Visiting Assistant Professor of Composition and Professional Writing
Miami University (Ohio) English Department: Instructor/Visiting Assistant Professor (Composition) to teach full load of introductory composition courses and professional writing courses; provide departmental committee and program service; opportunity to work with colleagues in shaping and developing writing curriculum and participating in activities related to technology initiatives and program development. Opportunities exist to work on an active academic blog that was created in the department.
Require: PhD (for appointment as Visiting Assistant Professor), ABD (for appointment as Instructor); specialization in rhetoric/composition and/or professional writing/technical communication; coursework and experience teaching college-level composition. Desire: experience with digital writing instruction and instructional technology. The faculty member will be joining a strong cohort of faculty in rhetoric/composition in a department with both MA and PhD program in rhetoric/composition. For more information, seewww.units.muohio.edu/comprhet
Submit letter of application, curriculum vitae, evidence of teaching excellence and contact information for three references by email (required) to Kerry Powell, Department of English, at English@muohio.edu (Hard copy submissions will not be considered.) Screening of applications begins June 6, 2012 and will continue until the position is filled.
Miami University is an EOE/AA employer with smoke-free campuses. Right to Know Consumer Information http://www.miami.muohio.edu/about-miami/publications-and-policies/student-consumer-info/ Hard copy upon request.
Hey! a new colleague! I wonder who left, apparently quite late in the year, and why?
ReplyDeleteAnd (dropping the Miami 4 schtick), I wonder what a "full load" of courses is (a bit cagey of them not to specify, which makes me think it's on the heavy side, especially when you take service into account). Also, I wonder how long people end up "visiting" for? If it's only a year or two, then, despite my remarks in favor of service on the post below, I'm not sure I see the point in requiring service. "Opportunit[ies] to work with colleagues in shaping and developing writing curriculum and participating in activities related to technology initiatives and program development," while very good things, strike me as more appropriate to a tenure-track job -- long-term commitment to and knowledge of the program and its students, and all that.
You beat me to BOTH things I wanted to add!! Well played.
ReplyDeleteWhat's funny to me is the handful of tenure track jobs that are still leaking onto HigherEdJobs, etc. I mean, this is AWFULLY late. I guess in some disciplines, like English, they know there's a ton of talent out there waiting.
I'll put up a full post once the dust clears, but these late TT jobs are generally one big cluster-fuck. I've had a couple on campus interviews within the last few weeks. There are no students, nothing is organized, and none of the faculty want to be there. Guess what? It shows to your faculty candidates.
ReplyDeletePeople's budgets are so screwed up at state institutions that this ad doesn't surprise me. We aren't hiring this year (again), but other colleges in our system will be advertising TT positions shortly.
ReplyDeleteWow--who quit in a huff? And really? They don't even want to make it a FULL position and are only doing a "visiting" position? That's lame. So it means teaching comp, comp, more comp, and being in charge of the department blog (as in College Misery???).
ReplyDeleteplus you'd have to live in Oxford AND have "Miami" on your CV! ugh...
ReplyDeleteLet's not talk bad about our employer. Yes, it sucks to work here, but at least we're employed.
DeleteAnd we're employed at the only public university in Ohio that bans smoking on its campus!
Deletesmoking cigarettes.
DeleteAppazzles, it is quite the trendy thing this year to "take personal leave" for a year or two at the last minute because you got a gig at another university, and you want to give it a trial year or two to see if it works out. My significant other is currently a candidate for one of these last minute clusterfucks, and I know of 3 others at my own institution.
ReplyDeleteIt's a particularly nice touch not to actually resign so that your previous department can't hire someone TT to replace you, I think.
Indeed. I certainly hope the people who are engaging in this sort of position-straddling do not complain when a new hire pulls out of a contract to take a "better" offer. Then again, maybe the people who're now straddling are the ones who were busily making and breaking contracts a few years before. I have a lot more sympathy for those trying to negotiate their way into their first TT job than for those trying to "move on up" (though I realize there are also good reasons for moving -- e.g. getting closer to a partner. Still, the straddling is a bit unseemly, and, yes, hard on those who are seeking to occupy just *one* TT slot. And I wouldn't be thrilled if I were the partner, though I suppose sometimes both partners are hoping to land back at the institution from which one just took leave).
DeleteDidn't there used to be a deadline of May 1 for resigning/going on leave? I learned about it when a significant portion of my grad department resigned just after I passed field exams. Or maybe early-June advertisements are the results of people following that rule to the letter?
I have a colleague who is taking a leave for a year because a uni in an OPEC nation is paying him triple his current salary, plus providing a house, a car, and plane tix for visits from his family 4x/year.
DeleteI don't begrudge him that one.little.bit.
I think your state may present a "special situation," BC -- all the more so because I'm not sure an open TT job there would be much of a prize at the moment.
Delete" full load of introductory composition courses and professional writing courses; provide departmental committee and program service; opportunity to work with colleagues in shaping and developing writing curriculum and participating in activities related to technology initiatives and program development."
ReplyDeleteSounds like everything you'd have to do if you were TT. And what is "competitive" anyway?
I looked into Miami for undergrad (I went to Hiram instead).
I'd guess that "competitive" means "maybe enough to rent a one-bedroom on your own if you don't have student loans to pay, you already own a reasonably-new car, and you don't mind taking the leavings of the students who went house-hunting in the spring" -- or something along those lines.
DeleteYep, I'm cynical. My university built "faculty housing" in the last few years, which had turned into "luxury apartments" by the time the company to which they subcontracted the job got through with it. The price range would be reasonable for a single person starting a tenure-track job at my uni (or perhaps even a couple that somehow managed to land two jobs in the area, but most of them go ahead and buy), but, leaving aside the problem of possibly losing one's job and one's housing in one fell swoop, but it's well above what I can afford (which means it's also well above what many staff members can afford, and the service workers -- well, most of them are outsourced anyway, so they're not eligible, but it's way, way above their income level).