The beginning of "the beginning"??

Mike got up at 3:30am this morning to finish packing his bag. Today he is off to Boston for the annual American Political Science Association (APSA) meeting. Mike has been attending this meeting for a good chunk of his academic training, so attendance at the shindig is no new thing. But what makes this year's participation different is that this year he is on the job market. All the years past, he has tried to ease the minds of friends and colleagues going through the process and wandered through the lobbies and hallways to watch the meetings taking place between school and hopeful PhD candidate. This year though, it is he who will be in the interview chair.

Luckily, the market looks pretty decent for American Politics scholars this year, so here's to hoping he has a fighting chance at landing a decent gig for the next few years. He has 9 or 10 mini interviews set up for his 4 day stay in Boston, many of which are amazing liberal arts schools all over the country. Both Mike and I are excited at the propsective list of schools he's talking to right now. For the sake of confidentiality, I won't name them here, but let's just say that some pretty great schools are in the mix. Any one of them would be lucky to have Mike on their faculty.

I started with Self-Help almost one year ago, and at my time of hiring I promised I would stay about two years. Therefore, the timing works out perfectly that if Mike gets placed at a school for the 09-10 school year, my time will have run out at Self-Help (they are already worried about me leaving but know that next year will probably be my last). That means that both Mike and I are ready for the next phase. And after this weekend, we may get a few more leads on what that phase may be like! I'll keep you posted!

Oh - and yes, Mike flew out at 6am and made it into Boston with no problem. He sent me this lovely photo to see what I'm missing (I was banned going to the conference with him this year since he will be so busy with interviews, etc).


Good luck, Mike. Just be your awesome self, and they will love you!