AcadeMama is Coming Home!!

HUBBY GOT THE JOB!! Yes this one, where he interviewed just one week ago. The area needs a name....it shall be New England Town (NET). That's right folks, somewhere we never thought we'd end up, for many reasons, but mainly because most humanities PhDs from our institution end up in the south/midwest. But we are moving to an awesome city, near two even more awesome large cities, where Hubby has landed a tenure-track position in his field. It's a teaching school, so he will have a 4/4 load and departmental responsibilities, etc., but it's exactly the kind of school at which he's always envisioned himself having a career. I couldn't be more proud of him, and I think he'll be really happy at this school.

He got the call late Friday night from the Dean. I'd already gone to bed, and when he came upstairs to wake me and give me the news, I literally burst into tears. He said he hadn't realized until that moment just how badly I wanted to be done with Doha and back in the U.S. We immediately called our family members and gave them the good news, and his mother was particularly thrilled because I don't think she ever thought it was a serious possibility that we could/would end up in the northeast.

What does this mean for me? Well, hopefully it means good things job-wise. Hubby has already e-mailed the Dean with a counteroffer for the salary and an inquiry about what the teaching opportunities might be for me. What I didn't mention previously is that this school, New England School (NES) also has/had a tenure-track job open in MY FIELD. I applied for it in the fall and never heard anything from them. According to the job wiki, two people had phone interviews and campus visits were supposed to be done in late January/early February. Also according to the wiki, these have not yet taken place; at least nobody has claimed to have had a campus interview. So, depending upon how reliable the job wiki is, the position may or may not still be open. Here's the funny part (not so funny if you ask me). I looked up my application letter to NES, and I quickly discovered a very real reason why they might have just thrown my application in the trash. In the first paragraph, I announce that I'm writing to apply for X position in the Department of English at Completely Different School. Yep, folks, I'm that dumbass!! I had the header/address information correct, but I evidently lost my mind after that point.

So, in an attempt to correct this aggregious error, Hubby passed along a corrected letter of application and CV to the Dean (framed as a helpful follow-up to his inquiry about any possible work for me). We're hoping that the recent/corrected letter is the one that will end up going to the English Department for review, and then we can pretend that such a horrible mistake never happened.

Hubby has less than 2 weeks to accept or decline the offer, so time is ticking. That means that we should know something from the Dean by the end of today or tomorrow at the latest. In the worst case, maybe I could get hired as a lecturer (and they seem to use plenty of them).

I've made contact with a realtor, chosen the most likely town where we'd like to move, and narrowed down a working list of properties we're interested in. The plan is for me to fly the NET in late April to make a final choice for a house, check out schools, etc. But you know what they say about the best laid plans....

Bad News, Good News

Well, I've finally heard things. That's not to say that I haven't been hearing any news on the job front. I've obviously been following the job Wiki, and I've been able to track which search committees have moved forward with other candidates. I really haven't blinked an eye at any of those because, I think, they never showed interest to begin with...like, they never requested my dossier, so I sort of applied and then moved on without getting my hopes up. But, with the schools that requested my dossier, that is a little different story.

The Bad News: I was not selected for an MLA interview with The One. I got a personal e-mail from a colleague in my field (who is also a friend), which explained that ze thought this was a "collective loss" for the school and ze would've been happy to have me as a colleague. Hearing this from a friend at the school rather than the Wiki, took some of the sting out. Evidently, fate has other things in store for me, because.....

The Good News: Minutes before the bad news e-mail came an e-mail from a different school inviting me for an MLA interview! It was a school that requested writing sample, sample syllabi, etc. from the beginning stages, so there wasn't a step in the process for dossier requests. Yay team! That means they liked what they saw :) Also, this school is not located on either coast or in the NE, so I think there is likely a somewhat smaller applicant pool (double yay!). Regardless, I am happy to be heading to Los Angeles in January with at least one reason for being there.

It only takes one, right?