So this fall, I actually do have a job (praise to Buddha and Colonel Sanders, who sits at the left hand of God feeding him popcorn chicken). I'll be teaching English 169, Modern American Lit. (yay!) at 8:50 in the morning (still better than the 8:00 slot I have now). It's a pay cut, but not much of one. Sadly, though, I'll be teaching for the professor that many of us simply think of as "Spousal Hire."
You see boys and girls, in academia, we have this thing called "spousal hire." It means that if your husband, wife, life partner, etc. is really talented and the university wants him or her badly, they will offer you a job as well, if you are in fact an academic. This can lead to good things, as several of my friends are (facetiously or seriously) contemplating their role as the spousal hire, despite the fact that they are all excellent scholars in their own right. It's often a great boon for the university, gaining two top notch academics.
Sadly, this is not always the case. I'm teaching for one of the exceptions come the fall.
Oddly enough, though, I was supposed to teach for this person my very first semester as a PhD student, but the couple went on leave for a year, and I was reassigned. Perhaps this is just the Universe's way of righting itself, in a bizzare academia-based version of Final Destination. Which will be awesome, but only if it has Ali Larter in it.
5 comments:
Hey, although teaching for Spousal Hire can be a pain (esp if you're the TA whose name she never learns over the course of a semester), it can also be awesome - all my students LOVED me. All of them. Without exception.
Also, you get the satisfaction of knowing that an Ivy League PhD can't buy you the knowledge that Philip Larkin wasn't an American.
I was going to say "hey, if this is who I was thinking of...," but T's comment confirms it, I think. I've got a mildly entertaining S.H. story for you if you ever come over.
Ah, I take it that it is the one who we were suppose to TA for that one fall. I heard some "interesting" things when I was asking who the individual actually was.
But, at least you have funding. I have been denied! So, the mad search for funding or some sort of job continues.
Are you going to be in Evanston this weekend?
No, the date of the F15 show was moved, so I'll be there on Saturday the 19th. I'll be in StL sometime in the near future, though, if you plan to return to the old homestead.
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