Political Theory Junior Job Thread 2008-2009--Part 6
Job market rumors and news--Part 6.
Please don't name particular junior candidates for particular jobs until an offer has been made--no lists of who's been longlisted or shortlisted or interviewed. Please keep this thread for job market information and discussion.
If anyone is interested in taking over management of the blog, please contact me at poltheorist@gmail.com. You should be a faculty member who won't be applying for jobs in the fall.
Please don't name particular junior candidates for particular jobs until an offer has been made--no lists of who's been longlisted or shortlisted or interviewed. Please keep this thread for job market information and discussion.
If anyone is interested in taking over management of the blog, please contact me at poltheorist@gmail.com. You should be a faculty member who won't be applying for jobs in the fall.
posted by administrator at
6/05/2009 02:13:00 PM
169 Comments:
If anyone is interested in taking over management of the blog, please contact me at poltheorist@gmail.com. You should be a faculty member who won't be applying for jobs in the fall.
We're burning our admins out pretty fast these days, aren't we? This is, what, the third time we've seen an announcement like this in the last twelve months?
Mind you, I wouldn't want the job. I can understand why it's not a long-term gig.
Does anyone have serious news on this year's visiting positions? Also, anything more specific on St. Mike's?
Anyone know if Colgate has called for interviews yet?
If you want a job at Colgate, you better have really clean teeth. I think their application even requires dental xrays.
Shefali Misra accepted the St. Michael's job.
Did the Arizona philosophy/ "freedom center" search lead to any hires?
There are senior offers. I don't think any hires yet.
Any word on:
Oregon
Duke
Colgate
Michigan State
Boston College
Washington and Lee
?
Alexander Jech, Philosophy PhD, Notre Dame, has accepted the UVa PPL postdoc.
thanks for info on UVA
what about UCSD? did they make a hire?
Re: UCSD, You may have seen this already, but the other blog said three candidates were invited to give talks this month.
who got the Duke American Values and Institutions postdoc?
where is the link to the UCSD interviews info on the other blog?
cant find it there
http://www.poliscijobrumors.com/topic.php?id=571&page=2
About half way down the page, someone suggests three candidates were invited to give talks this May.
re Arizona, the schedule of talks is at http://philosophy.arizona.edu/news_events/events/?cal=1 for anyone who wants to figure out job talks
According to the other blog, here is the latest re: UCSD:
"The theory interviews are all done, and there has been a recommendation from the SC. The faculty meeting isn't for another week, so nothing is official just yet."
Franklin and Marshall? Anyone heard anything?
F&M has filled the VAP position.
St. Michael's candidate accepted today.
Colgate?
Aquafresh!
The person asking about Colgate should call the department secretary and get an answer. I've called most of the places I've applied to for one reason or another and all are very willing to take calls from applicants. And I've posted here whenever I heard a position was filled...so please do the same.
happy end of semester!
APSA info is up...http://www.apsanet.org/mtgs/program_2009/divisions.cfm.
Any rumors on searches in the fall?
Any notable candidates who will be braving the market this fall?
No.
10:08. No names. Them's the rules. Let's not turn this into a version of the other site.
Every candidate is notable. They (we) are all beautiful and unique snowflakes.
^I like where your head's at.
Lee to UCSD.
Which Lee? John? Spike? Bruce?
Must be Stan Lee.
ucsd must not read this blog to know that princeton is exceedingly narrow and worthy only of ridicule, as only the top program in the field could be. the fools!
congrats to dan.
word verif: philocke
You are not a beautiful or unique snowflake.
Now fuck off with your sofa units and strine green stripe patterns.
word verif: I am jack's smirking revenge.
Bold choice by UCSD!
congrats to Lee.
though Jennifer London or Ryan Pevnick would have been bolder.
I guess we need more excavations of European popular sovereignty.
the point about Princeton is that it's just a factory for liberal democrats.
Not much else comes out of it.
And it is not self-evident that liberal democracy is the summum bonum of politics.
it produces an environment of preaching to the chorus and a dogma/catechism of lib-dem doctrines.
More internal variety would enhance its quality and depth, as Mill would have argued!
i'd agree...
its intellectually dishonest for a doctoral program to be monolithic.
"the point about Princeton is that it's just a factory for liberal democrats.
Not much else comes out of it."
Jesus. Have you people ever actually met any Princeton grads?
Even in the middle of talking about a Princeton grad student who does history of medieval thought, we get this bashing of Princeton grad students as a monolithic bunch of liberals.
