Europe: Modern

Europe: Modern 2007-2008
WIKI MODERN EUROPE Applicant Counter: Yes, I'm on the market = 26 persons

- Anyone find it unusual how few offerings there are so far this year? - Yes, unusual and frightening. - Will others trickle through over the next few weeks? Or is this really about it? - Don't fret yet! It is still early September and ads will be posted through October. It isn't looking good, but it isn't disastrous yet. - Okay, it's October, and the good news is I'm saving a ton on postage. Is this year looking like a bloodbath to anyone but me? - Glad someone else mentioned this. I'm in a visiting position (unlike last year) and thought that I must not be looking hard enough. There were more by last year at this time, I'm sure. - I am now starting to panic. What is going on this year? If only we studied Africa... - It also seems like there are many more country- or area-specific jobs than in previous years. Leaves those of us outside these parameters out of luck...I think I had applied to 30 jobs for the AHA last year - this year, I'm down to 11. - European history is dead. We don't need NATO any more, we have condi; we don't need culture anymore, we have Youtube. Who could ask for anything more? - I applied for 14 last year, 21 this year, so more jobs seemed to fit my categories than last year (1 last year was country/region specific, 3 this year were.)

Page Last Updated: 15 December 2007 to include latest info from old Wiki site.

Appalachian State (Europe, 1648-1848)


 * Advertised last year. What happened?
 * Reply - I happen to know that they made an offer that was turned down...
 * Q: Why? It would be interesting to know about it since they are looking again..
 * Reply - don't want to speak out of turn, but I know the person to whom it was offered, and they just accepted another offer elsewhere. Didn't sound like anything negative.....
 * received acknowledgment of application via snail mail
 * AHA interviews scheduled 12/06
 * 12/7: AHA Interview scheduled.
 * AHA interview scheduled 12/8

Appalachian State (Modern France, intellectual and/or cultural history)


 * Q: This seems like a very specific search. Does anyone know why they are so set on someone with precisely these qualifications? (11/19)
 * A: I think they want to replace their Modern French intellectual/cultural historian, who is retiring.
 * 12/6: AHA interviews scheduled (phone)
 * (12/15) purely speculative response to Q above: inside candidate/spousal hire. See faculty listing: VISITING 19th C French prof Karen Greene-Reid, listed on past schedules as Greene, and asst. prof Michael Reid. Just a thought.

Auburn (19th or 20th century Britain)


 * This job was advertised in 2005-2006. Looks like they're doing it again? (10/24)
 * I believe last year it was an early modern Britain job (11/2)
 * Those are different positions (11/2)
 * Last year the position was "Revolutionary-era Europe" (can't remember the exact date span). I applied but the position just disappeared. No idea why. (11/19)
 * If you look at the Auburn history website, you see both early modern Britain and the Revolutionary-era Europe positions are filled. This is a different position.
 * So it is; you are right

Bradley (Modern France)


 * Higheredjobs.com
 * (NB: Looks like someone deleted part of the Auburn material (the controversial bit about the language requiremen) and managed to delete the Bradley ad in the process. I restored Bradley, but was not sure how to restore the rest)

California State, Fullerton (continental Europe)


 * 11/20: received e-mail notice w/ request to fill out EEO.
 * 11/23: snail-mail acknowledgment of receipt of application. short list of candidates to be interviewed at AHA expected in mid-December.
 * 12/1: AHA interview scheduled (phone)
 * 12/1: AHA interview scheduled (phone)
 * 12/08: rejection snail mail.
 * 12/8: rejection snail mail
 * 12/10: snail mail rejection.
 * Don't be too disappointed. I was an adjunct at Fullerton and it was horrible. The chair of the department Professor Haddad is a full professor and does not even have a monograph. And he is not alone. Nancy Fitch has tenure without a book, and so does Cora Granata. When I was there many of the adjunct faculty had more impressive publications than those with tenure. The department can be used as a model of unjust distribution of wealth and power.
 * Ranks in the Top Ten Worst History Departments to teach. Tremendous tension between the adjunct and regular faculty. The regular faculty pretend to be on the left, but do nothing to alleviate the near poverty in which the adjunct faculty live.

