Romanticism, Victorian/19th 2010

Romanticism, Victorian/19th-Century British

Count

Romanticist:13

Victorianist: 19

19th-Century: 10

Total: 42

Demographics

ABD (early):

ABD (will finish this academic year): 8

Ph.D. in hand (one-year, VAP, Lecturer): 22

Assistant Professor: 4

Associate Professor:

Full Professor:

Lurker: 2

Romantic, Victorian/19th-Century Jobs

(please add jobs alphabetically and note Romantic, Victorian, or 19th-Century, if specified in the ad)

Arizona State University (Romanticism, Victorian as possible secondary interest 11/9) link

• email acknowledgement EEO e-form (10/29)(11/5)(11/10)

Biola University (Victorian, 11/16)

• email acknowledgment 11/2

Boise State University (19th-Century with primary emphasis in poetry, 11/2)

• Email request for EEO and AA info. (11/11 x3)

Boston College (Victorian Literature and Culture, 10/19)

• email acknowledgment (10/20), (10/27), (11/2)

• postcard (11/2), (11/5)

Boston University (Romanticism, 10/30)

Search canceled due to budgetary constraints:http://www.bu.edu/english/DeptJobListing.html Bummer

...and so it begins.  Who's next?

Lehigh University (Victorian Literature and Culture, 10/19)

• auto email ack (10/19)
• email of rejection (10/19 x2)(10/29 x2) (11/2 x2)(11/5 x11)
• Request for dossier by email (10/22 x4) (10/29 x3) (11/2) (10/19) (11/5 x3)
• No rejection email, no dossier request...stuck in Limbo (11/2 x5)
• EEO form received a week after email rejection (11/5x2)  Always a nice touch, no?
• Anybody else still stuck in Limbo at this point? (11/6)

Longwood University, Farmville VA (Victorian Lit, 11/1)

• email ack and EEO forms (10/30) x2, (11/4) x4

Longwood University, Farmville VA (Romantic, 11/1)

• email ack and EEO forms (10/29) x2, (11/2)

Miami University (OH) (Romantic poetry, 11/2)

• Request for dossier and writing sample. (11/4) x 4

Misericordia University, PA (19th Century, 11/20)

• Postcard ack and EEO (11/3)

Pacific Lutheran University (11/01; 18thc and Romantic lit) link

• Teaching load: 3/3

• See also discussion on the Restoration/18th-Century page
• Dossier requested by email, 11/09 (x5)

Northern Kentucky University (19th-Century, preference for transatlantic or Victorian/Romantic poetry, 11/1)

• email acknowledgment (10/29) x3, (11/2)

Rhodes College (British Literature 1730-1830)

• Nicely written ack email from search chair and EEO forms. Classy. (11/2)
• Would you be willing to cut and paste the body of that e-mail here?

Queens College, CUNY (Victorian, 11/26)

• reposted on CHE w/ deadline 11/26 (10/29) Same job, right? A: Yes, the deadline was a typo from when I posted it here yesterday.
• In trying to reach the application website, I received a warning message stating web certificate contains invalid information. In order to get to the actual application, you need to override your computer's security settings. Has anyone else had this problem?   A: I didn't have this exact problem but the online application system seemed to be erasing sections of the application--after I had saved them--then the whole application disappeared, then I couldn't log back in, then I got a message saying my application had been submitted--when I hadn't finished or gone near the 'submit' button . . . what a mess! My application is going in the post regardless of the urgings to use the online system. Between this and the conflicting job ads, I'm already horrified at the institution's poor organization!
• Please answer two questions: (1) Do we have to apply for Queens online? I'm following their MLA posting from October, which asked for materials to be mailed.  (2) What is CHE? (I'm only familiar with the ADE/MLA job websites.)  Thanks!
• CHE=Chronicle of Higher Education([1])
• Queens does not require online applications, though the posting indicates that they strongly encourage it.
• My September record of the QC MLA JIL posting gives no indication of an electronic submission preference or procedure.
• Check out the latest CHE listing.[2]
• Letter ack (11/9)

Sam Houston State University (Romanticism, 12/7)

• Note: this is an open rank search.

