On Fri, 21 Nov 1997, Vonda N. McIntyre wrote:
> Is your prospective MFA for writing credentials or
> teaching credentials? (I have been told by a
> friend who's made her living writing for 20 years
> that she wasn't even considered for a teaching
> position she applied for, because she didn't have
> an MFA. This makes me wonder what the people doing
> the hiring are using for brains, but it does
> explain to me why people who want to teach want an
> MFA in creative writing.)
Requiring the "certificate" is an easy way for search committees to make
the first cut in the selection process. Especially in the Humanities right
now, and in some of the social sciences, the supply of people who want to
teach at the university level far, far exceeds the number of positions
available. My father-in-law teaches religion at a small liberal arts
school in Michigan. The last time they had a position opening, they had
about 1,000 aplicants for that job. There's also a certain level of
culling by school that goes on in some places. When I was in grad
school at the University of Michigan, I remember a discussion with an
Economics prof there who said that you could be pretty much the second
coming of Adam Smith, but unless you'd gotten your PhD. at Harvard or U.
of Chicago, or MIT you'd never make it out of the "slush pile" because for
good or bad, it was the first thing they did to pare down the applicant
pool by several hundred when they had an opening.
Of the last 5-6 years worth of Visual Art MFAs at Michigan State
University, my husband's the only one who has gotten a tenure track job,
and one other woman has gotten a year to year contract at the University
level. From who we've kept in touch with, the number one career choice
seems to be long distance telephone sales.
On the other hand, if you're a nursing professor ( or engineering), there
are places where you can pretty much write your own contract.
Jill Gillham jilkey@grfn.org http://members.aol.com/~ferndock2
\|/ \|/ D=|[[] "All-arm'd I ride, whate'er betide,
=0: + =0: = \O/ Until I find the Holy Grail."
/|\ /|\ |*| -- Alfred, Lord Tennyson [Go WINGS!]
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