I agree that the Princeton *faculty* has been too homogeneous. But they've consistently attracted very smart grad students-- smart enough to be creative and original and not to replicate what they were hearing. The urge to bash those students makes the bitching here look a lot less like principled defenses of intellectual diversity, and a lot more like the whining of people who didn't get jobs that some mean ol' Princeton student got.
Question: can any of you defenders of intellectual diversity name a program that you think *should* hire some Rawlsian or liberal faculty in the name of pluralism?
Who else interviewed at UCSD? Perhaps that would give us a sense of what they were lookign for more broadly?
^^Amen.
I believe they were looking for someone good.
I believe they were looking for someone good.
1.14:
No. Names.
Why is that so hard to understand? It's written on the front page. You see what happens even when permitted naming happens (i.e. naming someone who's got the job). Sniping almost inevitably ensues ("I guess we need more..."). There is so much bitterness and disappointment in the job market, but there's no reason to take it out on other people. Just congratulate those who got jobs, and let's move on.
gee, 11:00 a.m. maybe you should have just posted a congrats to dan lee without reopening the princeton critique as you did. now the focus is on princeton-bashing on, and not on his accomplishment.
(This is the new admin, by the way...)
I agree with 1:29--let's move on.
We just had a "discussion" of this silly issue not that long ago. Please--no more posts about Princeton and the terrible liberal democratic menace.
Anyone submitted a Carleton application yet?
Anyone have anything to report from the VAP market?
sorry, 1:37 (11am here). i guess my sarcasm was too subtle, despite containing both hyperbole and exclamation point. next time i'll put in some winks & nudges, too.
Hi 11:00 and 2:19. In fairness to 1:37, s/he wasn't accusing you of actually engaging in Princeton bashing yourself, but in opening the door to it by your (agreed: pretty obvious) defense of Princeton.
1:29 here. I was also thinking of comments like the one in 12:23 of the snarky "I guess we need more..." variety. There are also names in that post. Hard to know what's sarcasm and what's not, sometimes.
1:37 here. 11 a.m., i got the sarcasm. i just thought it was tacky to obscure dan's success by using his accomplishment as a chance to get in another dig in the princeton debate.
any new job rumors?
I have no idea if this is true, but the wiki says that UVA hired Chris Lebron.
I guess those of us at lower ranked programs should stop sweating publications and just marry into pedigree?
Who is LeBron's partner?
Yes. I'm a top-three ABD currently entertaining offers of marriage. Please send photos.
hmm, no mention of gender - you must be in massachusetts (i.e. harvard)?
10:03, truly petty. Please keep your bitterness to yourself. That's not what this blog is for.
12:18--it's true that UVa hired LeBron. Congrats!
The concern about pedigree is often accurate, but not in this case. Lee has publications in HPT and RoP as a grad student. That's pretty solid. It would be sufficient to get him a job somewhere even if he weren't at Princeton.
And, yes, I know there are unemployed PhD's out there from lower ranked schools with as many or more quality pubs. I was one for many years before getting my way lower than UCSD type job. You've got a right to be angry at the hires of unpublished ABD's from HYP. But this guy seems to have actually shown more than "potential," so we shouldn't begrudge his success.
Well, now that the Cav's are out if the playoffs he doesn't have much else to do. How will he balance teaching and the regular season? I know he's the king and all, but it seems a bit much...
Re: UVA and Chris Lebron- what kind of position is this? Thanks.
a good one?
The other blog is reporting that the end-of-year offers by UCSD (including, maybe, the theory offer we discussed last week?) were taken off the table-- all offers that weren't yet signed contracts were canceled as part of the budget meltdown.
I hope Lee managed to sign in time. Sounds terrible.
Any other unemployed theorists contemplating the Pakistan job?
Wake Forest is hiring for a 1 year VAP for this coming year, very last minute obviously.
6:42, do you have any more information? APSA eJobs does not appear to have a listing.
they are looking at applications that they already have from another search
@11:34--
That is not accurate. They did not conduct a theory search this year. They are, in fact, looking over new applications to replace a departing member.
This is frustrating. I see no ad at APSA, Inside Higher Ed, the Chronicle, or WFU HR.
Is there somewhere else I should be looking, or is this a super-secret job?
I received this from a member of the department. Apparently they are hoping to move quickly, so it was circulated only to local departments.