California State, Sacramento (Britain/world)


 * Snail mail rejection, finalists invited for campus visit (letter dated 11/19)

California State, Sacramento (Europe/Central Europe)

Carleton College (not Britain)


 * 11/5: Acknowledged receipt of application.
 * Q: By letter or email? I didn't get either and I'm nervous that they didn't get my application.
 * A: by e-mail.
 * 11/29: Has anyone heard anything new on this search?
 * 11/30: At the NACBS, Chair of search said they'd received 200+ apps for position - will probably take a while to vet them all.
 * 12/7: AHA interview scheduled (phone).
 * 12/11: Rejection e-mail. Said they got 250+ apps.
 * 12/11: rejection email. over 250 apps
 * Q: Has anyone else received neither a rejection nor an interview? Is there such a thing as an interview wait-list?
 * 12/11: rejection email. over 250 apps
 * A to Q: Yes, I'm in the same boat-neither rejection nor an interview.
 * A. Yeah, some of us aren't getting the rejection email, but maybe they just haven't reached the end of the alphabet yet:)
 * that makes sense, I'm in limbo too and my name starts with "S"...
 * though mine is considerably earlier in the alphabet. Do you think we've increased reached a new threshold of indignity through this discussion? :)
 * I just got the rejection letter about the 250 applicants, and how sorry they are to reject me, and I wrote back that since I have been rejected by 8 departments, I am sorry to say that I cannot accept their rejection and am looking forward to meeting with them at the AHA.
 * For those of thinking we were in some intermediate pool, I think the alphabet theory proves correct, because I just got my rejection email. But hey, at least it was polite and they spelled my name correctly. That's more than I can say for previous rejection letters!
 * Q: Maybe they are calling their interviewees in alpha order as well, as they work down the list???
 * I am way up at the top of the aphabet, and I have received neither interview nor rejection yet!
 * With 250 apps., we may have lost our names and become numbered files, with rejections going out by number. Whoever figures it out deserves a "courtesy interview".
 * I am holding out for the interview wait list until I hear otherwise.
 * Sadly, we probably have to acknowledge that emailing 240+ rejections takes some time... departmental asistants could get carpal tunnel over that kind of thing... that said, what's the theory / practice behind an interview wait list? we're next if they can't stand the ten or so they interview at the AHA? Any thoughts welcome.

Castleton State College


 * 12/4: Acknowledged receipt of application by letter

Central Connecticut State (modern Germany)


 * 12/6: Acknowledged receipt of application via email

Clark University (Armenian Genocide and modern Armenian history)

Columbia University (Russia/Soviet/Central Europe since 1500)


 * The search criteria are very vague. Does anyone know what/how many positions they are looking to fill?
 * I think it's three separate positions, it might take a while to see exactly what happens.
 * 11/27 Request for letters and more materials- East Central Europe

Concordia University (Assistant Professor, Nineteenth-Century Quebec or Canada)

Concordia University (Assistant Professor, Nineteenth-Century Ireland)


 * 10/30 - received email acknowledgement and so did my referees!
 * 12/12 - campus interview scheduled

Clark University (modern Jewish history with specialization in Eastern Europe)

Connecticut College (19th-20th Century Europe excluding Germany)


 * Received e-mail stating that they will inform candidates of AHA interviews by December 15th.
 * Q: Was this part of a general email acknowledgment or a separate communication?
 * 11/29 - A: Can't speak for the first poster, but mine was an e-mail addressed specifically to me by name sent prior to Thanksgiving (not to say that it wasn't still a form letter, only that it wasn't a mass e-mail).
 * 11/29: I just received this email (addressed to me specifically) today. I guess they're emailing people in stages.
 * 12/15 - AHA interview scheduled (phone). 13 interviews out of 185 apps (which is less than Carleton though same search parameters; any theories why?)
 * Q: They called on a Saturday?
 * Theories about 185 at CC vs. 240 at Carleton: I dunno, maybe just the fact that, by some (no doubt pretty arbitrary) standards, Carleton is "higher rated"? I.e., some people who already have TT jobs at a CC-type school are trying to move "up" to Carleton, but not vice versa?
 * my mistake - they clled on the 14th (Friday afternoon) - I got the date wrong. Sorry!

