Today is the last day of 2021. The major academic hiring window closes soon. Schools will conduct interviews early in the new year, followed by any campus visits.<\/p>\n
Like my previous searches for a teaching post, this has been a frustrating process.<\/p>\n
I’m venting because this is why I encourage students to really understand career paths and hiring processes. I was hoping for a return to teaching in 2022, but it is not a life-or-death matter. Thankfully, I realize \u201cDr. Wyatt\u201d doesn\u2019t have to mean \u201cProfessor Wyatt.\u201d<\/p>\n
Right now, it seems likely I that will continue consulting and teaching my two daughters at home. (I\u2019m not convinced the pandemic has ended.)\u00a0My academic job search is limited regionally for family considerations. We\u2019re not relocating again.<\/p>\n
Curiously, three different colleges sent rejections with the same canned paragraph: \u201cIn accordance with Southern Association of College and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) requirements: Master\u2019s degree in English, Literature, Linguistics, or Creative Writing or Master\u2019s degree with 18 graduate hours in these disciplines.\u201d<\/p>\n
In higher education, it\u2019s not sufficient to have a degree in a broad discipline. Hiring committees want a narrow specialization, which disheartens me and frustrates many other aspiring scholar-educators.<\/p>\n
It is the phrase \u201cwith 18 graduate hours in these disciplines\u201d that seems to be causing problems during my job hunts.\u00a0Thany e schools each use “Workday” as an online HR platform. My guess is that the online system doesn’t like my degrees for teaching writing, communications, or media studies.<\/p>\n
Two of the search committees reached out and asked me to demonstrate that at least 18 units were closely related to the courses a new hire would teach. As it turns out, I do not have 18 hours of literature courses, 18 hours of creative writing courses, or 18 hours of any\u00a0narrowly defined\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>\u201demphasis\u201d within my degree programs.<\/p>\n I do have a lot of units in media production; technology and writing; and communication pedagogy. What I don\u2019t have is six graduate-level courses in literature, six in creative writing, and so on. I know several people who focused narrowly and did take 18 units within a literary specialty or creative writing genre.<\/p>\n Being a generalist works against applicants on the academic market, though we should encourage generalization. Specialists don\u2019t always see the interconnections among disciplines and topics within disciplines.<\/p>\n Wanting to teach, I spent a week trying to document my graduate coursework and respond\u00a0to respond to \u201cconcerns” raised by hiring committees, . I located the course catalogs for the years I attended graduate school, and then extracted the pages with course descriptions. This was a slow and tedious process, but I was desperate to persuade one college I had the appropriate qualifications to teach in a writing program. In the end, they ruled I did not meet the requirements for the program.<\/p>\n To anyone outside academia, my credentials should easily exceed a writing program\u2019s requirements:<\/p>\n Navigating the higher education job market resembles a Kafka short story. No matter what documentation you submit, it is never sufficient. There\u2019s always something more you need to document, some other requirement to meet.<\/p>\n A doctorate does not limit your career path to teaching and research<\/strong>, even as that\u2019s the path valued by graduate programs. We need more people with graduate degrees in public and private sector careers beyond education, especially at a time when many problems require expertise to solve them.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a shame generalization isn\u2019t celebrated in academia. However, I\u2019m sure I have value and I\u2019ll find a meaningful path.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Today is the last day of 2021. The major academic hiring window closes soon. Schools will conduct interviews early in the new year, followed by…<\/p>\n\n