Political Theory/American Politics Position
The Department of Political Science at Wake Forest University invites applications for a one-year, non-tenure track position in the area of Political Theory for the 2009-2010 academic year. The duties would include teaching introductory courses and upper level courses in the candidate’s specialty. Ability to teach some introductory American politics will be an advantage. Candidates should have a strong commitment to teaching undergraduates in a liberal arts environment. Teaching experience is desirable. Minority candidates are strongly encouraged to apply. Salary is competitive and comes with benefits. Applicants should submit a placement file including curriculum vita, graduate transcripts, course outlines, teaching evaluation summaries, and three letters of reference to Dr. Katy Harriger, Department of Political Science, PO Box 7568 Reynolda Station, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC 27109. To ensure full consideration, applications must be received by June 17, 2009 and candidates must be available for an interview the week of June 22-26.
Is Weinstein leaving?
No.
Didn't Wake advertise a one-year last year? Maybe they intended to do a TT search this year but had to do another VAP search because of money?
Maybe last year's VAP got a job elsewhere and left. Maybe they have greater enrollment then they anticipated. Maybe the deans sat on the funding forever and finally gave them authorization. Does it really matter?
1:51--if someone senior was leaving, there might be a TT search in the fall, so yes, it matters. It's speculation and maybe inconsequential, but this is a blog for inconsequential speculation.
Also, someone might be curious. In between conversations about how the janitorial staff at Harvard stacks up to Princeton, there might be time to talk about who's doing theory at other perfectly respectable universities--even those located in the South. Lighten up.
1:51 was right--the VAP there is moving on and they're replacing him. Pretty cut-and-dry.
Anyone know if the current VAP get one of the remaining offers?
If it's really important that you know, you can always ask him. His name is Brandon Turner, and his email is listed on the WFU political science dept. Why it's important to know, I can't imagine...
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if the UCSD contract-rescinding rumor is correct, then it is unfortunate that so much time was spent in waiting for a reply from the person to whom the position was originally offered to.
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12:03, I had no problem with your sentiment, but I just wanted to make sure I deleted all instances of the very rude and off-topic comment from 11:58.
The new admin really has the chainsaw roaring, huh?
UCSD wasn't simply at the mercy of their first candidate. They should have read the writing on the wall.
I have confirmed with Dr. Leonard that he did post this last night. I want to post it here just in case anyone missed it in the General Discussion thread. There is an active discussion on the matter going on there and I ask that you please join that conversation instead of starting one here. I will move any comments on this issue written in this thread to the appropriate place.
"A number of us have just learned that SAGE has moved to undermine the integrity and autonomy of Political Theory.
Over the many decades of its existence, the editorship of Political Theory has been determined by a process of consultation and advice with editors, board members, and interested members of the political theory community.
Mary Dietz has been told that at the end of her current contract, she will be replaced by an editor chosen by SAGE (as of this writing, Mark Bevir). None of us, I think, doubt Bevir's abilities; the issue here is SAGE's decision to usurp the authority of the community the journal serves.
This is a very disturbing development. I hope that others will weigh-in here with reactions and -- perhaps most importantly -- ideas about how we ought to respond to this violation of the integrity of what is, by broad agreement, the field's flagship journal.
--Steve Leonard
UNC-Chapel Hill
Treasurer, Foundations of Political Theory"
I'm a busy beaver today! Someone sent me this ad and asked me to post it:
"An advertisement for a Lectureship in Politics (Political Theory) at the University of Manchester will appear shortly. The advert will appear on jobs.ac.uk and on the University's website at:
http://www.manchester.ac.uk/aboutus/jobs/academic/
Applications are invited for this continuing lectureship in Politics,
specializing in Political Theory, tenable from 1 September 2009. The
successful candidate will join the Politics discipline area and be attached to the Manchester Centre for Political Theory (MANCEPT). Applicants must have, or be about to complete, a relevant PhD and have research and teaching interests in the core areas of contemporary analytic political theory including theories of justice (including global justice), equality, rights
and responsibility. Applicants must be prepared to teach both undergraduate and postgraduate modules in Political Theory, supervise dissertations and
make appropriate teaching contributions across Politics, as required.
Informal enquiries may be addressed to Professor Alan Hamlin, Professor of Political Theory and Head of Politics from 2009/10 at alan.hamlin@manchester .ac.uk"
who is this powerful sage who is undermining the entire discipline?
Duke hired Aaron Keck
Chicago hired Leo Strauss.
Yes, and Bryn Mawr hired Woodrow Wilson. But I hear he wants to leave for Wesleyan.
nice job, aaron!
ruckers mafia rulz!
Beloit news, anyone?
I heard that Mark Bevir took the Beloit job.
word verication: beloit
as in, "whatever you do, don't beloit for dinner!"
4:14, offensive. OFFENSIVE.
Yes, please do not tarnish Beloit's good reputation. Shame on you! SHAME!
weekend's over. Can we get back to it?
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Admin, we need a place for general discussion.