Creighton University - Modern Europe, non-tenure track, one-year full-time teaching position


 * 11/27 - Ack. receipt of application; letter notes dept. decision date for AHA interviews Dec 3
 * 12/3 - These people don't know what they are doing - I just received two e-mails - One inviting me to interview at the AHA, and another, a few minutes later, which stated that "the department did not advance your candidacy to the finalist category."
 * 12/3 - Requested an AHA interview (emailed)
 * 12/3 - (To first 12/3 poster) That's kind of funny; they did the same thing to me today too

'''DePauw University - European History. One-semester, part-time position''' (search canceled, Nov 1)

Furman University (18th-/19th-Century Britain)


 * 11/2 Acknowledged receipt; AA form.
 * Scheduled AHA interview 12/8
 * 12/8: AHA Interview scheduled.
 * 12/7: AHA Interview scheduled.

Green Mountain College (Europe/ Middle East/ Religion)

Grove City College - Professor, Modern History, specifically European and/or non-Western

Indiana University Southeast - Tenure-track position of Assistant Professor in Modern European History


 * 10/25: acknowledged receipt of application via snail mail
 * 11/20: acknowledge receipt; asked for form to be returned "by Dec. 3."
 * Any new word here?
 * 12/13: received email to schedule interview. Email said that they had tried to reach me by phone first.

Iowa State University - Assistant Professor, Europe, post-1750, history of technology and/or science


 * 11/30 telephone interview requested for second and third weeks in December

Knox College (modern Europe and the world)


 * For reasons unknown, the Knox ad disappeared from the AHA listings. The search continues; the application deadline is October 20. (Penny Gold, Department Chair)
 * 11/15: AHA interview scheduled and writing sample requested

Koc University (Istanbul, Turkey)

Lehman College (early modern Europe and/or modern Germany)


 * 10/25: acknowledged receipt of application via snail mail

Lock Haven University


 * 11/2: Acknowledged receipt of application.

Longwood University (not France)


 * 10/23: Acknowledged receipt of application.
 * 12/10: AHA interview arranged via phone
 * 12/12: Ditto via phone

Loyola University, Chicago (Eastern Europe)


 * 11/29 received acknowledgement by post
 * 12/2 received acknowledgement by email
 * Does anyone know when they are planning to have interviews?

Metropolitan State University


 * 11/29 received acknowledgment by post
 * Q: Has anyone heard back? The ack. letter I received (dated Nov 20) stated they would "review your application materials no later than Nov. 15".

Millersville University


 * Q: Isn't this more of an early modern job? They want someone to teach 0-1500, Medieval, and Intellectual to 1789.
 * The position (if it is the same one) is listed above in Medieval. It is definitely not a modern emphasis.
 * While I concur with everything written above, I would point out, as someone who has taught in a comparable institution, that it is important not to read these ads through the "research university" lens of our graduate programs. The language is deliberately vague, I suspect: yes, the school wants someone who can teach pre-modern, but it is not specifically requesting someone whose entire training is in Medieval or Early Modern. An applicant might well play in the joints between the two.
 * But are "the joints between the two" (medieval and early modern) really at all close to modern? The ad also mentions a preference for ancient and Islamic world. I completely agree that institutions like this tend to go for generalists, but I would imagine there will be plenty of medieval- and early modern-focused generalists applying who would beat out any modern Europe specialists. I'm not telling anyone not to apply, but I'm not sure the job should be listed in Modern Europe - if you want to list it outside of medieval, maybe open time period. But while modernists might apply, it really doesn't sound like a modern Europe position.

