford got a bunch. Then there are the other programs that are sure to have placed at least one or two - Harvard, Princeton, Michigan, etc.
So the moral of the story is that I should have attended Berkeley or Penn instead of my institution full of preeminent blowhards riding it out in style until retirement.
If any senior types are still reading, please take not of how UNC-Greensboro does it. Their job ad provides precise details regarding how online reference letters are obtained, which is information applicants need but is too often omitted. The APA should make such language a requirement.
"Applicants are asked to provide the names, email addresses, and phone numbers of (3) References, in the References section of the electronic application. These References will be solicited by the UNCGjobsearch https://jobsearch.uncg.edu/postings/search system via email, and asked to provide a confidential Letter of Reference/Recommendation on behalf of the applicant. This will occur as soon as the applicant successfully submits the application."
So, before everyone fully disbands for the summer, shouldn't we be fleshing out the wiki, adding more names of who got the various jobs? Remember, if a suitable period of time -- 3-4 weeks -- has passed, it is perfectly fine to share this information if you know it. But DO NOT post about someone who just accepted a job in the past week or two, since they and the department have the right to notify interested parties themselves.
The APA Professional Matters Placement Service Survey for 2013-2014 does not acknowledge the possibility of truly leaving the field. After indicating that I had not been offered any position and was not continuing in my current position, I am asked:
You answered that you did not accept a new appointment in higher education for 2014-15. Will you be working in one of the following Classics-related positions?
Primary Education, Secondary Education, Museum, Academic Administration, Salaried Research, Other Classics-Related Position, I Don't Know
I am unable to indicate that I am most definitely NOT doing anything Classics-related. The best I can do is say that "I don't know" what I'm doing, which is false.
As a final parting shot for the summer and in keeping with the complaining nature of this blog…anyone else find the new name (SCS) and logo to be underwhelming if not lame?
I understand the rationale for the name change (even if I find the whole endeavor slightly ludicrous since…it's not going to change much at all), but frankly, I think just updating the old logo (replace APA with SCS but keep the nice papyrus scroll with the Greek motto written on it–in the new version, the Greek seems disconnected, just sitting separately there on its own) would have been better than this new squiggle and boring block lettering.
But instead of retaining some character, let's boldly move forward with blandness and being generic!
leaving the APA's silly new name aside, who on earth did the graphic design? Did they just grab the nearest elementary schooler and ask them to make this logo? awful.
So before everyone disappears for the summer, some of us need closure on something: did anyone ever apply for that highly unusual job posting that involved living with someone in Memphis discussing matters philosophical, and did anyone ever accept an offer? Inquiring minds want to know.
While we are on the subject of things that suck, does anyone know why the Perseus Greek dictionary can be so miserably slow, often gets hung up, and sometimes even returns 404 errors for no apparent reason? I've been waiting for years now for things to improve, but even as the rest of the internet gets better and faster, and far more complicated databases retrieve information almost instantly, Perseus continues to simulate 1995 technology. Is this a matter of budget woes, insufficient programming competence, issues with the Tufts.edu domain, or something else? Someone out there must know what's (not) going on here.
Seconded. One of my chief regrets at not being an academic any longer is having to use Perseus for digital LSJ access instead of the TLG. So. fucking. slow.
Logeion provides pretty quick access to LSJ, though without hyperlinked text of course, which I guess is what you're looking for. Re: Perseus, we all hear you...
Thanks for prompting me to check the TLG LSJ while OFF-campus. I've been using Perseus because of the annoyance of having to log in via VPN, etc. just to check a word or two, and hadn't thought of seeing if the dictionary is a free service.
Which doesn't change the fact that Perseus's basic infrastructure is surprisingly defective for a website hosted by a major university.
The numbers above tabulated, while useful, don't count all the adjunct and part-time jobs. Can someone point to some solid numbers about the # of adjunct/part-time/non-benefits-eligible/etc jobs over some range of time? Also, is there any hint of a peep of a movement to unionize these?
The numbers above tabulated, while useful, don't count all the adjunct and part-time jobs. Can someone point to some solid numbers about the # of adjunct/part-time/non-benefits-eligible/etc jobs over some range of time? Also, is there any hint of a peep of a movement to unionize these? Everyone bemoans the situation but no one is doing a fucking thing.