Also, the senior thread has been bumped off the central list on the main page (so you have to click the link on the right to see if there are any new posts... which is a pain).
If you're looking for posts to delete, someone's trolling there.
6:13, thanks for the heads up about the comment on the senior thread. I also bumped it up back to the front page.
As for General Discussion, if there's no news on PT by tomorrow, I'll re-open the thread for discussion on topics other than PT.
No probs
Any opinions on where to send articles while the dust settles at PT, esp. work that combines historical and normative approaches? HPT and JPP are obviously top journals, but my work does not fit into either niche. So I am looking at taking a step down in tier (ROP, Contemporary PT, Constellations, etc) or a mainstream poli sci journal aren't read by theorists. Advice?
Hard to tell without knowing more about your paper. I think PT is still legit though.
Send it to PT while the old regime is still in place. People won't hold it against you so long as MD is in place (which is until 2011, more than enough time for you to get through the relatively fast sub to pub process there). After that, I'd consider APSR, ROP, and Polity. CPT and Constellations are also great if you fit within their respective areas. I also like EJPT and Philosophy and Social Criticism.
Are you sure that Dietz is at PT until 2011? If so, I'll be submitting as well. But I'd like to get this confirmed first.
Her Gender Studies bio at Northwestern says she'll be editor of PT until 2011:
http://www.genderstudies.northwestern.edu/people/core.html
P.S. And it's true she writes the best rejection letters EVER!
Yeah but according to the many posts on this board, her contract has not been renewed. When she got the letter from SAGE, I doubt her first move was to update the gender studies page.
Thanks to 5:15 for the advice, I had almost forgotten that APSR publishes theory.
Really? APSR has been publishing tons of theory lately. Try reading it.
Actually, all the association journals (AJPS, JOP, etc.) publish political theory. Sometimes fits in niches, but hard to say whether that is a function of submission or a function of the review process. Doesn't get automatically read by theorists, but never too late to change that dynamic.
And the word I've heard used regarding Dietz is "fired" so I'm not sure she's going to the end of her term if things play out the way SAGE intended.
give me a break..."TONS" of theory at APSR??!!
hahaha
why is the General Discsussion thread closed?
why is the Admin censoring views on the SAGE issue?
maybe some of us have inside info/rumors.
why does he need to wait til someone "officially involved" makes a "statement"?
doesnt that defeat the idea of a rumor mill?
"why is the General Discsussion thread closed?
why is the Admin censoring views on the SAGE issue?
maybe some of us have inside info/rumors.
why does he need to wait til someone "officially involved" makes a "statement"?
doesnt that defeat the idea of a rumor mill?"
Okay...why not, you know, post something? Why not, you know, not ask rhetorical questions?
Unfortunately, the evidence so far has demonstrated that too many people are incapable of having a responsible discussion about the PT editorial issue. This may be a "rumor mill," but that does not mean that I'm going to allow posters to run someone's name into the ground.
If you have inside info or rumors, email me at poltheorist@gmail.com.
As for discussion, there are some interesting things that have developed on this thread, and, given the unusual circumstances, I have no problems with those discussions (or other non PT discussions) continuing here, even if they are a bit off-topic.
"give me a break..."TONS" of theory at APSR??!!
hahaha"
Well, can't speak for the APSR, but the JOP had four nice theory contributions in April. That has to be some kind of record. Good essays, too.
There have been something like 10 theory articles in the last 6 APSRs -- given how thin they've been, yeah I'd say that's "tons."
2 in the new issue
1 in feb 09
4 in Nov 08
0 in Aug 08
1 in May 08
1 in Feb 08
Unfortunately, administrator, it seems to me that your move to start deleting posts more aggressively last Friday caused the postings to become more irresponsible.
People were trying very hard to give Sage's choice of PT editor the benefit of the doubt, even though it was difficult, given the nature of the case (and common sense) to completely distinguish person from process.
Frustration over your deletions caused people to start posting incendiary remarks so that they could score quick points before they'd be deleted.
Anyway, it seemed that way to me. This is a serious issue in the political theory community, and in academia generally, and this forum was serving a very salutary function by promoting discussion. Stopping discussion did more harm than good in my estimation.
"People were trying very hard to give Sage's choice of PT editor the benefit of the doubt, even though it was difficult, given the nature of the case (and common sense) to completely distinguish person from process."
I read all the posts, and I've got to say that I came away with the opposite impression. The administrator wasn't intervening frequently, and the majority of the posts did not seem to give Bevir the benefit of the doubt.
Ah good -- a meta-debate!
They also repeatedly made assumptions about Bevir's motives and character despite repeated attempts to direct the conversation to SAGE and the process. I thought the admin was right to try to direct the conversation to more productive and civil topics.
