Sunday, January 23, 2011
The Ticking Job Clock
Most of the time, when I am immersed in dissertation research, I find it difficult to think too far beyond the latest chapter deadline or paper submission date. Obviously I will need to set aside time to work on job applications or at least to consider various post-graduate school employment opportunities, but such concerns seem far less significant when an article is due or your advisor is waiting for the latest batch of revisions.
This past week, however, my thoughts have been dominated by jobs. First off, the history department invited three candidates to campus to interview for our long vacant early modern science position. Since our program is relatively small, whoever got picked would play an important role in shaping its future, and it seemed wise to meet as many of the prospective replacements as possible. In each case, I joined my fellow grad students for an informal chat with the candidates, where we talked about life in Princeton and posed questions about undergraduate and graduate pedagogy. Then after a break, it was off to a classroom upstairs for a job talk.
The job talk is a fascinating ritual. The candidate is expected to distill his latest research into a lecture lasting approximately 30-45 minutes. This talk must strike a delicate balance, proving the speaker's mastery of the most technical aspects of the material and link it into existing scholarship in the field without overwhelming an audience of intelligent, but non-expert, listeners. Assuming he has accomplished this task, he must then spend the remaining 45-60 minutes fielding a wide range of questions from the audience. Sometimes graduate students get involved, but for the most part, the faculty run the show and it can be fun to try and predict what each faculty member will ask. Over time, you come to anticipate particular styles of question. Sometimes professors will try , with varying degrees of success, to link the talk to their area of expertise. Others prefer to ask questions concerning sources and methods. The tones vary from the solemn to the sarcastic, and by the end of the grilling session, one often (but not always) has a stronger sense of the faculty's attitude toward the candidate. I have a hunch I know, for example, which of the three candidates for the early modern science position will get the job. Of course, only time will tell if I'm correct.
So the in-department job talks were one reason I've been thinking about employment this week. Another was a job talk held in the department across the street attended by friend of the blog Princess Noodle, who traveled all the way from the west coast to Old Ivy to interview for a psychology position. I did not actually get to attend her talk, but from the sound of things she did very well. We had a chance to discuss such matters at one of the area's many, many ice cream parlors (5 within walking distance from campus...soon to be 6!). It was a nice visit, albeit brief, from a good friend.
And speaking of friends, the next day I had a chance to meet with my undergraduate dean, who had been serving as a high ranking administrator at Old Ivy for the past few years. I had known that he was on staff for a while, but never took the time to schedule a meeting. I wasn't sure what we would talk about other than the three years I spent with him as my undergraduate academic supervisor. Nonetheless, a little while ago I learned that he would be leaving his post here to become head of a New England boarding school so I thought it best to arrange for a chat. It turned out that we actually did have a lot to talk about, including the stress of finishing a dissertation and the challenges of finding an academic job that strikes an effective balance between teaching and research. He also encouraged me to look at non-university positions, including private high schools and museums, both of which I will keep in mind in the future.
And that future is drawing ever nearer, for in the last piece of job-related news from the world of Ben, this week I learned that a graduate student in my cohort had received a teaching position out west and will be defending his thesis sometime in the early summer. This is obviously awesome news (except from the perspective of our department's softball team) considering the state of the market for historians these days, but it also marks a milestone. This is the first person in my year slated to graduate. Soon there will be others. No matter how much work still lies ahead of me in the coming months, it appears that there is more graduate employment behind me than ahead.
Unless, of course, I decide to forego gainful employment and apply to professional school...but that doesn't seem too likely at this point.
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Most of the time, when I am immersed in dissertation research, I find it difficult to think too far beyond the latest chapter deadline or paper submission date. Obviously I will need to set aside time to work on job applications or at least to consider various post-graduate school employment opportunities, but such concerns seem far less significant when an article is due or your advisor is waiting for the latest batch of revisions.
This past week, however, my thoughts have been dominated by jobs. First off, the history department invited three candidates to campus to interview for our long vacant early modern science position. Since our program is relatively small, whoever got picked would play an important role in shaping its future, and it seemed wise to meet as many of the prospective replacements as possible. In each case, I joined my fellow grad students for an informal chat with the candidates, where we talked about life in Princeton and posed questions about undergraduate and graduate pedagogy. Then after a break, it was off to a classroom upstairs for a job talk.
The job talk is a fascinating ritual. The candidate is expected to distill his latest research into a lecture lasting approximately 30-45 minutes. This talk must strike a delicate balance, proving the speaker's mastery of the most technical aspects of the material and link it into existing scholarship in the field without overwhelming an audience of intelligent, but non-expert, listeners. Assuming he has accomplished this task, he must then spend the remaining 45-60 minutes fielding a wide range of questions from the audience. Sometimes graduate students get involved, but for the most part, the faculty run the show and it can be fun to try and predict what each faculty member will ask. Over time, you come to anticipate particular styles of question. Sometimes professors will try , with varying degrees of success, to link the talk to their area of expertise. Others prefer to ask questions concerning sources and methods. The tones vary from the solemn to the sarcastic, and by the end of the grilling session, one often (but not always) has a stronger sense of the faculty's attitude toward the candidate. I have a hunch I know, for example, which of the three candidates for the early modern science position will get the job. Of course, only time will tell if I'm correct.