(It's me who tabulated those numbers.) I agree that it would be interesting to know how many people are working as adjuncts/part-time in Classics departments. But where are the numbers going to come from? Those "jobs" are rarely widely advertised, and institutional websites seldom provide clear, up-to-date information about adjunct faculty. The APA Committee on Professional Matters used to publish numbers drawn from surveys of placement service registrants, but frankly I'm not sure that that sample is any kind of helpful proxy for the field as a whole.
As you must know (?), there have been lots of attempts to unionize adjuncts, some of them successful. Check out SEIU's "Adjunct Action" initiative, for instance. The CHE and other publications often cover unionization drives.
We're actually a pretty small fraction here on FV.
You can usually tell how much time a Classicist spends here by how generally full of despair they tend to be, provided you a good nose for distinguishing relatively small differences in individual despair levels amid the deluge of common despair about the state of the field.
I don't know where the numbers would come from, that's why I asked if someone had any info. I belong to a union, but the adjuncts are part of the same union as regular faculty, who have no interest in reducing work load or raising salaries for adjuncts. The union is notorious for ignoring the interests of adjuncts. So adjuncts need their own union. Yes, I'm aware of the SEIU stuff. But more importantly their jobs need transforming into regular jobs. In my wildest fantasies I wish adjuncts would all just walk off the job until some of the jobs were changed (back) to regular TT jobs. No one has to tell me how unrealistic this is. At least, is there a handy site somewhere that posts what % of faculty at each University are adjunct? Or what % of each U budget goes toward administration, regular faculty, and adjuncts?
Sorry!!!! We are back, or at least one of us is, though I am not sure about my colleagues. I will get things up and running shortly -- after I shake off the jet-lag. And anybody interested in helping to moderate the site should email jobagora@. We need new Servii. But if you want to start your own site, please do. FV should not be the only game in town for classicists. Check back with wiki and FV soon.
It's all relative. It's looking great for Roman archaeologists, but it still pales in comparison to anthropological archaeology jobs. Since anthropology is not exactly the hottest field, it looks like we're getting left behind by administrators again. Any feelings on how we compare to disciplines such as English, history, etc.?
694 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 601 – 694 of 694"Anonymous said...
Any news about the Harvard Latin job? And who got the offer from Wisconsin?
Thanks"
Harvard now says Job offered and accepted for Latin, as does Wisconsin. So Harvard has been successful in hiring both in Greek and Latin. And Cornell at last says Job offered and accepted for a Greek or Latin position.
All hints about successful candidates welcome
RE: Toronto, was the first offer rejected?
Re: Toronto. Only one offer was made and it was accepted. The earlier wiki information was incorrect, as has much other information on the wiki this year and last, which appears to have been put out by some idiot who has decided that the candidate from the most prestigious university simply must have gotten the job. Sorry kids, the wiki's no longer to be trusted for information about job offers.
Given the large amount of total b.s. that appeared as "fact" on the wiki this year, not in the Famae pages but on the wiki, is there any central authority to whom one could write to have false information removed? Do we need to change the wiki, as when that vandal wiped everything out and the password was instituted?
Well, at least the rumor that the Washington job would go to the candidate who had formerly worked there turned out to be true.
"is there any central authority"
You don't know how wikis work, do you?
If incorrect information is listed on the wiki then add a line saying so.
Really, the wish for an active central authority just shows that you don't get the very idea of a wiki. With the exception of obvious vandalism, the solution to misinformation is better information.
Speaking of better information, what is the source for the job at Memorial University of Newfoundland?
Wow, a half-time lecturer position! The person who gets that will be so very lucky!
It's probably not anyone's dream job, but, in the current market, some job is probably better than no job, at least for some people. And some job in Classics may be better than some job in some other field if a person is hoping to slave along in the field in the long term.
Sadly, universities are creating more and more of these half time and lecturer positions. I still haven't really figured out who benefits from them, even from the Evil Administration's perspective. Sure, they cost less money than permanent positions (and they probably bring in the same amount or even more, given the cruel teaching loads often associated), but they also hurt the program and the students in both the short term and the long term. I know that all Administrators are blind, or at least very short-sighted, but I'll bet most of them know this is a horrible system. Don't worry, though, the athletic programs will still get all the funding they need, and more. And since it "all" comes from other sources, this won't have any effect on the success of the educational enterprise...
I find it amazing that people are still advertising jobs and applying for them. It's time to pack it up and go home, people. Classics is over.
Academia is over.