Still, I think these conversations have historically self-corrected themselves. Readers can decide for themselves what is fact and what is rumor, they do not need a censor to do it for them. We all know that anonymous people are going to say nasty and irresponsible things on a rumor blog.
Comments should be deleted immediately if names are revealed that might hurt a candidate or affect the outcome of a search. I also think it is fine to periodically delete entire threads if they are totally irrelevant. Otherwise I don't see a need for much realtime policing.
If the admin thinks it is his/her job to immediately delete every off target post, he/she is going burn out very quickly and frustrate the "community" (for lack of a better word). I say let a hundred flowers bloom and reopen the general thread.
I think the thread was shut down for a pretty good reason - namely, that in the absence of new and credible information, the discussion had nowhere to go but downhill. That was what was happening. I agree that this is a vitally important issue - but just for that reason, it requires more information.
Readers can decide for themselves what is fact and what is rumor
That's so precious, I don't even know where to begin.
7:11, I respect the way you've presented your side, so let me reiterate my position.
There were a couple of very unfortunate "discussions" (that were not at all self-correcting) about people in our field during the early days of the site. I'm trying to prevent a repeat of those incidents.
Without new information to drive a discussion, I believe, based on what I know about the history/patterns of this site and others like it, as well as my previous experience moderating another list, that the discussion will be overwhelmed by unacceptable personal attacks and troll posts.
Once again, I encourage people with information to email me at poltheorist@gmail.com. Of course I will not identify anyone who sends me anything, and I will only reveal what I am given permission to reveal.
if we required official statements or information from every possible job info rumor, then what is the point of this site?
the Admin is asking us to not comment (even if we have inside info) because there is no official statement from SAGE or Pol Theory.
I doubt any such statement will come.
might as well ask that we refrain from commenting on job rumors too, since they are merely rumors, not based on official statements.
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The admin is doing a fine job. Whatever the facts, whenever they come to light, the tone that discussion took was embarrassing. If we can't behave like adults, then it's perfectly right to close the discussion.
There seems to be one or two people here - based on syntax and various quirks of their writing - who keeps bringing this up, accusing the admin of complicity or irresponsibility, and demanding information. Scratch that, not information, gossip and conspiracy theories. (The admin seems open to you emailing your "inside info" if you feel a burning need to get it out.)
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Prediction: the thread on the other forum will lead to one of three things:
1) virtually no responses at all
2) theory-bashing by the regular denizens over there
3) uncontrolled slander and unsubstantiated personal attacks
Useful information? Unlikely.
That will be the third attempt to start a discussion over there. So far nobody has taken the bait. Either there's nothing to discuss or political theorists have higher standards than the a--wipe Americanists that dominate that wilderness.
some years that has been the case, 12:41. other years not so much.
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Daniel Skinner to Ramapo. For all the talk about how bad the market is this year, Purdue, UCONN, and CUNY graduates all landed positions.
Please don't post multiple links to threads on other sites in the same comments section.
Please don't speculate on the personal motives of people involved in the PT situation.
Please don't engage our capitalization-challenged "friend."
Please have a happy and/or productive weekend.
SAGE discussion has now switched to:
http://www.poliscijobrumors.com/topic.php?id=18518
I'm used to lame posts, but this is something new. I wonder if we're being played by trolls from the other board.
>For all the talk about how bad the market is this year, Purdue, UCONN, and CUNY graduates all landed positions.
That reminds me of people who say that since X small market team won the World Series, this proves that the Yankees don't have an unfair advantage. This is just a case of the exceptions proving the rule. They prove that it is possible to get a job from a non-top 10 program, but not that this is an advisable path to take. Still, congratulations to those candidates!
Sushmita Chatterjee got the Augustana job.
@4:49-your argument is entirely correct. However, the difference between baseball and academics is that it is not obvious that the advantage enjoyed by those graduating from certain programs is an *unfair* advantage. Nor is it obvious that it isn't unfair, i.e., that it is a reasonable meritocracy. However, I have yet to hear anyone articulate what principles of fairness should govern the distribution of entry-level academic jobs.
Wow, a Penn State grad snagging a theory job. How's that for irony? But many, many congrats to Sushmita.
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"However, I have yet to hear anyone articulate what principles of fairness should govern the distribution of entry-level academic jobs."
A draft: lower ranked programs get to pick earlier. They can trade picks to higher ranked programs for veterans or money.
