I spoke with the head of the English department here at UMKC today about our iPhD program. I didn't apply to our program this year for a couple of reasons -- one, it was here, and I've always heard it's good policy in academia to move around when you can, and two, it wasn't a creative writing program, so I wasn't really interested. Oddly enough, getting rejected by every creative program you apply to makes you think about other possibilities.
The good news:
-Dr. Blanton basically said that if I applied, she would say "snap him up!" and advise other people to do the same. That means I have two professors who are encouraging me to apply, and thus at least two people who would probably fight for me to get in. It's really relieving to hear somebody say "yes, we want you."
-I could get another two years as a GTA. The pay still sucks in comparison to many programs, but it's better than nothing. There's also the possibility that they would let me teach something besides 110 and 225, such as Introduction to Fiction.
-It sounds like there's a lot of freedom in the program, so I have a lot of options as to what I do.
-Dr. Blanton says that everyone in the program right now has been placed into a tenure-track position of some kind (or is just "doing it for the love of it" and doesn't want a job. BTW, huh?) All of those jobs have been in regional institutions, but I'm okay with that -- anything that keeps me relatively close to St. Louis is good.
The bad news:
-It's not a creative degree at all, though perhaps I could finagle some creative elements into it.
-Dr. Blanton says that if I want a job as a professor, I should probably go into composition, because there's simply more work in that area of English studies than anywhere else. Obviously that doesn't exactly dovetail with my previous coursework and plans (i.e., creative writing and medieval studies.) There are ways to make them fit together, but again, it will involve a lot of finagling.
-It's an interdisciplinary degree, which is kind of cool, but my original plan was to do English/Religious Studies... And I have been informed that may not be such a great choice. The RS department is kind of weird here, and it's not like there's any faculty who really deals with Wicca in the first place, over and above academic politics. She recommends History or maybe Art History as secondary disciplines, but I'm still working on what kind of viable course plan I could get out of this.
There's a possibility of doing something crazy with new media and manuscript culture or something like that. It's a thought, anyway.
The good news:
-Dr. Blanton basically said that if I applied, she would say "snap him up!" and advise other people to do the same. That means I have two professors who are encouraging me to apply, and thus at least two people who would probably fight for me to get in. It's really relieving to hear somebody say "yes, we want you."
-I could get another two years as a GTA. The pay still sucks in comparison to many programs, but it's better than nothing. There's also the possibility that they would let me teach something besides 110 and 225, such as Introduction to Fiction.
-It sounds like there's a lot of freedom in the program, so I have a lot of options as to what I do.
-Dr. Blanton says that everyone in the program right now has been placed into a tenure-track position of some kind (or is just "doing it for the love of it" and doesn't want a job. BTW, huh?) All of those jobs have been in regional institutions, but I'm okay with that -- anything that keeps me relatively close to St. Louis is good.
The bad news:
-It's not a creative degree at all, though perhaps I could finagle some creative elements into it.
-Dr. Blanton says that if I want a job as a professor, I should probably go into composition, because there's simply more work in that area of English studies than anywhere else. Obviously that doesn't exactly dovetail with my previous coursework and plans (i.e., creative writing and medieval studies.) There are ways to make them fit together, but again, it will involve a lot of finagling.
-It's an interdisciplinary degree, which is kind of cool, but my original plan was to do English/Religious Studies... And I have been informed that may not be such a great choice. The RS department is kind of weird here, and it's not like there's any faculty who really deals with Wicca in the first place, over and above academic politics. She recommends History or maybe Art History as secondary disciplines, but I'm still working on what kind of viable course plan I could get out of this.
There's a possibility of doing something crazy with new media and manuscript culture or something like that. It's a thought, anyway.