SIU SC member here. No, the half-time Lecturer position is not ideal. It's not ideal for us, either; that's what we could get approved by TPTB. The ad language was also not to our liking, but that too is institutional policy. For what it's worth, we on the SC are acutely aware of the exploitation of part-time labor, and we will do all we can to insure that the individual we hire is treated as fairly as possible. Please do email us with any inquiries, particularly if you have concerns "and/or" questions about the half-time nature of the job, salary, and benefits.
Some unsolicited advice. I was talking the other day with a friend who teaches in another humanities field, and who is in a pretty dreadful situation: last year she taught at one of the best universities in the country and apparently did quite well, getting good evaluations from good students, but this year she is at a giant public university that ain’t exactly Berkeley, and the students hate her and the way she teaches*, and have savaged her in their evaluations, and she is now deeply concerned about how she will be able to find another job with such poor evaluations. I myself have taught both elite private university students and mediocre state university students, and have experienced this sort of phenomenon (though not so extremely, I will hastily add!). I have no doubt that it can be harder to get good evaluations from mediocre-to-bad students, whether in Greek/Latin or a literature/civilization course**, and this can come back to haunt one when looking for jobs. Unfortunately, anyone who has not taught at a public university will not fully realize what one can be up against at such places, and if that person happens to be part of a search committee and is sitting in judgment of job candidates who already have a teaching track-record beyond grad school then he/she may well lean towards candidates who have been VAP’s the Georgetowns, Swarthmores, Vassars, etc. rather than those who have been at the U-Miami’s, Ohio States, Arizona States, etc. -- not because the former are better candidates, but because of this built-in bias in their respective evaluations.
My unsolicited advice, therefore, is that should any of you be so fortunate as to receive one-year offers from both a SLAC and a large public university you ought to seriously consider the possibility that the latter might prove to be damaging to your career.
* Some of the way she teaches is dictated to her by her department -- something that is more likely to happen at public universities where the same course is being taught in multiple sections.
** I have taught at a large public university where it was well known that student evaluations for large lecture courses tend to be a full rating level lower than smaller classes. For example, a 3.5/5.0 earned in a course of 200 is equivalent to a 4.5/5.0 in a seminar. I am far from confident that this is common knowledge.
That "unsolicited advice" is useful, but the situation is more complicated than public vs private. You have to know local expectations at all places. There are some prestigious private depts where students will complain to the chair if they don't get a A for spelling their name right. The are some public places that are so secure that they can afford to have a reputation for giving hard grades, which tends to deter the whiners. It's crucially important for a visitor to know whether the dept has to coddle students to survive. Their are also regional differences: someone from either coast can seem too sarcastic in the south, and women can be rated lower for not being mothering. Always find out what the expectations are.
One possible solution, it seems to me, is to address the evaluations directly in the teaching statement. Moreover, rather than trying to "explain away" the scores by describing the students or the institution (it is generally public knowledge that eval scores in large courses tend to be lower because they are general education courses), it might be more helpful to describe the course as a learning experience: What did one learn from it? How did (or didn't) it change one's pedagogical practices? Having tough teaching experiences is part of what makes one better prepared to teach all kinds of courses and students, and one can hopefully play these experiences to one's advantage. In short, give the committee a narrative within which to interpret the scores--and a narrative that doesn't solely blame the students (even if that is the case, it paints one as an uncharitable and inflexible teacher and colleague). Everyone's had a crappy class--what committees care about is what you did with it.
Anyone want to provide some background on the UT Knoxville jeer?
@Anon 9:31--what jeer are you referring to? Don't know that I have any information, but I'm curious.
The jeers list on the wiki says:
18) to UT Knoxville for being whoa-mama-dysfunctional-never-want-to-work-there-#classicsisover
@Anon 8:09--ahh, thanks for the info. That is so strange because I've only heard the opposite about that particular department. The same phrase (classics is over) was used a few days ago in this discussion thread. Perhaps the author of that comment is here now?
I'm the one who said Classics is over (and was being partially facetious), but I don't know anything about the Knoxville situation. In fact, I have interviewed with them before (not this year) without incident.
UTKnoxville seems like a great place with interesting and nice people. People who crack their eggs on the big end might not like that they prefer the little end, but that negative comment is very peculiar.
Yeah, it seems especially pointed. Maybe more details will come to light. Who knows, given the strange/outright incorrect info that was circulated on the wiki this year.