Jacob Levy posts:
The 2008 ISI journal rankings are out. Impact factors for selected journals of interest around here:
APSR: 1.725
Journal of Politics: 1.685
Philosophy & Public Affairs: 1.500
Ethics: 1.053
Journal of Political Philosophy: .902
Political Studies .625
Political Theory .403
----
Could this have something to do with Sage's decision?
I know the chainsaw is gunning for action these days, but this is an honest question and not a personal attack of any kind.
The journal rankings are for last year, so they couldn't possibly have anything to do with these rumors. It's more likely that they reflect the fact that political theorists don't cite each other nearly as much as people in other subfields, and non-theorists don't cite theorists. There's also the fact that journals are not the sole or even primary vehicle of political theory scholarship (lots of the most important works in political theory are books, and we tend to cite each other more in books than in journal articles).
^You are wrong on both points.
1. The rankings are the most recently available and reflect the last 5 years of citations.
2. The point you make about theorists vs. non-theorists is true, but not relevant. After all, Political Theory is being cited much less than JPP, Ethics and Philosophy & Public Affairs. But these are all theory journals. The fact that it is being walloped by JPP (a comparatively new journal) can not be happy news for the publishers of PT.
What's with this whole evidence thing? Can't we get back to mere speculation?
The numbers I blogged are the recently-released 2008 impact factors, not the five-year impact factors.
FWIW, Political Theory is ranked #72 among political science journals by 5-year impact factor, and #62 by 2008 impact factor, which would suggest recent *improvement* to any bean-counter who counted beans carefully.
But there's no contradiction between thinking that measures such as impact factor are poor proxies for scholarly worth, especially across subfields or disciplines, and thinking that journal publishers care about them intensely. I've received a bunch of new subscription flyers touting the 2008 ISI rankings in the mail in the last couple of weeks; the journal publishers think they're important.
Even if they are a blunt measure, surely they are not meaningless. The difference between the citation rate of PT articles and those reported in JPP, PPA, etc. are large. Again, I grant that they lose meaning when you start comparing across different subfields, but that is not the case here.
"It's more likely that they reflect the fact that political theorists don't cite each other nearly as much as people in other subfields, and non-theorists don't cite theorists."
Of course this isn't entirely true, and to the degree that it's true it's not entirely one-way. I would guess that theorists who really engage with empirical political science are also more likely to be cited by non-theorists.
What's also partially true is that theorists cite political philosophers, and not vice-versa. And that has something to do with the difference between PT and PPA/ Ethics/ JPP.
Doesn't mean we should just accept it as an immutable fact about our subfield. If neither political scientists nor political philosophers think our stuff is important enough to read and cite, that suggests a problem, and one that's going to be relevant to our struggles for resources within universities.
"If neither political scientists nor political philosophers think our stuff is important enough to read and cite, that suggests a problem, and one that's going to be relevant to our struggles for resources within universities."
And, of course, our struggles with publishing companies.
Last few posts have been cut-and-pasted over in the re-opened GD thread...
Foundations placement newsletter part 1.
----------------------------
Dear Foundations Members:
Once again, we have attempted to collect accurate information about placements in political theory the previous year. All schools that advertised positions in APSA's "ejobs" were contacted by e-mail about the results of their searches.
It's hard to say how many jobs, or more exactly, real jobs for political theorists, there were this year. In all, approximately 110 inquiries were sent out. But a high percentage of positions advertised on e-jobs were not political-theory specific and people hired were not political theorists. A large number of universities in other countries also advertised. It seems apparent that there were fewer positions this year than in previous years, and an unusually high number of searches were cancelled or positions not filled.
This year's response rate was slightly lower than 50%. For our purposes here, we do not report on fellowship opportunities that were advertised. Also not included are positions with closing dates after May 2009 when most queries were sent out, and a few other searches that are still ongoing. We include information on a few positions for which information was received, although the positions were not advertised in ejobs. We also attempted to verify information available from other sources, especially the list of positions filled on the political theory placement wiki:
http://bluwiki.com/go/Polisci0809#Political_Theory
The wiki provides information on some 27 appointments. Information for several positions for which we did not receive responses is available on the wiki. Below we include a list of schools the wiki reports as cancelling or otherwise not filling positions.
Additional information, discussion, rumors, and reflections on the political theory job market are found in the following blog:
http://politicaltheoryrumormill.blogspot.com/
If you have additional information about positions not reported in this newsletter, please send it to George Klosko, at gk@virginia.edu. If sufficient additional information is received, an update to this newsletter will be sent out.
The amount of information we received on each search varied considerably. To some extent this depended on who responded, Chair of Political Theory Search Committee, Department Chair, or someone else. The material presented below is as complete as we could make it, given our limited resources. Responses are generally edited slightly for uniformity and compiled as accurately as possible, again, given our limited resources.
