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Nothing on my end!
Update: offer extended
QUERY: Any word from Clemson (Lecturer) since Zoom interviews ended?
Just a note for anonymous above: Dartmouth has never been ranked by Leiter because it doesn’t have a PhD program,…
In our most recent "how can we help you?" thread, a reader asks:
What's the best way to find out about conferences/workshops in one's areas? Does philevents basically cover all bases here, or are there are other resources that I should be availing myself of?
I basically rely on PhilEvents and the Philos-L listserve (PHILOS-L@LISTSERV.LIV.AC.UK).
What about other readers?
In our most recent "how can we help you?" thread, a reader asks:
I have seen many questions on sabbatical here, and many suggestions. In particular, I have seen many testimonies of how nice and useful visiting another university is. But I wonder if there is anyone who can testify on the effects of a different way of spending the sabbatical, namely deep working/reading in solitude for the entirety of sabbatical.
This is my plan, because for some idiosyncratic reasons I can't visit anywhere. Also, my experience in the past of giving random talks in nearby universities and have zoom discussions did not prove to be a productive way to spend a sabbatical.
Success and failure stories are both welcome!
Good query. I've only had one sabbatical, and I had to turn down an invitation to visit another institution for family reasons. But I've always done most of my philosophical work in solitude and (mostly) enjoy it that way. So, what I did during my sabbatical was basically what I ordinarily do during the summer: read/write maybe 4-5 hours per day each weekday (which is the most that I can really do on consistent basis). I found it to be great, but if you're not accustomed to working that way, I imagine it may take some adjusting.
I was going to suggest that maybe the OP consider arranging an informal reading group to discuss some of their work in progress and keep up with the work of others, but it sounds like they've done something similar in the past (albeit with more formal talks and zoom discussions), but they didn't find that terribly helpful.
Do any other readers have any helpful tips and/or experiences to share?
In our most recent "how can we help you?" thread, a reader asks:
One of the more frustrating aspects of academia is how often senior faculty, including those tasked with supporting job candidates, assume that people on the market are young, naive, and not quite fully adult.
Why is this the default assumption?
I'm a 36-year-old married scholar with two young children, and yet I'm frequently treated—especially by North American colleagues—as if I were a grad student in need of unsolicited life advice or professional guidance. The tone often implies that I’m too inexperienced to know my own mind, and seems to show tacit commitment to the assumption that postdocs are somehow too young to know themselves, or something. In my case, I have been offered tenure-track positions, but I have turned them down for very good personal and professional reasons.
Can we stop equating job market status with youth, naivety, or incompleteness? Why is this even an assumption? Can any senior or mid-career scholars weigh in on how they have critically reflected on their treatment of those who are professionally junior, and changed their treatment of those who are professionally junior as a result?
One analogue here, I think, is how I was treated before and after having children. Before children, I was sometimes treated as though there was some sort of incompleteness as an adult stemming from the lack of children, which is rubbish.
I'd be interested to hear from others who’ve experienced this, and from senior or mid-career scholars who have advice on how to speak to junior colleagues without condescension.
Another reader reported similar experiences:
I do not have a solution. I just want to say that my experience is pretty similar: I find the North American attitude towards researchers in precarious jobs very disrespectful. Although I have to say that there are some people who are very supportive and treat me like an intellectual peer (usually those are people with an international profile, though…).
Have other readers had similar experiences? Any concrete suggestions for how senior faculty should do better?
In our most recent "how can we help you?" thread, a reader asks:
I am curious how people get suggestions and guidance regarding one’s research after graduate school, especially for those who work in small departments where there are minimal overlaps between people’s research interests. I am not talking about conference papers or substantive drafts, but some early-stage, premature ideas, or some relatively basic questions.
More specifically, I have seen really great discussions and suggestions both here (thank you, Marcus!) and the “Teaching Philosophy” facebook group. I guess I am looking for a counterpart of such online communities for research. Somewhere I can ask questions anonymously, such as “I become interested in topic X. What are some recent works on it?”, “I had a really hard time understanding the concept Y. Can anyone help me or suggest some readings?”
Do any readers who have been in a similar situation have any helpful tips?
Yup, I was going to write the same thing