this just does not happen; or adjunct whore comes out

so one of the gigantic reasons for my lukish-warmish blogging of late is, of course, the job market in general; but more specifically, because of a specific job. at mr. whore's institution. which i have been vying for. & i just heard last night that the department vote was enthusiastically in support of my hire. oh my god, but i get ahead of myself....let me back-track for you.

as many of you know, i defended in May; as many of you also know, mr. whore just went through tenure. in August, the institution published and distributed an official policy (yep, in print even) about partner hiring (in addition to some other much needed policies such as maternity/spousal leave for birth, etc.). we, of course, were beside ourselves with glee. was it actually possible that we ended up in this bizarre parallel universe whereby the university actually recognizes how this could be useful to it? (of course, it wouldn't recognize its value for those individuals/families involved) jumping for joy at our good fortune, mr. whore initiated the process whereby he requests that the dean and department consider my hire. but before this could go very far, the dean issued a blanket warning to all of those interested in such a move (and apparently there was an immediate and amazing number of such requests), that a partner hire would be considered only if the faculty member (mr. whore) received a job offer.

despairing and angry--how is this any different than any other institutional practice but for the confusing policy on paper?--mr. whore and i went out full force on the market. in the meantime, the chair of the department--favoring the partner hire because mr. whore is a rock star--began to circulate my documents--cv, writing, letter--to the faculty committee and most importantly, to the senior members in the department in my field. these members were solicited for evaluation of my work--was it good? a contribution? were they in favor of me joining the department? why or why not? this was crucial for a number of reasons, not least of which was when the time came--and that time came when mr. whore scored a phat mla interview in the same city as i scored a less phat but oh-so-juicy mla interview. when this happened, the dean was informed and immediately released the funding and approval for a tenure-track line.

so, not having any offer and needing to go through a normal hiring process, we went to mla interviews and established that we would pull out of all searches when such an offer was forthcoming. my job talk and campus visit were scheduled, which i did, a few days later the department met, and as i first wrote, they liked me!!!!

i write of this unthinkable narrative because i have never experienced anything like this in ten years of academia, nor have i ever heard of anything like this from anyone i know in academia, and well, i'm stupefied by the warmth and political savvy of so many people here. what really stumps me in particular is not only that progressive policies were put in place in an impossibly competitive discipline, not only that it is a tenure-track job, but that it is a GREAT fucking job. my future colleagues are amazingly prolific and brilliant, civilly responsible, award winning teachers, and just lovely people (those i know). i can hardly believe that this is happening.

i feel guilt for my fortune. but i also feel wonderful, excited, and the need to share it, because perhaps with more transparency across so many levels of academia, such forward thinking policies could be instituted across more universities/colleges.

as i was told the dean here has said: "smart people are most often partnered with other smart people." i'm convinced.

ok, so i'm out, my dirty secret has been told, don't hate me because i'm beautiful, as the breck ads used to tell us, because maybe-oh-maybe the fact that the unthinkable is happening, suggests a shift in thinking. i know that the policy will be watched carefully to see how it is implemented--i will work hard to make it seem like a no-brainer.

and now, i can tune back in to my regularly scheduled blogging without the heavy weight and discomfort. tenured radical asked me if getting a job would force a name-change in my blog--i dunno. i'd say it remains an apt moniker.