Our plan is to contact the phone interview list early this week (probably Monday/Tuesday) to confirm continued ability/interest and arrange phone interviews with the committee later in the week. From there our hope is to bring people in by the end of the month.

If you don't hear from us, it's not because you weren't a solid candidate, but because we really do need someone who can teach normative theory and some IR too. We had lots of solid candidates who could do one or the other, but only a few who have CVs and/or the experience that show they can and would be happy doing both. If we'd gotten to keep both of our original lines, or if we were getting the other back next year, I have to say it would have been harder for us to decide.

I don't have a specific time line for application reviews yet, but I seriously doubt we will start until the week of April 6th at the earliest.

One last thing: our odds of getting an additional line in the near future in addition to this one are apparently fairly low per our dean, so candidates who can fill both holes (IR and theory) are likely to have a substantial advantage. I don't know how many of those there are.

I just mentioned the "security sensitive" thingy because there are some in our department who think it may scare off applicants who have jumped a turnstile in NYC or something silly like that.

As for the transparency, let's just call this an experiment in leading by example (do unto others and all that). Of course, if I get fired for being transparent... well, I suppose I can shoot for that career record for most VAP gigs by a PhD in political science. If I don't yet already have it, that is.

You will not be disqualified from consideration if you have a conviction for pot possession or something trivial like that. That said, we do have high school students on campus and any "bad stuff with kids" convictions would be a serious no-no.

Whew, that was close! So getting busted for pot last year won't hurt me? And if I can get that child molestation guilty plea expunged for my record, then we're all in the clear for you to interview me?

I was starting to worry since no other schools are willing to interview me. You saved my day!

1. We have not begun reviewing applications yet, and probably won't until the week of Monday, March 23rd. ("Spring Break! Woo!") We probably will move quickly from there, subject to institutional constraints.

2. We probably won't need the person hired to teach the philosophy (not political philosophy, but general philosophy like logic and ethics) courses mentioned above; we have local adjuncts who are covering this curriculum area.

3. If anyone posts the names of interviewees anywhere, it won't be me. I am willing to keep the wiki and this thread updated with the status of the search (within reason), but only without names.

4. Our ideal candidate is still (normative) theory/IR, possibly with more emphasis on the former than the latter.

Oh, last and not least, I don't know where that security sensitive crap came from in the ad. You will not be disqualified from consideration if you have a conviction for pot possession or something trivial like that. That said, we do have high school students on campus and any "bad stuff with kids" convictions would be a serious no-no.

Concerning the wild card that is UTD, wild may be an under-statement. They have some quality faculty and house two journals, but they are having real difficulty getting their incoming classes over 5 or 6 due to internal funding issues. They need to produce a few good students before we really know anything. So far, I haven't heard anything about any of their students.

Tech's program serves its purpose. Someone has to teach faculty for west Texas SLACs.

UT has always been seen as the top school, but seems to have underperformed in terms of placing people. A&M started out in the early 90s with lots of cash and a bang, went out and got some good people, started to get a reputation and some placements. The inevitable happened...a lot of the people got hired away. I respect their program. Houston used to be quite good in the late 80s/90s, but it was a similar story, maybe even more drastic an example, actually. Jim Gibson and Chris Wlezian (sp?) aren't going to stay at a UH-type school forever. UNT has done well for a university of their caliber since they started, but can they keep it up? Tech--don't know much, and I got my Ph.D. in Poli sci in Texas. UTD is the wild card--they have yet to deliver, but they have the locational and monetary advantages over places like Tech and UNT, as they are in a major city and are an increasingly integral part of the UT system.

UT
TAMU
UNT
Houston
Texas Tech
UTD (probably drops just because it doesn't have a proper political science department)

TSU is probably tops among the MA departments. Not that many out there: my count is UTSA, UTEP, TAMIU, SHSU, and TSU. (There are more MPA schools: UTPA, SFA, UTB, probably others.)

