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02/05/2005 Archived Entry: "Job"

Job at Wayne
We've re-opened our search for someone in computers and writing. I've been in Detroit three years and served on two searches at two different universities. That little bit of experience reveals, among a number of things, that people are reluctant to move to Detroit.
Some reasons are valid (it's cold!) and have little to nothing to do with our area or schools (though I can understand negative reaction to my previous place of employment...). But unfortunately, the city's negative reputation often puts us at a disadvantage. No place is perfect. But Detroit is a fascinating place to live (or live near as I do); it is rich in cultural events, diverse ethnicity, sports, food, and oddities. I'm attracted to the last item on that list (and thus am continuously amazed by the photography of Detroit Funk or the exploits of the Detroit Blogger. I've been inspired by the ruins and oddness of the city's musical, technological, racial, electronic past enough to want to write a book about Detroit (but the way I imagine a city/a place/a rhetoric...).
Then there's Wayne. I think that in the next few years, Wayne will become one of the better theoretical/digital programs in the country, one that merges issues of poststructuralism, cultural studies, globalization studies, digital studies, and rhetoric and composition. As the new folks find a niche, and as we work more across disciplinary boundaries, we're going to see an incredible program develop (and maybe one of the more innovative M.A. programs in some variation of professional writing/design and rhetoric).
So why this post? If you are either looking for a job, or if you are looking to go to grad school (or have students looking to move on into grad school), consider this a meta-ad: an ad for the ad. As Barthes would say, it attempts to generate a sense of "ad-iness." Advertisements for Ourselves (my favorite trope).

Posted by Bill @ 02/08/2005 10:09 AM EST

I was digitizing rhetoric theoretically before digital rhetorical theory was cool.

Posted by Pedro @ 02/07/2005 08:03 PM EST

Hi Bill
Good to hear you'll be in the neighborhood. U Michigan/Dearborn, I assume?
I now have to make the trek to Dearborn to buy Dogfish beer. Only Merchant's (on Michigan Ave) has it.

Posted by jeff @ 02/07/2005 04:49 PM EST

Funny...my motivation during my job search this year was the exact opposite. I specifically *wanted* a job in Metro Detroit. Arguably the greatest spot in the country to hear live music, plus Diego Rivera's murals, plus all the outstanding Arabic food you could want, plus a whole lotta those "oddities" you mentioned.

When I first hit the market three years ago, I wanted the "best job" in some kind of generic sense...and I'm happy at my present school, minus the geography factor. I've missed the motor city since my undergrad days at that "previous place of employment" you referenced, and I couldn't be more pleased that next year I'll be teaching in Dearborn.

So here's another voice saying that it don't get no hipper than Detroit...

Posted by Bill @ 02/07/2005 03:19 PM EST

Nah, just apply. Jeff's area of Ferndale and all the surrounding cities are perfectly lovely places. Cute. And the city really is cool. Unlike any other place. And it's no colder than where you are now, man! Think how hip you'd be, living in the motor city!

Posted by jenny @ 02/06/2005 01:28 AM EST

Honestly, if it weren't Detroit I'd apply. I'll never get my wife to move to Michigan :)

Posted by B @ 02/05/2005 10:20 PM EST

I second the above. Detroit is cool, and Wayne is a good place to be if you're a digital rhetorical theorist, a theory person, or an innovative thinker. With Shaviro, Grusin, Marback, and (of course) Rice in tow, the department is one of the hipper places to be right now.

Just wanted to add my two cents.

Posted by jenny @ 02/05/2005 12:56 PM EST