Academic Careers

finding, applying, and interviewing for jobs in higher education

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Last updated on: March 16

Florida Gulf Coast (US and Public History)

      **** 12/01 Received email saying search extended to January 15
            2/5  Received call about scheduling a phone interview.
            2/6  Phone interview scheduled
            2/15 on-campus invite scheduled for 2/26; on campus interview scheduled for week of 2/19 
                 (still negotiating the date). They are bringing in 3 candidates and all three
                  have been contacted at this point, as I understood it.  //I just canceled my on-campus 
                  interview with FGCU. With any luck, this will open up another spot for an additional candidate.//
            --Anyone hear if a replacement interview was scheduled?
            --email received: On behalf of Florida Gulf Coast University,

I would like to thank you for submitting your application materials.
We have filled the position with another candidate. Thank you for your application and interest in building our university.
Congrats to the winner, but good gawsh, I strongly suggest that once you arrive, you sit FGCers down and tell 'em that you should treat future candidates better than this lame old email.

4-05: Indeed! This redefines unprofessional. No updates for four weeks, no phone call from the SC chair, no letter. Generic email? Lame

Indiana University of Pennsylvania (US and Public History)

           11/04 Phone Interviews Scheduled
           12/15 Email received saying they would extend on-campus invites next week
           12/20 Received on-campus invite
        Position accepted by Kevin Britz, of Kenyon College (see IUP website)

Rochester Institute of Technology

           12/13 AHA interview scheduled and 12/15
           1/11 Received on-campus invite
           3/5 Offer made, 3/7 Offer accepted.

Slippery Rock

           Phone interviews done; campus interviews scheduled toward the end of March.
           Campus interview declined; as above, this might open up another spot.
           SEARCH CANCELLED, according to snail mail letter received yesterday.

SUNY Albany Anyone have any info?

University of South Carolina (Columbia)

          On-campus interview scheduled
           1/11 When is/was your interview?
               There was one person on-campus before Christmas. Two more interviews on-campus are scheduled for this month (January).

3/19: Three candidates brought to campus, faculty vote several weeks ago, but no resolution yet.
WORLD's LAMEST REJECTION LETTER. "We are in the process of concluding the search." Umm, sorry, but if ya got the funds to hire someone, and ya got the nerve to stretch the search out about 7 months w/out almost any correspondence (see Indiana U of Pennsylvania for better etiquette), then ya gotta have the guts to actually tell the candidate that they are out of the running. Ain't museums/public history about clear communication?

   4/12: The letter might have messy language and have taken too long to get there, but it's nevertheless accurate.

The search is not yet concluded. Higher-ups were not happy with the search, and the "funds" are only there if
someone releases them.

   Do Wiki posters who insult the departments and SCs assume that only job candidates read these pages? 

NO, to the contrary. I think a lot of us actually hope that this might provide a relatively safe way of communicating to SCs and the academic culture at-large (to which, of course, we belong) that there is a better way to do this. I don't know if this is Prof Weyeneth or someone else at South Car. who's asking the question, but why not just provide some version of this information in the letter? And why not, like Indiana U of Penn, or some others, get a graduate assistant to send out a provisional letter that says, 'hey, apologies for the long delay. we can't say anything conclusive, but just wanted to update you, yadda yadda yadda." For the most part, WE job-market types are good folk, grown-ups to boot, and appreciat transparency in process (of course, we also understand that HR protocol limits an SC's freedom in significant ways. But in this search's case, in particular, it was an early deadline and one of the poorest correspondence. If the recent letter had also said something to the effect that a final correspondence would follow later, that would also help. B/c, as written, it just seems inconclusive and not reciprocal to the care, money, and, yes, anxiety, that job candidates invest in these searches. Sorry, that's a mouthful. But since the question was asked . . . .
Offer made a month or so ago, but not accepted. Department pursuing other options.

UVA-Wise (19th c. U.S./public history) Any news on this search? Finalists(3) invited to campus mid-February.AND...HAS A HIRE BEEN MADE?

Cal State San Marcos (digital & public history)

       Phone interview (weeks of Dec 4 & 11)    -finalists invited to campus
       3-16 Received letter saying it was a failed search and they'd try again next year;
           they wanted someone with more specific skills in multimedia/new technology

Cal State Fullerton

           1/11 Anyone hear anything yet?
           All finalists have visited campus. I believe an offer has been made.
                  They extended offers to two candidates, both of who accepted.
                       How does that work?
           Ans: As far as I understand it,at the beginning of this year Fullerton's history department had 10 lines open, which they planned to fill in three years.
                The job ad was pretty broad, so I'm guessing that they found two great candidates that added different qualities to their public history program and
                decided to fill two lines out of this one posting.