The Job Market in Rhetoric and Composition Tell It Like It Is— But How Is It? Carrie Leverenz

“Why Haven't Humanities Ph.D. Programs Collapsed?” The Atlantic. Sept. 16, 2013 “Overeducated, Underemployed: How to Fix Humanities Grad School” William Pannapacker, Slate, July 27, 2011 “The Disposable Academic: Why Doing a PhD Is Often a Waste of Time” Dec 16th The Economist “Graduate School in the Humanities—Just Don’t Go” Thomas Benton, Chroniclel of Higher Education, Jan. 30, 2009

Adjuncts who teach English, for example, reported earning an average of $2,727 per course. That compares with an average of $4,789 per course reported by adjuncts who teach engineering. But reported pay varied widely within disciplines, too. Jan 4, 2013 Adjunct Project Shows Wide Range in Pay and Working... chronicle.com/.../Adjunct_Pay.../ The Chronicle of Higher Education

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Barry U English & For Langs, NE Second Av Miami Shores FL Assistant Professor of English (Composition/Rhetoric) The Department of English and Foreign Languages invites applicants for an Assistant Professor of English to contribute to the First-Year Writing Program and other campus-wide writing initiatives. This position’s primary duties include teaching courses in composition/rhetoric and research and working closely with the Director of First-Year Writing. The successful candidate will have previous administrative experience and be prepared to serve as Director of First-Year Writing within 2–3 years of hire. After a period of time, it will also include contributing to the literature Specialization within the English major through teaching existing courses and designing new ones, preferably in British literature and other campus-wide writing initiatives.

“Report of the MLA Task Force on Doctoral Study in Modern Language and Literature” 1. Pursue and maintain academic excellence. 2. Preserve accessibility. 3. Broaden career paths. 4. Focus on graduate students’ needs.

1.Redesign the doctoral program 2.Engage more deeply with technology 3.Reimagine the dissertation 4.Reduce time to degree 5. Strengthen teaching preparation 6. Expand professionalization opportunities 7. Use the whole university community 8. Redefine the roles of faculty advisers 9. Validate diverse career outcomes 10. Rethink admissions practices MLA: How to Reform Doctoral Study

Tenure Track Assistant108 Assistant/Associate27 Associate6 Associate/Full3 Rank Open6 Non Tenure Track Renewable Term40 Non-renewable4 Tenure track: 150 (77%) Non-tenure track: 44 (22.68%) Total ads: JIL RC Job Ads by Tenure-track Status

The word “digital” appears in 57 of 194 ads (about 29%)

Administrative Positions Assist31 Assist/Assoc17 Assoc2 Assoc/Full3 Rank Open6 Non tenure-track JIL RC Ads Involving Administration

What surprised you? “The extent to which some departments were looking for a problem solver” “The number of administrative jobs for which I was qualified--I was under the impression that most jobs would be research-oriented, and they were not.”

Carnegie Class. AssistAssist/ Assoc Assoc/Fu ll OpenTotal RU/VH RU/H DRU M-L M-M M-S66 Bac Assoc4116 Spec JIL RC Tenure-Track Job Ads by Carnegie Classification

Carnegie Class. AssistAssist/ Assoc Assoc/FullOpen RU/VH (36%)12 (1)8 (5)1 (1) RU/H (45%)17 (4)6 (5)1 (1) DRU (43%)11 (6)23 (1) M-L (38%)32 (8)6 (5)21 (1) M-M (27%)11 (2)1 (1)1 M-S (40%)6 (2) Bac (53%)14 (7)3 (1)2 (2) Assoc (20%)4 (1)11 Spec JIL RC TT Admin Job Ads by Carnegie Classification

94 responses from job seekers 73.12% (68/94) first year search 18.28% (17/94) second year search 6.45% (6/94) third year search 2.15% (2/94) more than three years

Anticipated dissertation completion date at the time of the survey (April 2014): 38 of 94 (40.43%) already completed 25 of 94 (26.60%) spring of 94 (25.53%) summer of 94 (7.45%) fall 2014

I applied for any job I was at all qualified for.47.83% (44) I applied only for jobs in my specialization(s).7.61% (7) I applied only for jobs that I was interested in.27.17% (25) Other factors, beyond my specialization, affected which jobs I applied for % (16) Select the statement below that best describes how you chose which academic jobs to apply for:

How many jobs did you apply for? Number of JobsNumber (%) of Respondents (21.51%) (7.53%) (5.38%) (9.68%) (10.75%) (11.83%) (7.53%) (3.23%) More than 8021 (22.58%)

Where did preliminary interviews take place? 75.53% (71/94) video conferences or phone interviews Only 11.70% (11/94) MLA interviews

A tenure-track job!

By the time of the survey: 72 of 94 (75.79%) accepted full-time academic positions 55 of 72 (76%) accepted were tenure-track positions 55 of 94 (59%) landed a tenure-track position ( possible at Assist or Assist/Assoc rank)

Composition/Rhetoric Total job ads: 201 British Literature Total job ads: 181 America Literature Total job ads: 129 JIL

Some Hypotheses: Not enough tenure-track jobs for the R/C students who desire them? Mismatch between jobs available and students’ training/expectations? Not enough students trained in administration? Better training for teaching positions?

Q What has been your biggest surprise ? The time, and expense of the process [16] Disappointment at types of jobs available [15] It went better than expected/no surprises [12] The disorganized and discourteous process [11] Search committees’ choices seemed illogical [6] The process was not what I was told to expect [5] How competitive the job market is [4] The complicated timelines for decisions [4] How mentally/psychologically draining it was [4]

Q Offer one piece of advice to your graduate program for improving job preparation [80 responses] Provide more info/job search prep [26] Prepare us for jobs other than R1 [17] Change the program, provide more useful preparation [13] Encourage and support publication [7] My program does an excellent job [4] Reduce admissions [3]