Williams College one-year postion

[guest]

Any news?

[guest]

They asked for more materials, which were due in early October.

I haven't heard anything since.

Anyone heard anything more than that?

[anon]

I know they've scheduled one campus visit.

[curious]

Was this filled? I've been wondering about why people choose to consider/not consider a nice VAP job at a school like Williams or Grinnell early in the year.

[lookielou]

Like curious, I'm also curious about this position.

In general, I'm very interested in learning more about people's experiences at/with elite liberal arts colleges like Williams, Swarthmore, and Bowdoin and how they landed positions at these places. Maybe I'll start a thread about this in another spot.

[curious]

Please do, lookielou!

[interviewing]

As someone who responded eagerly to this ad and will be interviewing later this month, my take is that places like Williams and Grinnell are after very specific kinds of people: those that would rather have a year at a great teaching school under their belt than a one or two year post-doc research opportunity. Given the condition of the market, I think it's quite smart of them to advertise these positions early, so they can snatch up good ABDs who really want to teach (maybe I'm flattering myself, but whatever :. What I've been told is that they cannot guarantee a later tenure-track appointment, but in the past have frequently hired from their VAPs.

Williams has been the #1 liberal arts college for three straight years, has incredible undergrads, has a 2-2 teaching load, is in the Berkshires, not too far from several major cities, and has a built-in sabbatical every three years for their faculty. Sound appealing?? I thought so!!