Mississippi State (modern Germany, focus on Science/Tech/Medicine)


 * 12/9: AHA Interview scheduled (phone)

Missouri State (modern Continental Europe, including Russia, excluding France)


 * 11/29 Received acknowledgement by post
 * 11/7: Asked for writing sample
 * 11/30: AHA interview scheduled (email)

North Central College (modern Europe)


 * AHA interview scheduled via email (12/11)

Northern Arizona University (Britain, 1600-present)


 * E-mail acknowledgment of application received. 11/2
 * my EEO, acknowledgment, etc came via snailmail...with nothing online. Why can't even these parts of the job search be standard???
 * AHA interview scheduled (by e-mail) 12/13

Notre Dame (modern/early modern - Associate or Full Professor rank)

NYU (European intellectual since 1600)


 * NB: "whose work might complement departmental strengths in transnational and comparative history": The elusive search for a hybrid of Fred Cooper and Jerrold Siegel begins...
 * Q: I thought they hired someone in intellectual last year? Does anyone know what happened or what they're looking for this year?
 * A: I am not sure, and hope someone else clarifies this; but I seem to remember the job last year was for NYU's Center for European Studies, and was for a senior scholar; this one is definitely assistant-level, for the History Department, and, as has already been mentioned, encourages a "transnational" focus. Don't know what happened last year.
 * As a modern European intellectual position, it seems closer to Siegel's . Siegel recently retired.
 * snail mail ack. (11/20)
 * AHA interview scheduled (12/7)

Oglethorpe (Modern Europe)


 * 11/16: Ack. letter.

Presbyterian College


 * 11/8: Acknowledged receipt of application.
 * 11/28: AHA interviews scheduled

Purdue University (Jewish history, Modern, post 1500)


 * short listed candidates and will interview at AJS in mid-December. 11/18

Skidmore (one-year)


 * 11/8 regular mail acknowledgment of app recd
 * 11/30: AHA interview scheduled
 * 12/3: AHA interview scheduled
 * 12/4: AHA interview scheduled

Simon Fraser University, BC (modern Britain)


 * do Canadian jobs count on this site?
 * I don't see why not!
 * e-mail acknowledgment of application received
 * search canceled for fiscal reasons
 * 11/17: E-mail ack. claimed budget cuts as the cause but will keep application on file

Southern Illinois University - Edwardsville (Modern German State 1871 or earlier)


 * 10/17: acknowledged receipt of application via snail mail
 * 12/14: AHA interview requested (email)
 * 12/15: AHA interview requested (email)

Stephen F. Austin State University, Texas (19th Century)


 * Posted on H-Net
 * interview scheduled

Stonehill College (Europe 1600-1900)


 * This was also advertised last year, wasn't it? Anyone know what happened?
 * A. I know they interviewed last year at the AHA
 * Has anyone heard anything back from Stonehill? I never even received an acknowledgement.
 * I didn't apply for this position, but I know from past experience that they are pretty sloppy re. acknowledgments. I applied for a one-year position there once, and never received either an acknowledgment or a rejection letter (but, thanks to delivery confirmation, I know that they did get the application).
 * Request for AHA interview (12/12) (email)

Sul Ross State Univ, Texas (Europe/US)

SUNY - New Paltz (Post-1945; not Germany, Britain, or Russia)

SUNY - Oswego (20th-Century European and World History)


 * phone interview request (emailed)

Texas A&M University- Corpus Christi

University of California Riverside (Britain)


 * Requested more materials. 11/8
 * Requested dissertation and articles (11/30)
 * Requested AHA interview (via e-mail) 12/13

University of Kansas (not Britain, E Europe, or Russia)


 * 11/14: Acknowledged receipt of application.
 * Q: Anyone know if someone at Kansas is retiring?
 * A: John Sweets.
 * Anyone hear from Kansas yet?