The results of our inquiries are as follows.
American University
American University hired Tom Merrill at the rank of Assistant Professor. His PhD is from Duke University. He comes to American via St. John's College in Annapolis, where he had an appointment for three years, and the President's Commission on Bioethics, on which he has also served for the past two years.
Arkansas State University
Arkansas State University hired, Mihaela Czobor-Lupp as a Visiting Assistant Professor. Her PhD is from Georgetown University. Her dissertation is titled The Civil Power of Imagination: Democracy and the Intercultural Understanding.
Augustana College
Augustana Colleged hired Sushmita Chatterjee at the rank of Visiting Assistant Professor. Her Ph.D. is in Political Science and Women's Studies from The Pennsylvania State University.
Centre College
Centre College hired J. Christopher Paskewich as an Assistant Professor. His
Ph.D. (expected) 2009 will be from the University of Connecticut. His dissertation title: Creating Religious Space in Liberal Democracies: Leo Strauss's Polis and the Modern Regime.
College of William and Mary
The Department of Government at the College of William & Mary hired John Lombardini at the rank of Instructor. He is expected to complete his Ph.D., at Princeton University, in the coming months, at which point his rank will change to Assistant Professor.
Foundations newsletter Part 2:
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Dartmouth College
Russell Muirhead, from the University of Texas, Austin, was appointed the Robert Clements Associate Professor of Democracy and Politics.
Duke University
Duke hired Michael Feola as a Visiting Assistant Professor. His Ph.D., in Rhetoric, is from the University of California at Berkeley.
Duke also hired two post-docs: Fichael Faber (U. of Indiana Ph.D.) and Danielo
Petranovich (Yale Ph.D.). Aaron Keck (Rutgers Ph.D.) continues in the
second year of his post-doc.
George Washington University
Steven Kelts was hired as Director of the Politics and Values program. He will be continuing on in this position he has held for the past six years. His Ph.D is from Stanford University.
Hobart and William Smith College
While the search for a tenure track position was closed down, Dylan Weller was extended for one year, teaching American Politics and American Political Thought.
Hunter College
Hunter College hired two political theorists.
Leonard Feldman, formerly of the University of Oregon. was appointed at the Associate Professor level.
Robyn Marasco was appointed at the Assistant Professor level She is formerly of Williams College and will join the Political Science Department at Hunter in 2009-2010.
Missouri State University
Missouri State University hired Cigdem Cidam at the assistant professor rank. She is ABD at Minnesota, but will have PhD in hand in August 2009. The working title of her dissertation is Constituting Democracy: Political Friendship and the Potentialities of
Action, supervised by Mary Dietz.
New York University
Ryan Pevnick has been hired as an Assistant Professor. His PhD is from the University of Virginia. The title of his dissertation is Bounded Sovereignty:
Immigration, Political Association & the Constraints of Justice, supervised by George Klosko and Colin Bird.
Princeton University
Melissa Lane was appointed Professor of Politics. She was formerly at the University of Cambridge.
Regent University
Regent hired David J. Meyer as an Associate Professor of Government. He comes to Regeent from George Fox University in Newberg, Oregon. He completed his Ph.D. at Columbia University.
Rhodes College
The Liberal Democracy Project at Rhodes College selected Brent Cusher (ABD, Toronto) as its 2009-2010 Jack Miller-Veritas Fund Post-Doctoral Fellow.
Foundations newsletter part 3:
Saint Michael's College
Saint Michael's College hired Shefali Misra, at the Assistant Professor level. She completed her Ph.D. dissertation at Brandeis University in August 2008, and for the past year has been a visiting assistant professor in the Department of Politics at Oberlin College. Her dissertation title: Through Skeptical Eyes: The Prospects for a Liberal Relationship with Multiculturalism in the Thought of Montesquieu, John Stuart Mill and Judith Shklar.
Trinity College
Trinity College hired Lida Maxwell as an assistant professor. She earned her PhD from Northwestern University in 2006.
University of Alberta
The Department of Political Science at the University of Alberta hired Robert Nichols
as Assistant Professor, beginning January, 2010. He completed his PhD in 2009 at the University of Toronto with a thesis entitled Freedom and Finitude: A study of Heidegger and Foucault, under the supervision of Ronald Beiner and James Tully
University of Florida
Michelle R. Smith was appointed as an Assistant Professor. Her PhD is from Cornell University. The title of her dissertation is Theorizing the Real, Unburdening the Possible: Self-Representation and Cosmopolitanism in the Political Theory of Alain Locke.