Berkeley seems to be winning this year, with Harvard doing ok.
Well, it would be easier to know that if there weren't some jackasses out there posting false hiring info on the wiki.
http://chronicle.com/article/How-to-Tell-Your-Adviser/145609?cid=megamenu
http://m.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/03/what-can-you-do-with-a-humanities-phd-anyway/359927/
Instead of reverting to earlier versions and deleting information on the wiki just post a correction. As somebody who isn't me said above, "the solution to misinformation is better information."
If you look at the wikis for ancient history and art history you will see that they track IP addresses. This may discourage misinformation, true. But it also discourages information at all, especially at the beginning. Our wiki does not track IP addresses. That is the point of sharing a common log-in, I think. There is no wiki administrator. Only us job-seekers. If you know that information is wrong, then correct it by saying that it is wrong or even better, correct it by posting the correct information.
"Several qualified persons applied for this position"
Really Purdue? I think maybe your definition of "several" must be different from everyone else's.
The wiki says that U-Illinois was interviewing at CAMWS. What other schools were doing this under the radar?
And am I wrong to think it inappropriate for departments to interview candidates at a regional conference without that being announced well in advance, as occurs with APA interviews? Meaning, if the APA has all of these rules in place, including (evidently) that job ads say whether or not interviews will take place at the annual conference, why are departments able to make CAMWS an improptu interviewing venue when not everyone has a fair chance?
Because the APA has no actual authority, and departments can do what they want?
RE: the jeer for UT Knoxville (on the Classics wiki). I have worked there. It is the happiest classics department I have ever known - the polar opposite of dysfunctional. That jeer could not possibly be more at odds with reality.
About the Illinois job. . . does it also not strike people as weird/fishy that they interviewed at CAMWS, when applications weren't due until the Wednesday prior and letters of recommendation are due today? I suppose it makes me think that they already know who they're going to hire, and the solicitation of applications is just a formality.
How did this year's job market compare to last year's? Roughly an equal number of positions?
Seems to me like there were more this year. A few more TT jobs, and quite a few more visiting jobs.
These are the numbers a quick perusal of the wiki gave me. I excluded positions that were listed as canceled. This is (obviously) an unscientific count:
Numbers for 2014 (numbers for 2013)
General non-TT 31 (39)
General TT 18 (18)
Art/Archaeology non-TT 7 (5)
Art/Archaeology TT 15 (17)
Greek or Latin non TT 0 (1)
Greek or Latin TT 3 (3)
Greek non-TT 7 (3)
Greek TT 12 (12)
Latin non-TT 4 (4)
Latin TT 12 (9)
History non-TT 3 (4)
History TT 13 (27--sic!)
Postdocs/Fellowships 11 (14)
Other 5 (7)
Total positions 141 (163)
Wow. So things were marginally better this year for Latin tenure-tracks.
In every other category, things this year were comparable to last, or considerably worse. Sheesh.
Thanks for tabulating! Much appreciated.
Yikes, compare that to the 220-ish jobs of 2006-7 and 2007-8!!
"Anonymous said...
Yikes, compare that to the 220-ish jobs of 2006-7 and 2007-8!!"
Seems impossible now... I'm guessing a higher percentage of TT jobs then too?
Careers for Classicists has those years at 58.5% and 59.7% tenure track. That doesn't sound terribly high to me, but I bet things have gotten worse.
Comparing to the pre-2008 market is just silly. That's like comparing 1935 to 1929.
It's that time of year again. Has anyone thought up any new alternative career paths they'd like to divulge?
I became a project manager. It's full of people with PhDs and even ex-TT people. It helps if you've been an RA or can show you've worked on a collaborative project, but it's a very good and smooth transition out of academia. Think management consultancy without the stress (but also without the insane income).
Sheesh, Berkeley grads got a lot. Are things always so lopsided?
Maybe? It can be hard to tell when people don't fill out the wiki, though. FWIW, the years I got positions, I didn't put them on the wiki (and neither did anyone else) -- I am a Berkeley grad.
Through friends I know Penn cleaned up this year as well, something like at least 4-5 known TT positions. I'm sure Stanford got a bunch. Then there are the other programs that are sure to have placed at least one or two - Harvard, Princeton, Michigan, etc.
So the moral of the story is that I should have attended Berkeley or Penn instead of my institution full of preeminent blowhards riding it out in style until retirement.
