Europe: Early Modern

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Any observations post AHA? surprises about questions asked, indications of popular areas, teaching concerns etc?

Early Modern Europe

 * Last Updated: 5 Feb 2008
 * Updated: 30 December 2007 with latest info from old wiki. Old site will soon be deleted as a result.

Administrative Items

Discussion Items
 * Who is on the market and the number of people participating in this discussion. Approximately 15. See Discussion Page.
 * 1/6- Please use the Discussion Page to post any thoughts or comments about your AHA interview experience here. Share the good, the bad, and the bizarre! Thanks.
 * The most bizarre/morbid interview question: How would you like to be remembered?
 * That is hilarious! I hope you spoke extensively about the epitaph for your gravestone. I think, perhaps, I would have talked about my bastard progeny.
 * Another classic awkward AHA moment. One of my interviewers asked me the usual "tell us about your research" question.  As I started to answer, the interviewer immediately began looking at his shoes.  So, I was basically telling his balding scalp all about my earth-shattering research.  He finally looked up with a "who are you" gaze after a long, awkward pause during which I almost began to laugh uncontrollably.  I've had people stare off into space, look at their watch or fall asleep, but this was far and away the most awkward AHA moment I have experienced.  Has anyone written a short story about this nonsense?  The David Lodge stuff is more literary and doesn't deal specifically with the MLA/AHA meat market.  I think there is something to pursue here.

Active Postings for 2007-08

Appalachian State (1648-1848)


 * acknowledged application by snail mail (11/26)
 * AHA interviews scheduled 12/6 by phone. They were very friendly!
 * 12/7: AHA interview scheduled.

Baylor University


 * 12/14 AHA interviews scheduled
 * 12/23 Rejection e-mail received.

Brown University (Full professorship, Early Mod Europe)

Cal State Fullerton (Early Mod Britain)


 * 12/1: AHA interview scheduled.
 * 1/8 On campus interview scheduled
 * 1/9 Congratulations!

Charleston Southern University

Concordia University, Montreal


 * 11/15, Campus visit scheduled (Q: Congrats! Is this for Early Modern, 19th Cen. Ireland, or 19th Cen. Quebec/Canada? Concordia has multiple postings this year, so just hoping to clarify. Thanks!) A: EME
 * 01/04: Offer made
 * 01/05: Congratulations! Did you take it or do you have any competing offers?
 * 01/07: Thanks! I'm taking it.

Duke University (British Isles/British Empire (1500-1800))


 * Q: has anybody received an acknowledgment of their application? I have not, so am wondering if I should be worried (11/26)
 * A: Yes, received ack. letter 11/24 (11/26)
 * Thank you for replying. Was it was by snail mail, then?
 * Yes, by snailmail and I sent my application to them 11/9
 * requested additional materials (12/3)
 * note on last year's wiki (I guess people hadn't realized it had rolled over?) that other writing sample requests happened 11/09 and 11/15. I guess they're doing requests on a rolling basis?  It seems very spread out
 * I'm a bit confused about the above posting. Just checked last year's wiki and it looks to me like the Duke posting in question is actually for this year, 2007-2008. Could you clarify?
 * Yes, I know, the postings are for this year. That's what I meant when I said someone hadn't realized the wiki had rolled over...I was just relaying info from the other board that should have gone on this one, and commenting that I thought it was odd the requests were so spread out.
 * Ah, I see what you mean. Some universities seem to do their reviews in batches.  See, for example, UC Riverside (mod. Br) which has also put out WS requests at two different dates.  They do it, no doubt, just to add to our anxiety!
 * Requested (via email) writing sample (2 chapters/articles) 12/8)
 * 12/8: Requested writing sample.
 * Anyone know if they do AHA? (12/14)
 * No idea (and I'm one of the ones who posted the bit about a writing sample)
 * 12/18 any further word anyone?
 * Reply: As of 12/18 pm, nope, not a peep, and I'm one of the folks who sent in writing sample back on 12/8
 * As of 12/19 pm PST still nothing. Strange.
 * 12/20: Request for additional materials + AHA Interview scheduled.
 * Congratulations. Thanks for letting us know.
 * 1/29: Search has moved on to campus visits. Although I didn't get one, I can't say enough good things about the way they are handling the search. They were prompt, professional, and courteous.

East Tennessee State University


 * 12/7 AHA interview scheduled via email (They said they were going to interview nine.)
 * 1/22 Got an email asking if still interested in the position because they're gearing up to schedule on-campus interviews in February.
 * 2/3 Finalized plans for campus visit.