University of Mississippi (Germany)


 * will be interviewing at AHA
 * 11/16: Asked for writing sample
 * 12/11: AHA interview scheduled

University of New England (for lectureship or tenure-track?)


 * 11/5: Acknowledged receipt of application.
 * 11/16: Ditto by e-mail
 * Anyone hear anything about this search? (12/15)
 * This is a tenure-track line.

University of North Dakota (19th and 20th Century Continental European Women's/Gender History)

University of North Texas (France)

University of Ottawa (19th-/20th-Century France)


 * Q: The ad says: "Canadians and permanent residents will be given priority," as is typical for Canadian ads. My question: does this, for all intents and purposes, mean that only Canadians need apply? I don't mind, I just want to know if it's worth my time and money.
 * A: I asked this very question of a friend at a Canadian school, and she said that it's there because it has to be. If they want to hire you, they'll hire you. (This is not to say that there are no Canadian xenophobes, just that the law is not an issue.
 * Reply: Thanks for the helpful response!
 * A2: Advice from another Canadian I spoke to was it's not as bad as it used to be, but at least at one school they can't offer to a non-Canadian and, if turned down, go back to a Canadian. Nothing preventing them offering to a non-C, but easier for the search to fail that way. YMMV.
 * 12/10 Ack. letter
 * 12/13: Contacted for on-campus interview in January
 * Q: To above poster 12/13 - congrats! Are you Canadian? Phone or email? Thanks!
 * Reply: As poster 12/13, thanks! I'm not Canadian (just a Midwestern American, alas). And they contacted me via phone.

University of Rhode Island (lecturer)

University of San Diego


 * 11/14: Acknowledged receipt of application
 * 12/3: AHA interview scheduled

University of South Carolina (Eastern Europe)


 * 11/1: Ack. letter.
 * 12/3: AHA interview scheduled
 * Question: is this the European Jewish history job?
 * A: There were two separate announcements, one East Europe, the other Europe/Jewish, with different due dates, so probably two different positions. Though you never know what "fits" these depts...

University of Southern California


 * Additional materials requested and AHA interviews scheduled (simultaneously), 11/30
 * Question: Does anybody know how many candidates are interviewed?
 * Word on the street is that this is not a merit based search. The position is going to Lynn Hunt's newest prodigy
 * Response: A bit of realism is in order here. The extreme competitiveness of our market, along with the inevitable subjectivity of evaluation standards in the discipline as a whole, means that a discourse of pure "merit" breaks down quite rapidly in practice. Getting any job on this list requires luck and other "non-merit" elements (patronage, "fit," the tastes of the SC) as well. Remembering this is an important way for those of us not among the Elect to retain some shred of dignity and intellectual self confidence. A steady drum-beat of rejection is the standard background noise for all young scholars in our field, no matter how gifted or how prestigiously advised.
 * Response #2: Although I'm sure that Hunt's newest prodigy is a fine candidate, this gossip is completely unfounded.
 * As someone who typically thinks of him/herself as Lynn Hunt's newest prodigy, I take some offense at the earlier posting (though I am, of course, delighted to hear the news...)
 * Search committee's do not dumb down the list of candidates interviewed at the AHA, because they favor one or another candidate. That never happens. If at lower tier teaching colleges candidates with impressive publications are avoided, that has more to do with the low self-esteem of the search committee members, than with actually trying to dumb down the pool
 * Oh my God, that is so not true If you are in French History you know Lynn Hunt throws her prestige around. The system is broken, and worse, it is corrupted by the very people we admire most.
 * Fair enough; good points have been made all around. Two points: 1/ This position was advertised as a "Europe since 1700" position. Why cast the net so wide when you already know which fish you want? 2/ Most of the searches I have observed have ended up hinging on contingent, arbitrary factors; I know there are often inside candidates, but even in these cases, I am not sure that the result is necessarily given in advance.
 * Speaking as someone who has been on both the inside and outside of things like this: 1. There are certainly situations where there are inside candidates and the search is really for show (though this is more common at the senior level). And the kinds of job ads that you get when that is the situation are either hugely broad (like this one, which raises eyebrows. For instance, does anyone really think they are looking for a Modern British Historian given the current faculty makeup?), or a specifically tailored ad. But a broad ad can also mean that a department has a hire to make and doesn't really know what they want (this is more common than one might think). And I have seen the inside candidate crash and burn and a department hire someone else. So anything is possible, which is of course why we apply for jobs in much the same spirit as one might play the lottery.
 * Sadly my advisor is too into himself to care about getting me a job.

