Some Background

I started at Latitude 38 University (L38 U) over six years ago. The position I took was very different from prior professional appointments I had held, so it offered the sort of change and new learning that I very much wanted after nearly 7 years at my prior institution and over 15 years in higher education administration.

I was in that position for six years, during which time I was heavily recruited for a number of positions, all of which I declined.  I really liked my position at L38 U, but I was also bound to staying in the same general area where I work by my partner, and, more especially, his son, whom I am very close to. That said, both my partner and I agreed that his graduation from high school this coming spring would change things dramatically. As a married gay couple, we have some good reasons to be strategic about where we eventually live.

Professionally, I still ache thinking about some of the positions I turned down during that time. I will admit that only one of them was a formal offer, but I have a good sense that most, if not all, of the rest would have resulted in an offer had I not withdrawn. That might strike one, but it’s almost certainly true.

While I really liked my position at L38 U, I was also beginning to feel that it was time to leave. Not to brag, but I had done a very good job of succession planning, knowing that I would likely move once my stepson graduated high school. I’d also had six seasons of the ebbs-and-flows of that setting and was finding I was becoming dull…vague…anGRY! And, I had been a finalist for what would have been a dream job…if only my partner hadn’t hated cold, and both of us unwilling to move to a state that was as regressive on the topic of marriage inequality.

Some reorganizations at L38 U resulted in the opening of the role in which I am now serving. I was clearly the preferred candidate. I wouldn’t characterize my feelings about the role that excited me, so much as familiar, and a good next step for me, were I to stay at L38 U for some time. After a very restricted, but competitive search, I was offered the job. Right around that time, I removed myself from the search that still makes my heart ache the most. (A position that is still unfilled, I might add, but, alas, in a marriage-inequality and very cold state.)

My new role is one with which I was immediately comfortable. That’s not to say that I didn’t or still don’t have a lot to learn or to offer, but most of that learning is related to transitory politics, and most of what I have to offer is nothing more than an extension of what I offered in my prior role. In short, I’m busy, but bored. Still, I wouldn’t mind being in this role for a few years.

(Un)Fortunately, right as I was starting my new role, the position announcement at the University of the 48th Parallel (U 48P) came across my virtual desktop. At first, I resisted: I had just removed myself from a search that would have led to a much more prestigious position (ache!), and I had just…JUST…started a new position, complete with new salary, new boss, new staff, new office, new parking.

I ignored it…for a month. For reasons that will go unmentioned at this point, I felt compelled to consider it. I applied. Fast forward, I am now a finalist.

While it helps to know that U 48P is is a marriage-equality state, there are a lot of reasons why I would engage in what could result in one of the biggest disruptions in my, and my partner’s lives.

I will, no doubt, wax on about those reasons, but suffice it say that U 48P excites a passion I haven’t been in touch with for a very long time: higher education for learning’s sake.

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Thought Exercise

So, this is the intellectual centerpiece of my campus visit to the University of the 48th Parallel in two weeks:

Please come prepared with a 15-minute presentation on the financial and operating challenges faced by public institutions of higher education, including the University of the 48th Parallel, and how you as a leader would address those challenges.

Where to begin? Expect to see some ruminations here.

Update

I’ve been remiss for not mentioning the the itinerary, job talk topic, schedule, etc. all came through on Friday. It’s a typical candidate visit, and I’ve scheduled the flight so that I have most of the afternoon before the day of the interview to drive around and check things out.

The only odd thing is the list of references that I am supposed to provide — 11 references in all, including the president of my current university. This, of course, brings up the whole question of whether I should start telling people at my current institution that I am being considered for another position.

More later.

Waiting…

I’m in an odd state, in that I have been invited for an on-campus interview for an administrative position at another university (“48”) but haven’t heard a word back since that invitation. Thanksgiving is next week, which means that things are going to get very busy very quickly, and the date of the interview – December 9 – will be here before anyone knows it.

Logistical challenges aside, I’m also left with an unpleasant mix of excitement/ennui/dread as I slog through the days at work at my current university (“38”). It’s weird doing the work that I do, work that involves a great deal of planning, some of it very long-term, knowing that I might be giving my notice in as little as three weeks, a date just shy of four months’ of service in my current job.

An odd state indeed. It would be nice to be able to make a hotel reservation, or something.

FP

So, I’ve decided to start a blog, or at least a personal online diary, about a decision that I may or may not have to make in the next few weeks, and, depending on my decision (assuming I get to make one), the consequences of that decision. The decision would be to stay in the city where I am currently living doing the job that I am currently doing, or to take a job in a very different part of the country. This decision would not only involve me, but my partner, our two dogs and one cat, a son/stepson, countless friends, and a whole way of life. Oh, and the people with whom I work, in a job I started just over three months ago.

This decision, should it come to that, comes about as a result of a fairly random act — me applying for a job — while on vacation a few months ago, right after I started my new job. I say “fairly,” because it was somewhat premeditated, and is reasonably consistent with my partner’s and my overall life plans. The job I applied for is really a perfect fit, both for me and the institution I would work for. But, I applied for it knowing that the timing was awful, and that if things did go forward, which they have, that I might have some really tough decisions to make. And now I have a blog on which to document those decisions and the consequences.

The title of this blog refers to the physical nature of the decision and potential change I might have to make: moving from the 38th north latitude to the 48th. (Admittedly, the east-to-west difference is greater, but not quite as poetic…and, perhaps, not quite as significant.) Given that I am currently 48 years old, it might also give me an opportunity to reflect on the last 10 or so years.

I’m turning to the medium of blogging not because I expect to attract a significant readership, or even want to share my writing and my “journey,” whatever that ends up being. I did this once before, when I was writing my doctoral dissertation, and found the medium to be very helpful as I sorted through my own anxieties, excitement, and general highs and lows.

If you are reading this, you’ve almost certainly stumbled on it by accident, in which case I ask you to please forgive what will undoubtedly amount to repeated acts of unforgivable self-indulgence. If you’re actually here because I shared the existence of this blog with you, I ask you the same, although I would expect that my sharing it with you means that I know you well enough for you to know how self-indulgent I can sometimes be.

Whatever, the case, here’s to the beginning of what could be a very interesting journey.