The History Department here at Wheaton is going to be searching to fill a tenure track position this year. I have pasted the ad in below. I should note that I have nothing to do with this search directly (Wheaton departments are a little prickly--correctly, in my view--about prerogatives with regard to hires and tenuring, so no Chair of English is going to be trying to tell History what to do).
A few other things that obviously wouldn't go in the ad, but I can tell you: The History department is very strong at Wheaton, made up of good people who are involved in all aspects of the life of the college. It is also among the most popular departments among students; when we were reducing requirements for the our new curriculum History was willing to give up a requirement because their classes always fill. Our students clearly are interested in history, and the department has a whole line-up of excellent teachers. Teaching load is 3/2, but a new program makes that 2/2 the first year. Pretty decent research/travel budget (in excess of $1000 and has been going up) for every year and opportunities for other funding. Fully funded junior sabbatical and post-tenure sabbatical. Very, very "flat" organizational structure at Wheaton means that there are no deans over the faculty. Our "connections" curriculum is very innovative and history is at the heart of it (it is the "universal connector" -- I'll explain that in another post). The campus is about 30 miles south of Boston. It's a 30-minute commute against the traffic if you live in the southern Boston suburbs, 45 minutes from the city itself and maybe a little longer from Cambridge. I believe that the commute is about 40 minutes from Providence (which is less expensive and is where a plurality of our faculty live). There are trains and buses, but probably you need a car. The town of Norton, where Wheaton is located, is pretty sleepy itself. Cost of living in the Boston metro area is very high (higher than Chicago, slightly lower than San Francisco or NYC, but not too much); Providence is less expensive. Wheaton pay is competitive with other small liberal arts colleges.
I personally think this is a very good job and I'm hoping that whoever History hires will want to collaborate with me, Joel Relihan in Classics (a superb Latinist and translator of Boethius) and Evelyn Lane in Art History (expert on stained glass, among other things). There is strong support for medieval studies on campus, with professors from Biology, Religion and Math/Computer Science doing various collaborations.
Good luck to those who apply!
Medieval/Ancient World
The Department of History at Wheaton College (MA) seeks a tenure-track assistant professor with scholarly and teaching expertise in the fields of classical, late-antique, and/or medieval history. The History Department is especially interested in social or cultural historians whose thematic expertise includes gender, popular religion, material culture, cross-cultural contact, or the history of science or the environment. Geographic field open; preference for Celtic world, northwestern Europe, or southeastern Europe. Ph.D must be in hand at time of appointment. Send letter of interest, CV, and three letters of reference by November 26, 2007 to Alexander Bloom, Chair, Department of History, Wheaton College, Norton, MA, 02766. Preliminary interviews will be conducted at the 2008 AHA annual meeting. For more information, please contact hr@wheatonma.edu. AA/EOE. Wheaton College seeks educational excellence through diversity and strongly encourages applications from women and men from historically underrepresented groups.
