By JG
So, I haven’t written in a while, because I’ve been busy in my first few weeks of learning to be a professor rather than a grad student. But I realized that this is an opportunity for a post, in our Real Jobs in Philosophy series. The entries so far have been mainly tenured or tenure-track (though see Leigh M. Johnson's post). Given the proliferation in very short-term jobs, I thought it would be worth it to add my perspective from a non-renewable one-year position.
But before getting started: If you’re interested in sharing what your job is like, let us know!
Career Path
I just finished my PhD this summer (2016) at the University of Texas at Austin. I started there in 2010, and did an MA in Classics at UT along the way. Before that I did an MA at Texas Tech. In my final years at UT I was also an adjunct at St. Edwards University (a small Catholic school in Austin). Last year I went on the market for the first time, and got exactly one interview, for my current gig: a one-year VAP position at the University of Oklahoma. My position is only for one-year, because I’m filling in for a senior faculty member who has an external grant for a book project, and is therefore on leave to write it. This means that I’m back on the market as we speak.
Current Institution
The University of Oklahoma is the main state university in Oklahoma (sorry Oklahoma State readers). Total enrollment is just shy of 30,000. The Philosophy Department has 15 faculty, 33 grad students. It’s located in Norman, OK, a smallish city (pop. 110k) just south of Oklahoma City.
Teaching
I’ve got a 3/3 load for the year. In the Fall I’ve got two sections of Intro to Philosophy, with 75-80 students each. Thankfully, I’ve got a TA for each section. Those sections meet back-to-back MWF. I also have one section of an upper-division ancient philosophy survey (my AoS), with about 30 students. It’s a writing-intensive class. In the Spring I have one section of Intro, and two graduate courses, a survey course on Plato and a seminar on Aristotle. A bit intense, but not as time-consuming as expected [more on that below].
Research
Since it’s a temporary position, I’m on the market, so most of my research so have as doubled as job-market work. Primarily that has meant working on my writing sample, which is an excerpt from my dissertation. Now that it’s basically done, I’ve been hustling to do as much other stuff as I can. I’ve got another dissertation excerpt which I turned into a conference paper, which I’ll present twice in the next few months. I’ve also been working on publishing some pre-dissertation work. I’ve managed to get one paper out already (though truth be told, I did most of the revision before the semester started), and I’ve got another I’m revising which I hope to send back out by the end of the term. Luckily, both my grad courses in the Spring involve research I’ve already got going, so work for that class will (I hope) pull double-duty as research.
Service
Given that it’s a one-year position, it’s been made clear by the chair that (i) I’m not expected to do any service, and (ii) I shouldn’t even volunteer for it, so I can focus on the job market. But I do a fair amount of unofficial mentoring for the grad students, especially my TAs and the students who work in Ancient. Mainly that means advice for grad school applications for the MA students and job applications for the PhD students, and giving feedback on papers. I’m also on the docket to participate in a few sessions of the first-year proseminar, which focuses more on the practical side of grad school. I haven’t gotten any referee requests in a few months, so I expect another will come through soon: I try to do about one per semester.
Typical Week
I keep at online timesheet (called Toggl, check it out), so I know exactly how I spend my time. I typically put in about 50 hours a week, about half of which I spend on teaching (lecture, office hours, grading, lecture prep, emails). Another 10 hours or so is spent on job market stuff; early on that meant revising my writing sample, but the last few weeks have shifted to actual submissions. Another 5-10 or so hours is spent on, let’s call it, departmental citizenship: reading group, mentoring, departmental stuff. I also go to a weekly lunch/info session for new faculty. I also shoot for at least 5 hours a week on research, closer to 10 when I can.
One thing I’m surprised by is that a 3/3 load is *way* more manageable than I expected. It’s a lot of work, don’t get me wrong, but I’m not working any harder than I did in grad school. The real trick is being able to juggle multiple tasks, and switch from one to another on demand. It was a bit jarring at first: I was on fellowship in my last semester of grad school, so all I had to worry about was the dissertation for the last six months. The mindset of doing one big thing every day is very different from having lots of small-to-medium things to do all at once. Lately I’ve had a rhythm where MWF is spent on smaller tasks, while T/Th morning are my research/job market times.
Life outside of work
OK, here’s the controversial part. I am terrible at not working. I cannot take a day off. If I do, it throws me off for days after. So, I work at least a little bit every day. Unfortunately, I’m on a bit of a bad rhythm lately: I do all my course prep on Saturday, which includes making handouts and pre-class quizzes for every day, which I post online in advance. I’ll do a bit of my own work on Sunday, but usually only about 3-4 hours’ worth. But that means I have to spend the rest of the week catching up on the stuff I didn’t do on the weekend, which means my class prep gets pushed to the weekend again, and so on.
But honestly, I kind of like it that way. I pull regular, grown-up job hours: get up at 7:00 or so, on campus by 8:00 or 8:30 at the latest, work until 5:00 or 6:00. Once I leave the office, I almost never work in the evening. And I’ve done a decent job doing non-work stuff. For example, I see more live music in Norman than I did in Austin (ironic, I know). All in all, it feels like a pretty decent work/life balance right now.
The one big drawback about such a short gig is that everything is very explicitly temporary. I’m ready to settle down and live a kind of stereotypical adult family life, and that’s hard to even think about when you know you’re leaving in a few months. But all told, I don’t have much to complain about. My colleagues are great, teaching is going well (I have students stop by my office almost every day!), and research is progressing apace. Especially for VAP positions, it’s a pretty plumb gig, and one I’m grateful to have.
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