UT-Austin and TAMU-College Station are the two flagship schools

Tier1
UT
Tier2
TAMU
Tier 3
UNT
UT Dallas
Tier 4
Texas Tech
Houston
UTEP
Texas State (3x3 load)
UTSA

The Department of Social Sciences at Texas A&M International University invites applications for a tenure-track entry-level Assistant Professor opening in Political Theory and International Relations. Qualified candidates should hold, or be close to completing, a Ph.D. Although teaching is a primary focus, an active research agenda is required for tenure. Faculty responsibilities for this position include teaching graduate and undergraduate courses in political theory, international relations, and political science, including introductory American government every semester, participating in student advisement, engaging in scholarly and professional activity, and providing institutional and professional service. Ph.D. is required for tenure-track appointment. Salary is competitive and the position includes a full range of benefits. TAMIU IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER. All TAMIU positions are security-sensitive. Applicants are subject to a criminal history investigation, and employment is contingent on the results of the criminal history investigation. Candidates should submit a letter of interest that describes their research and training, teaching, current vitae, a writing sample, teaching evaluations (if available), three current letters of recommendation, and graduate transcripts to: Theory/ IR Position James A. Norris, Ph.D. Texas A&M International University Dept. of Social Sciences 5201 University Blvd. Laredo, Texas 78041.

There is no explicit deadline listed in the ad, but I expect we'll be seriously narrowing candidates down after our Spring Break (we get back March 23rd) and probably will move quite quickly from there to phone and campus interviews.

PSCI 2305/American National Government (in the A&M system, it's pure national government - Texas is a separate class)

PSCI 3313/Classic and Medieval Political Philosophy

PSCI 3340/International Law and Organizations

I don't think we have a lot of scope to switch around but a pure theorist might be able to trade IL&O for a Texas Government class instead. (I don't know what we'd do if we hire someone who absolutely can't teach theory.)

I really haven't spent enough time in the system to rank the other 10 (?) TAMUS schools systematically, although I'd say that TAMIU is pretty competitive in terms of its faculty and resources with Corpus and Kingsville, and our new provost (who was hired in from UTEP) wants us to compare ourselves more to research institutions in the UT system (such as UTEP and UTSA which are the two major Hispanic-serving UT research campuses) rather than to more teaching-focused UT system schools (like Brownsville and Pan American) or the non-flagship TAMUS schools.

Where we're not competitive, to be frank, is student ability. But most of the non-flagship Texas schools aren't that selective; I think the real difference is our students tend to be even more poorly prepared for college than their peers also coming from predominantly Hispanic school districts elsewhere along the Texas border - and this is recognized by our university president and local elected officials, so this isn't just me dogging Laredo. Short-term I don't see much improving in that regard, although inevitably we're going to have to start being more restrictive with admissions for undergraduates who come directly to us rather than attending LCC first (which many would consider a good thing) due to space and class timing constraints.

On the other hand, there are strong institutional incentives to engage in research (an internal grant program that includes release time and/or up to $10,000 for projects, encouragement to attend national conferences), particularly externally-funded research either in the traditional realm or more in the "scholarship of teaching and learning" style (where there is significant money given that TAMIU is eligible for Title V money), and I expect those to grow as the provost makes more of a mark on the institution.

How would you rank the various campuses (campi?) of the TAMU system, including College Station?

For completeness, here are the IR classes on the books:

International Politics
American Foreign Policy
International Law and Organization
The Interamerican System (this might be comparative; I don't even know if we offer it)

Seminar in International Politics (graduate)
Seminar in International Law and Organizations (graduate)
American Foreign Policy (graduate)

Grad classes are usually on a two-year cycle; UG classes are usually annual to forestall student complaints. I don't know that you'd be expected to teach all of these; a colleague has been teaching several of them and probably is happy to continue to do so.

Anyone we hire with quant or qual skills is also welcome to join the rotations for undergraduate and graduate methods; in particular, we really want to start a qualitative methods course for graduate students in pol. sci and sociology (probably on a two-year cycle) to complement our new grad methods sequence starting next academic year.

Also, anyone who joins the department would also be in a position to make recommendations about curriculum changes and probably would have a fairly easy time convincing the rest of us about things in their fields.