University of Nebraska (19th Century, 11/1)

I'm just being paranoid because the UNL website kept crashing on me as I was applying. So ALL they are asking for at this point is our cover letter and CV right? They didn't ask for letters of reference or a writing sample....did they? Again, I had a lot of trouble with this website so I'm just double checking with "all y'all!"

• As far as I know, you are absolutely correct -- they just want the CV and cover letter at this point. (ensuing discussion moved to "Discussion" below)
• email request for more info (recs, teaching portfolio, transcripts, writing sample (11/9x10)

University of Notre Dame (Romanticism, particularly poetry, 10/30)

Notification letter explaining that application materials were received and are "being circulated to the committee."  11/2; 11/5 (I'm in the Netherlands - snaaaiiilll maaaiiiilll)   No such letter in NY. Hope my pkg got there!

University of Southern Indiana (Long 18th-Century or Rom./Vict., 10/1)

• Email request for phone interview (10/20 x3)
• Request to contact references (10/30)
• Timeline: campus visits in November; will make offer in early December
• Is this unusual, or somethng a lot of schools are doing?  Making offers for 2010 before the MLA conference?  Doesn't the MLA have guidelines about this? 
  • A: Indeed, I believe they do. 
  • A: Some schools are operating outside of MLA guidelines/protocol in order to take advantage of a down market.  It stands to reason that they can save money by choosing not to do MLA interviews, and instead invite candidates to campus without that step.  Doing it earlier rather than later allows them to make offers without negotiating against competing offers, while taking advantage of candidates' anxieties about lack of available jobs, thus perhaps landing a more attractive hire than they would have otherwise.  While I disagree with this course of action in principle, I admire their pragmatism.  They're clearly making no secret of their process.
  • A: There's always a few schools who do this every year. I don't think it's necessarily a result of the down market.
  • A: A more charitable reading might be that in the face of impending budget cuts, they're trying to secure the line ASAP.
  • A: Indeed, all biases revealed, I heavily favor realism over charity.
  • A: The person who gets this offer, negotiate the hell out of it.  In a down market, some places will offer the lowest salary. Let's not take that.  It's not enough to have a job; make sure it's a good job and that employers will support everything you do.

University of Tennessee (Romantic Literature and Culture, 11/1)

• Email ack with complete info on the search and the committee's schedule. Nice touch. (11/2 x3)

Posting this schedule would be most helpful, if it's possible.  I am not applying for this post (I'm a Victorianist), but appreciate seeing other departments processes.

• OK, here you go:

"By mid-November, those making the first cut will be e-mailed and asked to have their dossiers and writing samples sent to us. By mid-December, the committee will select the candidates to be interviewed at MLA. If you are among those selected, we will be in touch with you by phone at that time. Please let us know a phone number and/or e-mail address at which you can be reached in December if these are different from those on your Vita.

"We expect to complete this search shortly after MLA, inviting final candidates to campus in January and February. If you are among those invited, you will hear from me by letter or phone. If you have any questions about the search process or the state of your application, feel free to e-mail me anytime after November 15 and I will tell you what I know."

University of Toronto-Mississauga (Victorian, 11/2)

• email acknowledgment (10/27, 11/1)
• email ack and request to upload application material to online recruitement system (11/9)

University of Vermont (19th-Century novel, 11/15)

UVM wants rec letters either uploaded or sent via email, correct?  Anyone find any indication they'll accept post if one's dossier service doesn't do email and one's referees are nurturing a healthy paranoia about sending things electronically?

I don't know if this helps but Interfolio Doisser Services does deliver to e-mail addresses. Maybe you can tranfer dossier services? Interfolio is cheap (and I've found it to be extremely reliable.) If not, I'm sure hard copies sent to the department would be fine (especially if you noted that in your cover letter). I can't imagine why they wouldn't accept hard copies........

Winona State University (18th-Century/Romanticism, 11/9)

• The job ad defines 18th century as inclusive of Romanticism (1642-1832)
• The online app is kind of a pain, so if you wait until the last second, beware.