Surely you don't mean to imply that Berkeley and Penn are *not* filled with preeminent blowhards?
Three tenure-track jobs for PhDs from UNC
Yale. 4 T-T positions, 1 VAP, 2 post docs. A good year.
Anyone hear any rumors about searches that will be running next year?
Who fucking cares?
Saint Peter's University?:
http://chronicle.com/article/A-Classicist-Goes-to-Work-in/146511?cid=megamenu
Just kidding. They'll probably take this opportunity to eliminate the program.
Maybe UC Irvine? They don't seem to have hired their junior Latinist this year.
I hear Johns Hopkins will be hiring, but that it'll be an open rank position.
If any senior types are still reading, please take not of how UNC-Greensboro does it. Their job ad provides precise details regarding how online reference letters are obtained, which is information applicants need but is too often omitted. The APA should make such language a requirement.
"Applicants are asked to provide the names, email addresses, and phone numbers of (3) References, in the References section of the electronic application. These References will be solicited by the UNCGjobsearch https://jobsearch.uncg.edu/postings/search system via email, and asked to provide a confidential Letter of Reference/Recommendation on behalf of the applicant. This will occur as soon as the applicant successfully submits the application."
These are people who know what they are doing.
So, before everyone fully disbands for the summer, shouldn't we be fleshing out the wiki, adding more names of who got the various jobs? Remember, if a suitable period of time -- 3-4 weeks -- has passed, it is perfectly fine to share this information if you know it. But DO NOT post about someone who just accepted a job in the past week or two, since they and the department have the right to notify interested parties themselves.
The APA Professional Matters Placement Service Survey for 2013-2014 does not acknowledge the possibility of truly leaving the field. After indicating that I had not been offered any position and was not continuing in my current position, I am asked:
You answered that you did not accept a new appointment in higher education for 2014-15. Will you be working in one of the following Classics-related positions?
Primary Education, Secondary Education, Museum, Academic Administration, Salaried Research, Other Classics-Related Position, I Don't Know
I am unable to indicate that I am most definitely NOT doing anything Classics-related. The best I can do is say that "I don't know" what I'm doing, which is false.
http://hortensii.wordpress.com/ (for those who have not yet seen it)
As a final parting shot for the summer and in keeping with the complaining nature of this blog…anyone else find the new name (SCS) and logo to be underwhelming if not lame?
I understand the rationale for the name change (even if I find the whole endeavor slightly ludicrous since…it's not going to change much at all), but frankly, I think just updating the old logo (replace APA with SCS but keep the nice papyrus scroll with the Greek motto written on it–in the new version, the Greek seems disconnected, just sitting separately there on its own) would have been better than this new squiggle and boring block lettering.
But instead of retaining some character, let's boldly move forward with blandness and being generic!
"Underwhelming" is the proper word for the new logo. I'm just grateful the font isn't Papyrus.
lame doesn' t even begin to describe the new name and logo. and the floating line of Greek looks incredibly odd and out of place.
leaving the APA's silly new name aside, who on earth did the graphic design? Did they just grab the nearest elementary schooler and ask them to make this logo? awful.
So before everyone disappears for the summer, some of us need closure on something: did anyone ever apply for that highly unusual job posting that involved living with someone in Memphis discussing matters philosophical, and did anyone ever accept an offer? Inquiring minds want to know.
I think Alcibiades took it, then got mad because the guy wouldn't fuck him.
Has anyone seen the new "SCS" website? It looks like the menu for a cheap Greek restaurant.
While we are on the subject of things that suck, does anyone know why the Perseus Greek dictionary can be so miserably slow, often gets hung up, and sometimes even returns 404 errors for no apparent reason? I've been waiting for years now for things to improve, but even as the rest of the internet gets better and faster, and far more complicated databases retrieve information almost instantly, Perseus continues to simulate 1995 technology. Is this a matter of budget woes, insufficient programming competence, issues with the Tufts.edu domain, or something else? Someone out there must know what's (not) going on here.
Seconded. One of my chief regrets at not being an academic any longer is having to use Perseus for digital LSJ access instead of the TLG. So. fucking. slow.
Logeion provides pretty quick access to LSJ, though without hyperlinked text of course, which I guess is what you're looking for. Re: Perseus, we all hear you...
http://stephanus.tlg.uci.edu/lsj/#eid=1&context=lsj
Thanks for prompting me to check the TLG LSJ while OFF-campus. I've been using Perseus because of the annoyance of having to log in via VPN, etc. just to check a word or two, and hadn't thought of seeing if the dictionary is a free service.