University of Houston
The University of Houston hired Jeffrey Church at the rank of Assistant Professor. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame in 2008. His dissertation title is Divided Individualism: On the Political Individual in Hegel and Nietzsche. He was a Visiting Assistant Professor at Duke University in 2008-2009.
University of Minnesota
Joan C. Tronto was appointed Professor of Political Science. Her previous position was at Hunter College.
University of Notre Dame
Notre Dame hired Phillip Munoz for a position in constitutional studies and political theory. He was hired as an Associate Professor without tenure. He comes most immediately from Tufts University, where he was an Assistant Professor in the Political Science Department. His PhD is from Claremont Graduate School.
Notre Dame also appointed a post doc in the fields of constitutional studies and political theory. He is James Mastrangelo, a recent Ph.D. from Rutgers University. He works in the area of Religion and Politics and will be attached to the Tocqueville program in Religion and American Public Life.
University of South Carolina
For a one-year postdoctoral fellowship in a recently developed initiative called Classics in Contemporary Perspectives, South Carolina hired Rachel Templer. She received her Ph.D. from Georgetown University in 2008. Her dissertation is titled: Friendship, Love and Images: Citizenship and Necessity in Thucydides and Plato.
Foundations newsletter part 4:
University of Virginia
Christopher Lebron was appointed Assistant Professor by the Department of Politics. His PhD is from MIT. His dissertation, Race, Power, History, and Justice in America, was supervised by Joshua Cohen.
For a post-doc in its interdisciplinaty program in Political Philosophy, Policy, and Law, UVa hired Alexander Jech. His PhD, in Philosophy, is from the University of Notre Dame. Dissertation title: Wholehearted Love: An Augustinian Reconstruction of Frankfurt, supervised by David O'Connor.
Univesity of Wisconsin-Whitewater
Michael Illuzzi was appointed. His Ph.D. is from the University of Minnesota and his dissertation title: A Conceptual History of Equal Opportunity: Debating the Limits of Acceptable Inequality in U.S. history.
Vanderbilt University
The Department of Political Science at Vanderbilt hired Emily Nacol as an Assistant Professor. She received her Ph.D at the University of Chicago, with a dissertation on Dimensions of Risk in Early Modern British Political Thought.
Wabash College
Wabash College hired Alexandra E. Hoerl as a Byron K. Trippet Assistant Professor of Political Science. Shel had been visiting assistant professor at Rhodes College. She received her Ph.D from Rutgers University in October 2008. Her dissertation was entitled The Necessity of Inspiration and the Crisis of Modern Political Communication.
Wellesley College
Wellsley hired Laura Grattan at the rank of Assistant Professor.
Wesleyean University
Wesleyan hired Sonali Chakravarti as an Assistant Professor. She received her PhD from Yale University in 2008, and was a post-doc at Trinity College last year. Her dissertation title is Anger, Resentment, Despair: On the Political Philosophy of Truth Commissions.
Yale University
Helene Landemore was hired as an Assistant Professor. Her PhD, is from Harvard University. She recently completed a post-doc at Brown University.
Steven Bilakovics was hired as a post-doc in American political thought. His PhD is from the University of Texas, Austin.
The following institutions either did not fill their advertised positions or did not hire political theorists.
Brown University, Political Theory Project
Capital University
Chatham University
Columbia University
Florida International University
National University of Singapore
North Central College
Truman State University
University of Kentucky
Washington and Lee University
Whittier College
Williams College
The wiki reports the following additional schools as either cancelling searches or not filling positions.
Brandeis University
DePaul University
Morehouse College
University of Maryland, Baltimore County
University of Minnesota (junior position)
University of Pittsburgh, Greensburg
George Klosko
Newsletter Editor
According to those Foundations results, Harvard, Chicago, and Princeton had one placement apiece. Worth remembering the next time we argue about how overwhelmingly dominant the top programs are, how it's not worth going to grad school anywhere else, or how liberalism is dominant in the whole discipline because it controls the commanding heights of the subfield at Princeton.
^ Agreed!!!
I think it is more accurate to say that the data show that the job market is equally bad for everyone. The take-away is NOT that it is advisable to go to any old program in your hometown with a smart person that you happen to like.
So, how many here are going to apply for the Lee job? I don't imagine that it is particularly attractive to most of the blog frequenters (4/4 load; Christian commitment; semi-rural TN). However, it is one of only two jobs currently advertized.
who got the UCSD job?
It depends what you mean.
The offer(s) went to London, then Pevnick, and then Lee.
The job, on the other hand, went to nobody. And unfortunately it looks like it'll be sometime before UC is in position to hire again.
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