Glendon College - York University, Canada (must be bilingual in English and French)

Johns Hopkins University (E.M. Science or Technology)

Lehman College (early modern Europe and/or modern Germany)
 * 1/2 Since there was no information about this position, I decided to contact the chair of the search (e-mail on 1/1). He informed me (e-mail, same day) that I was not among the candidates the department was going to interview at the AHA.

Luther Seminary (Church History/16th century Reformation Europe)


 * 11/10: I received a rejection letter, so they probably have a shortlist.

London School of Economics (International History)

Metropolitan State University


 * 11/5 AND 11/7 - received acknowledgements of application via regular mail (yes, I received the same letter twice)
 * 12/14 so what's going on here, they should've made AHA appointments by now?
 * 12/18 They scheduled phone interviews for this week
 * 12/20 interview went well, i think?; did anyone catch when on-campus interviews were going to be? anyone get one?
 * 12/22 They said they didn't know when they would get back to interviewees re: on-campus interviews.
 * 01/02 Scheduled on-campus interview.

Providence College


 * 11/24 - received notice of receipt and question if I would be at the AHA conference.
 * Q: Was this by email or by regular mail?(A: regular mail)
 * 11/29: Letter dated 11/20 indicates that the committee is reviewing applications and will be back in contact with applicants by mid-December to schedule AHA interviews.
 * 12/14 - Any news here?
 * 12/16 - Scheduled AHA interview
 * 2/5 - Any news hear?

Reed College (1-yr visiting appt in history/Western humanities)


 * 11/13: acknowledged receipt of app.
 * 11/29: AHA interview scheduled
 * 1/27: on-campus interview scheduled (contacted by email)
 * Has anyone received a post-AHA rejection e-mail/letter yet?
 * These are typically not sent out until the position has been filled.

Rutgers (Early Modern European Atlantic World)


 * 11/28: Acknowledged receipt of application by email.
 * 12/10 requested dissertation and AHA interview via email
 * any idea how many?
 * Reply: on the cached version of our old wiki site one Rutgers poster (and AHA interviewee) stated that there will be 13 candidates interviewed at the AHA.
 * They wanted 18th century - but the ad was more general.
 * Qu: how do you know they wanted 18thC? Have you had news?
 * No news at all, sorry, -- that's the impression - but I probably misinterpreted. I did for the last SC.
 * Many thanks for the above reply; it's helpful to have your insight, even if it is impressionistic.
 * Does anybody know about their post-AHA schedule? i.e. when campus interview invitations might go out (if they haven't already)?
 * Heard second-hand that they've shortlisted for campus visits already.
 * Can anyone confirm this, firsthand?

Saint Francis University


 * 12/11: AHA interview scheduled (10 to be interviewed)

Simon Fraser Univ. (Late Medieval/Early Modern History of Science)

From hist-sci-tech-med board:
 * 11/10: acknowledged receipt of app.
 * 12/4 - Received letter (dated 11/27) - Search has been canceled due to budget cuts. May be run again next year.

Stonehill College (Early Mod/Modern)


 * scheduled AHA interviews 12/12

Texas Tech University


 * scheduled AHA interviews and asked for dissertation on 12/15.
 * 01/14 at 6:20 p.m.: On-campus visit scheduled via telephone for late January.
 * Congratulations! (Reply: Thanks!)
 * 02/01: Offer made to candidate; has 1 week.

Trinity Univ., San Antonio, Texas


 * 12/14 AHA interviews scheduled
 * 01/15 at 4:00 p.m.: On-campus visit scheduled via telephone for late January.
 * Congratulations! (Reply: Thank you!)
 * 02/04: Offer made to candidate.
 * 2/9: Dear winning candidate: I'm originally from San Antonio and my entire family still lives there. My mom is really pissed off at you for winning this job as she had made extensive plans for my return.  I think most of my social calendar was already filled for most of fall 2008 with family birthday parties at places Chuck E. Cheese and Blazer Tag (laser tag), weekly barbecues at my aunts' and second and third cousins' homes (I'm Hispanic, can you tell?), and plus I'd already been assigned to cover Target and Best Buy for the early morning day-after-Thanksgiving sales. Please allow me to extend you my *heartfelt* congratulations and deep gratitude. Enjoy San Antonio -- it is a great place to live and Trinity is a great place to be -- unless you have 250 close relatives living within a mile of your house. :-)

University of Alabama (Atlantic World)

Univ. of Colorado - Boulder


 * 11/16: Received email notice of receipt
 * 11/29: Requested further writing sample
 * 12/14 so what's going on here, they should've made AHA appointments by now?
 * 12/14 AHA interviews scheduled
 * 1/08 Received email that would not be invited to campus. They had 120 applicants.
 * 1/08 Reply to last post. Sorry to hear that news for you. But, it sounds like you did interview at AHA and got some good experience.  That is further than I got.  Hang in there!
 * 1/08 On-campus interview scheduled. (Reply: Congratulations!)