So the in-department job talks were one reason I've been thinking about employment this week. Another was a job talk held in the department across the street attended by friend of the blog Princess Noodle, who traveled all the way from the west coast to Old Ivy to interview for a psychology position. I did not actually get to attend her talk, but from the sound of things she did very well. We had a chance to discuss such matters at one of the area's many, many ice cream parlors (5 within walking distance from campus...soon to be 6!). It was a nice visit, albeit brief, from a good friend.
And speaking of friends, the next day I had a chance to meet with my undergraduate dean, who had been serving as a high ranking administrator at Old Ivy for the past few years. I had known that he was on staff for a while, but never took the time to schedule a meeting. I wasn't sure what we would talk about other than the three years I spent with him as my undergraduate academic supervisor. Nonetheless, a little while ago I learned that he would be leaving his post here to become head of a New England boarding school so I thought it best to arrange for a chat. It turned out that we actually did have a lot to talk about, including the stress of finishing a dissertation and the challenges of finding an academic job that strikes an effective balance between teaching and research. He also encouraged me to look at non-university positions, including private high schools and museums, both of which I will keep in mind in the future.
And that future is drawing ever nearer, for in the last piece of job-related news from the world of Ben, this week I learned that a graduate student in my cohort had received a teaching position out west and will be defending his thesis sometime in the early summer. This is obviously awesome news (except from the perspective of our department's softball team) considering the state of the market for historians these days, but it also marks a milestone. This is the first person in my year slated to graduate. Soon there will be others. No matter how much work still lies ahead of me in the coming months, it appears that there is more graduate employment behind me than ahead.
Unless, of course, I decide to forego gainful employment and apply to professional school...but that doesn't seem too likely at this point.
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Toward a New Sense of Balance
Happy 2011, ladies and gents!
Each January, like many people, I compile a list of resolutions for the coming year. I'm not sure how many I have actually been successful in keeping beyond mid-March. Either my goals are too ambitious (e.g. "I will go running every day."), there do not seem to be enough hours in the day (e.g. "I will learn a new language.") or my willpower needs to be strengthened before I have any hope of achieving them (e.g. "I will only surf the web X hours a day.") And so my resolutions, confronted with the harsh realities of school and work, which are, after all, the same thing when you are a graduate student, fell by the wayside. I remained, as most of us do, a creature of fixed habits.
All of which begs the question of whether these lists really have any value, especially since, what is shaping up to be the most compelling New Year's resolution in recent memory emerged through complete happenstance. Through a pair of independently scheduled events, last Sunday, I found myself continuously occupied with non-dissertation related activities for the entirety of what would have been a typical, work-filled day. Whether teleconferencing with high school friends or hanging out with grad school folks, I was able to let go of my work for a little while and just have fun. hile I had the chance to do that recently while visiting my folks back home, I realized at that point that perhaps this did not have to be a one time thing.
Which is why I have decided to try an experiment. For the month of January, I will be taking one day a week off from dissertation writing. Or researching. Or e-mailing. Or anything else related to graduate school work. My old mantra that "The work comes first." still holds true, but the work will still be there in the morning and in the meanwhile, this will give my tightly wound little brain a chance to decompress and hopefully permit me the opportunity to follow up on other resolutions. Already today I have cleaned my apartment and gone running, obtained ingredients for a nice healthy meal, and called my parents. And right now, I'm in the midst of fulfilling another perennial goal: blogging more!
This is not time to just sit around. This is time to actively have fun and de-stress. Even if my work my suffer in the short run, in the long run I think I'll be happier for it.
(2) comments
Happy 2011, ladies and gents!
Each January, like many people, I compile a list of resolutions for the coming year. I'm not sure how many I have actually been successful in keeping beyond mid-March. Either my goals are too ambitious (e.g. "I will go running every day."), there do not seem to be enough hours in the day (e.g. "I will learn a new language.") or my willpower needs to be strengthened before I have any hope of achieving them (e.g. "I will only surf the web X hours a day.") And so my resolutions, confronted with the harsh realities of school and work, which are, after all, the same thing when you are a graduate student, fell by the wayside. I remained, as most of us do, a creature of fixed habits.
All of which begs the question of whether these lists really have any value, especially since, what is shaping up to be the most compelling New Year's resolution in recent memory emerged through complete happenstance. Through a pair of independently scheduled events, last Sunday, I found myself continuously occupied with non-dissertation related activities for the entirety of what would have been a typical, work-filled day. Whether teleconferencing with high school friends or hanging out with grad school folks, I was able to let go of my work for a little while and just have fun. hile I had the chance to do that recently while visiting my folks back home, I realized at that point that perhaps this did not have to be a one time thing.
Which is why I have decided to try an experiment. For the month of January, I will be taking one day a week off from dissertation writing. Or researching. Or e-mailing. Or anything else related to graduate school work. My old mantra that "The work comes first." still holds true, but the work will still be there in the morning and in the meanwhile, this will give my tightly wound little brain a chance to decompress and hopefully permit me the opportunity to follow up on other resolutions. Already today I have cleaned my apartment and gone running, obtained ingredients for a nice healthy meal, and called my parents. And right now, I'm in the midst of fulfilling another perennial goal: blogging more!
This is not time to just sit around. This is time to actively have fun and de-stress. Even if my work my suffer in the short run, in the long run I think I'll be happier for it.
