Some Good News

Since it’s my birthday today, I thought I’d finally get around to distributing some good news, Hobbit style, to my loyal reader(s?). The family and I are in the process of packing up our earthly goods to leave Nebraska, as I recently accepted a position as Postdoctoral Researcher in the Roger Hadfield Ogden Honors College at Louisiana State University.

I had sworn for a long time that, given the relatively stability of my position here in Nebraska, I wouldn’t make the family uproot for anything less than a permanent position. However, when I saw the ad pop up for this LSU job, I knew I had to apply; and to my great surprise, I got the job! Everything about the position felt right to me: the balance of teaching and research, which I haven’t had here in Nebraska; the teaching, which will be primarily “Great Books” style interdisciplinary classes; the medium-term stability of an up to three-year position; and of course the chance to be part of a major institution. Add on top of that that everyone I’ve met during the interview and hiring process has been just lovely, and that makes for an exciting prospect.

Academia is a risky, unstable place, and I’m not blind to the fact that even a position like this carries no guarantees for the long term. I could very well reach the end of my time at LSU with no permanent offers (at which point I’ll know it’s time to try my hand at something else). But this felt like a risk worth taking. And sometimes we (I) forget amidst the churn to stop and take time to be grateful. That’s what I feel at the moment: an overwhelming sense of gratefulness for this opportunity.

Who knows, you all might even get a few extra blog posts out of this.