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by Ashley

I’m back safe and sound in Tucson after a bit of a scary flight. First, we were on a tiny plane and I felt super claustrophobic. Second, we had bad turbulence that left me white-knuckling the armrests for a good portion of the flight. And finally, when we made it back to Tucson the pilot was circling around the airport forever. Finally he came over the speaker and said there was some type of emergency situation at the airport so air traffic control didn’t want us to land until the issue was resolved. I have NO IDEA what the problem was (nothing was on the news either, so maybe just a false alarm?), but I was SO SO SO ready to get off that flight when we touched down! Whew!

Meanwhile, I’m absolutely exhausted! I’m a need-8-hours-per-night type of girl and I’ve been sleeping at the absolute max 5-6 hours (or less) per night for nearly a week now, first due to staying up late to work and prep for this visit, then because of nerves, and finally last night because I had a super early morning flight and had to be up before the crack of dawn.

It was all worth it, though, because I had an awesome visit! Just like my last interview, I was super nervous driving to campus (TMI alert: I was seriously scared I was going to poop myself during a presentation because I was having terrible nervous tummy issues that morning! Hey, just keeping it real, folks! We’re all human here).

But, luckily, the moment I met up with the committee chair (my unofficial tour guide), I was totally set at ease. The faculty were so welcoming and genuinely friendly. They were very complimentary, interested in my work, and even started talking about sharing data/ideas for some possible collaborations! The second I stepped foot in the classroom (my first time in a physical classroom in 2 years), I felt 100% at ease. If I had a life calling, this is it. Not only do I love to teach, but I’m really pretty good at it (let me just brush my shoulders off while I’m at it). There were a handful of faculty that sat in on the lecture, too, and it was one of those magical kinds of lectures – you all know the kind from when you were in school (or teaching, if you have that experience). The class was totally enthralled with the topic. They were engaged and interested, they participated in class discussion, and I could see the wheels turning in their heads as they began connecting dots between the things I was teaching. They were absolutely lighting up with excitement about the subject matter. Not every class is that way (hey, we have to teach some boring stuff, too), but it felt SO GOOD to be in my element again. Even if this full-time professor thing never works out (but fingers crossed that it does!), I’m definitely going back to teaching in-person adjunct as soon as the girls are in public school. It’s not enough money before then (it would literally not even cover the cost of full time childcare), and I’m so grateful for my incredibly well paying and flexible online teaching job, but it just doesn’t afford the same level of satisfaction that an in-person class gives. Tangent over. Back to the campus visit….

So after the full thing was over (which included guest lecture, research presentation, lunch with faculty, individual faculty meetings, tour of research lab space, and dinner with faculty), I came away feeling really good about everything. I also think I have a little bit more clarity about their hiring timeline.

Right now there is definitely not a position on the table. I was thinking that maybe they knew of one coming up soon (maybe Spring semester, which starts January 2016). But that’s not the case either. The next position won’t be until Fall 2016 (starting in August 2016), a full 1.5 years away. Yes, that’s really how academia works. Years in advance. So if there’s a position, it will be advertised in October 2015, interviews will take place (generally in the Nov-Feb time frame), and the selected person doesn’t start until the following August (2016). At any rate, I think I would be a good fit with the faculty and I could really see myself being friends with a couple of them. All these good things make me think that there’s a strong possibility that something there could materialize. We’ll just have to wait and see.

In the meantime….I’ve got to make conducting research and publishing more of a priority so I continue to be competitive on the job market. This was a tough decision for me to come to because (1) it’s super time consuming, and (2) its totally unpaid. I still have some publications coming down the pipeline from previous collaborations, but I’ve kind of been coasting the past 6 months or so.

In one of my very first posts on this blog, I’d mentioned that THIS would be my last hiring season to really “try” for a full-time academic position. If something didn’t happen this year, I was going to let go of that dream.

But this visit just made me realize that I can’t yet. I have a strong background in research and teaching and if the right position comes up in an area where I’m willing to move (one of my stipulations is that I will NOT move “just anywhere.” There’s a short list of places I’d be willing to relocate my family), then I need to give it an honest shot. The only way to do that is to remain active in academia (largely through continuing to research and publish).

So, yeah. I’ll give it another year.

Happy Friday, y’all!

Have you ever had to do unpaid work to try to bolster your resume in order to land a better job?