Campus Visit #4

...done and done!

I am so happy to announce the completion of my fourth and final campus visit! It has been wonderful to travel all over the U.S.; this is truly a beautiful country. But it is very nice to be done with the intense and hectic travel schedule. I am looking forward to giving my daughter and my students more of my attention.

So far I have received 2 job offers, one which I've already declined. I loved the school and location, but the Department seemed more interested in filling the position than in my scholarship. I want to be truly wanted for me, for what I have to offer, and for who I am. I am also committed to learning this lesson personally and professionally. They say that being on the job market is a lot like dating...

Nevertheless, visit #4 was to the school that I hope will be my future employer. The university is in the Midwest, massive (about 40,000 students), and well-respected. I had my most rigorous, challenging, and intellectually-stimulating interview process here. Imagine the room below full of PhD's firing questions for 40 minutes about my research and methodology while little-ol'-me stands at the podium trying to look calm!

Well, all that is behind me, but it does leave me with one question: given the number of horrible professors out there, how do people get a job at a university?! What do you all think? What are the traits of a good professor?

Tonight, I will celebrate with a good friend, and a group of Norwegians. (I promise to spill that story in a later post...).