I am happy to announce that I have accepted a position as a Research Assistant Professor at the South Carolina Institute for Archaeology and Anthropology (SCIAA) at the University of South Carolina. This is going to be a great job for me, with an excellent blend of research and teaching responsibilities. I’ll have the opportunity to learn another region of the Eastern Woodlands in detail and to develop and pursue a long-term research program in South Carolina and adjacent parts of the Southeast, combining the ideas and the experience I’ve acquired from 20 years of working in the Midwest with the resources (archaeological, institutional, personal) that will be available to me in my new home. I’m going to do my best to capitalize on the legacy that so many before me there have worked to produce. It’s going to be fantastic.
Of course I will be a little sad to leave the Midwest. I grew up here and have worked here most of my professional life. I have lived in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan and have family in three of those states. I’ve done a lot of good archaeology in the Midwest. I don’t plan on simply walking away from all the time and energy I have invested, but I will be moving on and my focus will be elsewhere. I worked pretty hard to try to find a permanent academic home in this part of the country, doing campus interviews at four Midwestern universities over the last three years. For whatever reasons, none of those places offered me a job. And other places in the Midwest didn’t even put me on the long list for jobs for which I was well-suited and well-qualified. So I feel like the Midwest sort of broke up with me, rather than the other way around.
The chilly reception I got on the tenure-track job market (don’t misunderstand – the individuals I met were all very polite, things just never broke my way) made my experience this year at Grand Valley that much more important to me. I have learned a great deal at Grand Valley and have always felt supported and appreciated. It has been a great place to work and, as I discussed in a previous post, the teaching experience at Grand Valley is going to make me a much better scholar in the long run.
There will be a tremendous upside to making the move to South Carolina and SCIAA that will far outweigh whatever sadness I feel about moving on from here. I’m still wrapping my head around the possibilities, but I can tell you it is going to be a lot of fun. It is a great institution with a great history, great people, and a lot of resources to leverage.
South Carolina will be warmer than the Midwest in more ways than one: I’m not going to miss the -25 degrees F we had this morning.
South Carolina, here we come!
Of course I will be a little sad to leave the Midwest. I grew up here and have worked here most of my professional life. I have lived in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan and have family in three of those states. I’ve done a lot of good archaeology in the Midwest. I don’t plan on simply walking away from all the time and energy I have invested, but I will be moving on and my focus will be elsewhere. I worked pretty hard to try to find a permanent academic home in this part of the country, doing campus interviews at four Midwestern universities over the last three years. For whatever reasons, none of those places offered me a job. And other places in the Midwest didn’t even put me on the long list for jobs for which I was well-suited and well-qualified. So I feel like the Midwest sort of broke up with me, rather than the other way around.
The chilly reception I got on the tenure-track job market (don’t misunderstand – the individuals I met were all very polite, things just never broke my way) made my experience this year at Grand Valley that much more important to me. I have learned a great deal at Grand Valley and have always felt supported and appreciated. It has been a great place to work and, as I discussed in a previous post, the teaching experience at Grand Valley is going to make me a much better scholar in the long run.
There will be a tremendous upside to making the move to South Carolina and SCIAA that will far outweigh whatever sadness I feel about moving on from here. I’m still wrapping my head around the possibilities, but I can tell you it is going to be a lot of fun. It is a great institution with a great history, great people, and a lot of resources to leverage.
South Carolina will be warmer than the Midwest in more ways than one: I’m not going to miss the -25 degrees F we had this morning.
South Carolina, here we come!
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