Winona State University (19th-Century, 11/9)

• This job is for British and/or American
• automated email acknowledgment (11/6)

Discussion/Questions

U Nebraska

• Tis the season to be paranoid.
• I'm curious to see how this works out for them.  Seems an odd process, doesn't it?
•  According to MLA guidelines, schools are not supposed to ask for all of the materials up front because it is expensive for candidates, and, really, it makes sorting through all the applications more difficult anyway.  Search committees who ask up front for letters of recommendation (most of which they won't even read) are asking candidates using a dossier service to spend $6-8 per packet of letters.  Now add $10-30 in fees for official transcripts from (in my case, four) schools for search committees that request those up front, too.  That's $16-38 expense per school so far.  Then, multiply that cost by 30-70 job applications per year.  Search committees should be able to tell whether they want to interview you by what you say in your letter, what your CV shows that you've accomplished, and how well those facets match their departmental needs.
• in this market, where is anyone finding 30 - 70 jobs to apply to a year? I must be doing something wrong. 
  • A:I work in literature and two interdisciplinary/theoretical areas, which widens the pool of jobs.
• I, for one, do not send official transcripts when asked in the first round.  That's ridiculous and expensive.  I also have nowhere near to 70 jobs to apply to this year, but maybe this Friday will be different...
  • A: Same here for official transcripts.  They don't need official copies until they hire someone.
• I'm curious about the cynicism in the statement regarding up front letters of recommendation - "most of which they won't even read."  If this is in fact true (and for the three search committtees for tenure-track positions I have served on it is not, personally) perhaps the fault lies in the recommenders and/or the candidate for controling her or his portfolio of letters to the extent that they are able to do so.  I do start to skim the second, third, and fourth letters from dissertation committee members in the sections where they EACH recount a detailed 3-4 page, single-spaced precis of the dissertation.  But I zero in on what (if anything) is original and unique to those letters. 
  • Many of these schools receive 100-200 applications, and if my comment seemed cynical, that is because I doubt that committees in general read 300-600 letters of recommendation before making the first cut. Maybe your institution is more thorough.

Winona State

• how exactly is one supposed to submit letters of recommendation online for Winona State? or do they mean names of referees only? This is one of the most bizarre submission formats yet...
  • A: Agreed--also add annoying.  I had my dossier service scan and submit letters (gave them my login information and password and asked them to upload them--recommended only if you know/trust your dossier service).  Turns out it was all irrelevant: after you submit your electronic application, it says something like, "If you have not yet submitted letters of reference, have them mailed to..."  Would have been nice for them to say as much in the posting.  Editorial aside: it seems like the lower quality the institution, the higher the degree of aggravation in its application procedures (transcripts?  Who wants transcripts?).
  • If you consider it a "lower-quality institution," then why apply?  leave it for those of us who think it sounds like kind of a neat place to be.
    • A: Calling it a "lower-quality institution" doesn't mean it's not a great place to teach.  There's nothing wrong with calling Southern Indiana and Winona State of lower quality than Lehigh and Boston College, and likewise, the discussion comparing these schools and the application materials required is relevant and revealing.
• The job ad for Winona says to just submit the names of the references: "Please submit the following materials: 1) A cover letter addressing how you meet the responsibilities and qualifications in the order listed above; 2) Resume; 3) Transcripts (undergraduate and graduate); and 4) a list of at least 3 references, with addresses and telephone numbers."
  • Yes, that's what the ad says, but the online submission form asks for letters to be uploaded or sent via post.  In fact, it says something rather alarmist, like "Your application will not be forwarded unless it is complete!"  So, does the online submission form, with its fearsome threat to withhold your incomplete application, take precedence over the ad?
• "...it seems like the lower quality the institution, the higher the degree of aggravation in its application procedures..." I second that motion!  Aggravated X2.
  • My favorite are the persnickety questions on applications such as this, asking for entire employment and education background with corroborating phone contacts and dates and the like.  You would think by this point I would have all this information cleverly written down in one place for future reference.  But no.
• Everyone else may already know this, but Interfolio has an option for one to upload confidential letters of rec to webpages.
  • Q: How does that work exactly? How do you upload into a web form where you have to be logged in?