Univ. of Mass - Boston (Atlantic History)

Univ. of Miami


 * 10/29: acknowledged receipt of application
 * 11/13: Asked for dissertation (Q: Any sense how many people they are contacting?)(A:I got the sense a number of people. They want all the material as soon as possible and then will make AHA decisions by mid December, so fairly late)
 * 12/9: Set up AHA interview (7 people total)

Univ. of New Hampshire


 * 11/7: Acknowledged receipt of application (paper mail)
 * 12/5: shortlist of 12 (How did they contact you? Are they interviewing at the AHA?)(A: yes, they are interviewing 12 at the AHA)
 * 12/15: received rejection letter (nice letter though)
 * 12/15: Rejection letter also received. "over 135 applications". Yes, I thought it was very thoughtful too.
 * 12/17: I have to admit, I thought their rejection letter was really nice...almost made me feel like I wasn't too big of a loser.
 * 12/24: I finally rcvd the rejection, nice, but odd that they write that they may want to contact (go back to pool of strong applicants) later in the search, is this normal? Asking because it is my first year on the market. Thanks,
 * That is an odd thing for them to say, but I just can't see this happening. They would have to go through everyone in their AHA pool without landing a candidate, and given that this is one of the best jobs out there, it ain't going to happen. Sorry to rain on your parade.
 * 1/3: I just thought it was an odd letter, a little too 'keeping all the options on the table" for a such a job. Though, job searches fail year after year, so i suppose it doesn't hurt to keep those options open. No parade to rain on here.

Univ. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (Early Modern German Studies)


 * 11/19: requested further writing sample
 * 12/8: requested MLA interview.

Univ. of North Carolina, Charlotte


 * 11/7: have a shortened, but not short list.  asked for writing sample, official transcripts and indication candidate would be at the AHA.  (as if we wouldn't...)
 * received rejection letter via email
 * 11/30 Q: Sorry to hear about the rejection letter; don't worry I'm sure there is the right job out there for you. BTW, when did you receive the email?
 * 11/30 also received rejection letter via email
 * 11/30: A: I just got the answer to my question above. Another nicely worded rejection letter.
 * while the rejection was nicely worded, and timely (rather than waiting, say, until May....), couldn't they at least have added the names of search committee people? It would have been a bit nicer, rather than being rejected by the "History (COAS) Assistant Professor/Early Modern Europe Search Committee".  Maybe I'm just bitter.
 * 11/30: Response, yes, it was rather impersonal. But, I think we can blame that impersonality on their Human Resources Dept.  If I remember correctly, this was an electronic submission application through the HR Dept.  So, after the committee decided some of us didn't make the cut, an automated email rejection response was generated by some indifferent HR staffer.  As opposed to a signed email from the chair of the committee. Clearly, this is the downside of electronic submissions.  We should remember that when we serve on job hiring committees in the future.
 * 11/30 I'm the "rejection letter" poster who forgot to put the date...sorry ...my rejection email was also today 11/30. And yes, it was a somewhat impersonal "form" e-letter. But at least they let us know.
 * 12/2: Can I ask if those who received rejections were asked for a writing sample?
 * Answer: No, I received only an ack. of application, then this recent rejection e-letter.
 * Answer: No, Same as above.
 * 12/4 scheduled AHA interviews

Univ. of Virginia (except Britain, France, Russia)


 * 10/31: acknowledged receipt of application
 * 12/14 so what's going on here, they should've made AHA appointments by now?
 * 12/14 AHA interview scheduled
 * 1/18 received rejection letter via snail mail.
 * 1/24 On-campus scheduled

Univ. of West Georgia (would prefer France)
 * 1/18 They telephoned to set up phone interviews for the following week.

Univ. of Wisconsin - Green Bay


 * 10/30: Set up telephone interviews, they're down to a shortlist of 12.
 * Down to a shorlist of 3
 * 01/15: Did anyone accept the offer?

Washington and Lee (Early Modern or Modern France)


 * 11/13: Received email receipt of materials.
 * 12/12: AHA interview scheduled.
 * 01/15: On-campus scheduled.

Whitman College (one -year, Africa or Europe, "with a preference for candidates who can teach courses that cover the Atlantic World within a comparative framework.")

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