Which doesn't change the fact that Perseus's basic infrastructure is surprisingly defective for a website hosted by a major university.
Re the absurd name change, how much did they spend on it, and how much more than a typical non-living-wage adjunct salary is that?
The numbers above tabulated, while useful, don't count all the adjunct and part-time jobs. Can someone point to some solid numbers about the # of adjunct/part-time/non-benefits-eligible/etc jobs over some range of time? Also, is there any hint of a peep of a movement to unionize these?
The numbers above tabulated, while useful, don't count all the adjunct and part-time jobs. Can someone point to some solid numbers about the # of adjunct/part-time/non-benefits-eligible/etc jobs over some range of time? Also, is there any hint of a peep of a movement to unionize these? Everyone bemoans the situation but no one is doing a fucking thing.
I don't believe that Perseus draws its infrastructure funding from Tufts directly, so don't be so quick to shit on them.
Anonymous @June 6, 5:26 PM:
(It's me who tabulated those numbers.) I agree that it would be interesting to know how many people are working as adjuncts/part-time in Classics departments. But where are the numbers going to come from? Those "jobs" are rarely widely advertised, and institutional websites seldom provide clear, up-to-date information about adjunct faculty. The APA Committee on Professional Matters used to publish numbers drawn from surveys of placement service registrants, but frankly I'm not sure that that sample is any kind of helpful proxy for the field as a whole.
As you must know (?), there have been lots of attempts to unionize adjuncts, some of them successful. Check out SEIU's "Adjunct Action" initiative, for instance. The CHE and other publications often cover unionization drives.
I suppose we could do an informal count of ourselves on here?
We're actually a pretty small fraction here on FV.
You can usually tell how much time a Classicist spends here by how generally full of despair they tend to be, provided you a good nose for distinguishing relatively small differences in individual despair levels amid the deluge of common despair about the state of the field.
I don't know where the numbers would come from, that's why I asked if someone had any info.
I belong to a union, but the adjuncts are part of the same union as regular faculty, who have no interest in reducing work load or raising salaries for adjuncts. The union is notorious for ignoring the interests of adjuncts. So adjuncts need their own union. Yes, I'm aware of the SEIU stuff. But more importantly their jobs need transforming into regular jobs. In my wildest fantasies I wish adjuncts would all just walk off the job until some of the jobs were changed (back) to regular TT jobs. No one has to tell me how unrealistic this is. At least, is there a handy site somewhere that posts what % of faculty at each University are adjunct? Or what % of each U budget goes toward administration, regular faculty, and adjuncts?
Anonymous @1:16 PM: Yes, there is such a site. You can find it via a very helpful search engine called "Google".
is someone going to update famae and the wiki for this next job cycle?
The job market just isn't the same without this community. Now I'll get no job offers and have no fun. Come back, Wiki!
It's 1 September. I would think that it's time for FV 2014-15.
Servius, are you still with us?
Famae Volent is dead. Long Live Famae Volent.
Servius?
Maybe Servius got a real job.
S/he could at least post tips on how we could get similarly hired.
If Servius doesn't reappear in the next week does someone have the know-how to start a "Famae tamen volent" site?
I'm game. I'll give Servius a few more days to surface, and then I'll start a new site. Stay posted for further details.
Cool.
I also considered "Famae etiam nunc volent," which might be better.
Though in honor of the APA's moronic new website and logo redesign, I guess that should be FAMAEETIAMNUNCVOLENT.
Should also be possible for someone to add a 2014-2015 page to the wiki, no?
Sorry!!!! We are back, or at least one of us is, though I am not sure about my colleagues. I will get things up and running shortly -- after I shake off the jet-lag. And anybody interested in helping to moderate the site should email jobagora@. We need new Servii. But if you want to start your own site, please do. FV should not be the only game in town for classicists. Check back with wiki and FV soon.
Cheers,
Servius
Any feeling on how it is looking so far compared to other years, or is it still too early to tell?
It's all relative. It's looking great for Roman archaeologists, but it still pales in comparison to anthropological archaeology jobs. Since anthropology is not exactly the hottest field, it looks like we're getting left behind by administrators again. Any feelings on how we compare to disciplines such as English, history, etc.?
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