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The Necessity of Mobility

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By Gene C. Fant Jr.

A recent job ad in The Chronicle marked the first time that I've ever noticed an open secret actually articulated in print: Locals need not apply. The ad was not that blunt; it was worded something on the order of "Applications from Ph.D. programs outside of our state are welcomed in particular." The meaning was clear, though: "We have hired enough of Local State U's graduates; we need more institutional diversity."

Institutional diversity -- that is, a broad representation of graduate programs among faculty members -- is a tacit component of many faculty searches. It's also among the harshest of realities facing some job applicants.

I personally learned that lesson during my first year of doctoral work. A friend in another state had called to complain bitterly about her job search. Her alma mater had an opening in her academic specialty, and she was completing her Ph.D. at the closest research institution, a mere 30 miles down the road. She had grown up in that area and was excited about the possibility of teaching in her old department. Her hopes were dashed, however, when she called her old adviser.

"Frankly," he said, "you'd be better served spending your time on your dissertation and then applying elsewhere. We won't hire in-state Ph.D.'s any time in the near future."

When she related her story to me, I was shocked by her adviser's reply, but I soon found that his observation was widely applicable. I was teaching as an adjunct at a local college, my parents' alma mater, when a full-time opening came up. I was completely energized by the prospect of staying in my hometown. I could continue to eat lunch with my grandmother twice a week and help out with my other family members.

I dutifully applied for the position, only to be told that the college would not consider me because it already had a department full of local Ph.D.'s. Like my friend I was furious.

I heard similar complaints voiced by my classmates who were defending their dissertations. "Why won't the department hire its own? I have [blank] here." You can fill in the blank with "parents," "a house," "a significant other," or other assorted reasons.

I wish that faculty advisers were more forthcoming about the twin realities of the job market. The first reality is that you must complete the Ph.D. before you can compete for tenure-track jobs. The second is that you must be mobile. Certainly there are exceptions to those rules, but you can't spend your life waiting for lightning to strike.

The department I serve as chairman is unusual, but it provides me with an example of an institutionally diverse department. Among my nine full-time faculty members, we hold degrees or certificates from 26 institutions with no institutional overlap between any faculty members. Our alma maters represent 12 states on both coasts, the Northeast, the South, and the Midwest. Oddly enough, despite the fact that our state has three fine doctoral programs in English, no one in our department has a Ph.D. from one of those universities.

That level of diversity was not intentional, and at some point I'm sure we'll hire someone who is "local," but we are glad of the kind of diversity represented in our faculty.

As a chairman, I like to brag about my department's institutional diversity for a number of reasons; first and foremost because it translates into a wealth of experience.

When discussing general-education issues, we have nine different programs that we can discuss from personal knowledge. When we run job searches, we can utilize nine different sets of networks. In preparing our students for graduate work, we have a broad range of critical approaches that we employ.

We have expansive numbers of contacts in graduate programs. Two of our faculty members grew up in our local region, so we are able to relate to our local students, but we can recruit students nationally because we have national representation within our faculty roster.

In fact, our diversity is considered a sign of institutional strength: Our administration supports our department by ponying up the money for genuine national searches, by paying for relocation expenses, and by refusing to save on salaries by "low-balling" locals.

For job seekers, however, the reality of institutional diversity demands a strong dose of realism. Before you apply for positions, do your homework: Look at faculty credentials in the departments where you are applying. If a local institution runs an ad, see if the department already has a number of Ph.D.'s from your doctoral alma mater. If so, that doesn't bode well for your candidacy.

Unfortunately, if you find yourself with this locational disadvantage, it cannot be overcome by years of "paying your dues as an adjunct," especially if the college is seeking a reputation beyond its local region.

For some readers, my observations may seem bleak and foreboding. I sympathize with the Ph.D. who cannot relocate because her mother has Alzheimer's. I feel for the person whose spouse is locked into a location for career reasons. I realize that some who had hoped to find a teaching job near the place they consider home may feel cheated.

If you absolutely cannot relocate, and many people are in such a situation, then you need to reconsider your professional plans. I know several people who did just that and stumbled into rewarding careers that allowed them to remain where they needed to be.

One final observation, the twin realities of a completed Ph.D. and an ability to relocate are, in some ways, related. While I have no statistical evidence to support this, I have noticed anecdotally that "local" students in Ph.D. programs are among the least likely to complete the dissertation. Perhaps those students are more encumbered with responsibilities that obstruct degree completion, or when they learn of the narrowness of job opportunities they lose the "carrot" at the end of the degree.

If you are an A.B.D. who is stuck applying for tenure-track jobs locally, for whatever reason, you are a doubly stricken candidate, and will suffer a severe disadvantage in searches.

I'm afraid that sometimes we academicians are so used to trafficking in pristine ideas that we forget about the harshness of the real world. And in the real world of academe, you need to be mobile.