University of Southern Mississippi (Eastern or southern Europe)


 * 11/16: Ack. letter. E-mail same day, checking on third letter.
 * 12/7: AHA interview scheduled (phone)
 * 12/7: AHA interview scheduled (phone)
 * 12/12: AHA interview scheduled (phone)

University of Texas, Austin (Modern British)


 * E-mail acknowledgment of application received. 11/27.
 * asked for dissertation and AHA interview (simultaneously) (12/5)
 * Same here.
 * Anyone actually had an AHA interview scheduled?

University of the South (Europe after 1715)

University of Victoria (continental, 1700-1900)

University of Virginia (Britain/British empire)


 * E-mail notification of application received. 11/14
 * Request for writing sample. 12/3
 * Question what do you mean by writing sample? in addition to the one we had to submit with the application?
 * 12/11 AHA interview scheduled. Asked for dissertation/ articles (in addition to the first writing sample sent in with letter of application).*
 * 12/11 same here
 * Question By email or phone?
 * Pet Peeve: what's the point of writing "same here?"
 * By phone. To answer the pet peeve, I think it is useful to know how many people have been contacted, and if the contact is being done all at once or over the course of a few days.
 * I don't see how one person writing same here will indicate the number of interviews . We can all assume that they are contacting more than one person, can't we? But it's not a big deal, whatever floats your boat.
 * the 'same here' pet peeve sounds like sour grapes to me (and no, i'm not the person who wrote 'same here' and proceeded to explain his/her rationale, which made perfect sense to me. I find it helpful when people add their 'same heres' for precisely the reason she/he stated)

University of Winnipeg (Eastern Europe/Russia)


 * Phone interviews in early October, selected shortlist of 3 people, top 2 to visit campus.
 * 11/30 Notification that they have hired someone

University of Wisconsin-Green Bay (humanistic studies)(specialization in Western European History 1500-1848 (excluding Germany))

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (1-yr lecturer, Euro intellectual)


 * 10/15: Acknowledged receipt of application.
 * 10/27: Phone interview scheduled
 * 11/13: Rejection letter

Washington & Lee (Modern/Early Modern France)


 * Seems like they've been looking for a while....
 * 12/11: AHA interview scheduled (phone)

Weber State (continental Europe)


 * Another one that advertised last year.
 * Did anyone get any kind of acknowledgement from this school? I didn't, and I don't believe I did last year, either...
 * I've had no acknowledgment either (11/27)
 * AHA interview scheduled (11/30)
 * 12/1: AHA interview scheduled (phone)
 * 12/12: Rejection Letter (snail mail) - fyi, they had 75 apps

Wellesley (continental, not Russia)


 * automatic email confirmation of receipt (11/8)
 * AHA interview invitation (emailed) (12/4)

Western Illinois (tenure track, German)


 * 11/20: email confirmation of receipt Q: How long after you'd sent your application did you receive this? A: I am not the same poster as above, but to answer the question: I recieved a confirmation 1 1/2 weeks after sending in my app.
 * 12/12: AHA interview scheduled (via email)

Worcester State


 * 11/5: Acknowledged receipt of application.
 * Has anyone heard anything about this one? (12/4)