The Interview

Now that I have finally caught up a little bit from the unintended extra stay in Wisconsin, I'll let you know how the interview went.

We arrived safely, albeit wet and a little harried, in Platteville Wisconsin on Thursday. Friday morning, Loran packed the girls, still in their jammies, into the car so that we could drive around to the front building of the hotel to get to the lobby. (Not a good thing...I would recommend AGAINST the Platteville Super 8...). Anyway, I recognized Dr. Mee from his website picture so I said Hi and introduced Loran and the girls. We drove to driveways down from the Super 8 to the Country Kitchen.

Let me just say that I put a run in my nylons when I was putting them on but it was under my skirt so I just kept my backup pair in my bag until I *really* needed them. Which was about two seconds after I got into Dr. Mee's very large truck.

So we walked into Country Kitchen (which I remember from my Wisconsin days as being a great place for breakfast) and there were two female faculty at the table, one of which I recognized from her profile as having gone to UW-River Falls for undergrad (like me, only she's a bit younger). Soon another lady joined us and let me tell you, they LOVE to talk and poke fun at each other. Three of them have been there for 18 years so they really seemed like a close-knit group. They were telling all sorts of stories and asking very few questions.

So then we headed over to the university and met with the Director of the School of Agriculture (he had some very interesting questions like What are you passionate about? and What are you the best in the world at?), then I met the Dean and the Associate Vice Chancellor. They all seemed very impressed with my resume and how varied my teaching experience is and how well it looked like I would fit there (if I was selected). The Dean informed me that there was one more candidate after me on Monday (a total of three) and that he would make a decision by the end of this week. (Today is Thursday and tomorrow is the end of the week...just saying...)

Then I got a tour of the campus, which is quite nice and newly rennovated and reminded me alot of UW-River Falls. Then I met with six undergraduates who asked me questions like "If I was late because of a hangover, what would you do about my attendance?" and "Do you like to use Powerpoint alot?" and "Do you have any experience with animals?" Then after that we went to lunch where I found out that the faculty member who also went to River Falls is from Cannon Falls MN. Here is how that conversation went:

(we were talking about the ice and rain from the day before)

Her: My parents are from just south of the Cities so they get the same kind of weather.
Me: My sister just moved from the Cities. Where are you from?
Her: Cannon Falls.
Me: Oh, I've been there. I had a roommate from there.
Her: What's her name?
(At this point I'm thinking, right like she is going to know her.)
Me: Well, I don't remember her last name but her first name was Stacy.
Her: Knowlton?
Me: (shocked) Yes! Her father owns a...
Us at the same time: construction company!
Me: and her brother had a...
Us: baby when he was 14!
Her: yeah I went to school with her brother and I knew her pretty well.

So at this point Dr. Mee's head is about to pop off. What are the chances? Not only that but one of the other guys, originally from Cameroon got his Master's at Auburn so he was familiar with Phenix City and Columbus. Did I mention that the school colors are orange and blue, just like Illinois (where I got my PhD) and Langston (the last place I was an Assistant Professor)? Yeah, it's weird like that.

Back to the story. After lunch I got a farm tour from the 32 year old very nice dairy farm manager and as soon as we walked into the barn I became a different person. I was asking questions I forgot I knew how to ask :-) I became someone I haven't been for over 4 years and it was fun!

Driving through the swine facility Dr. Mee pointed out the fenced in area where the criminal justice students work. What? Well, apparently swine decompose similarly to humans, so they bury pigs in this field and the criminal justice students dig them us and try to figure out how long they have been buried. Thank you, CSI.

Then we drove back to campus and I started getting nervous. I had completed my seminar last Tuesday night at around 6pm and only read through it once on the way to the airport and found a few errors. The only official time that I read through my talk and actually timed it was at 9pm on Thursday night in the bathroom while Loran was trying to get Lillian to sleep in the rickety old crib we had to borrow from the front desk (again...I wouldn't recommend Super 8...).

My talk was at 2pm and I couldn't believe how many people were there. Probably about 50. Once the talk loaded and was up on the screen it became real. I like to write out everything I am planning to say on the notes page of powerpoint so I can see the slide and my words. I figure, even if I freak out I can read it word for word. But then I started and didn't hardly use my notes. In fact, I was having an out of body experience where I thought "This is a really good talk" and I was amazed at how well I injected humor and extra information that I hadn't intended to say.

I weathered the questions well and was happy to have alot of good comments as people were leaving. Then we moved on to the formal interview where the committee (whom I had been meeting all day and didn't know it) asked specific and general questions. Then we just kind of shot the breeze for a while and they asked questions about my family and stuff.

Dr. Mee told them how cute my girls are and there were some comments made from people who were at breakfast and lunch and suddenly I was part of inside jokes that the rest of the committee wasn't privy to. It felt very natural.

My favorite part of the interview was my example syllabus. First, I need to mention that my Master's and PhD advisor, Geoff Dahl, is department chair down at U of FL. He has a Master's student, Jake, who went to Platteville as an undergrad and did a research project with Dr. Mee. I had corresponded with him to get a feel for the university and Dr. Mee and what the undergrads would ask. He said that the candidates that did the best had example syllabi. So I had one.

In preparation for this, I looked up some syllabi on-line and found a neat newsletter style. So I adapted my Environmental Physiology class idea to this syllabus style and Loran made four color copies (it just occurred to me that I didn't get any back...). At one point in the interview someone asked, if you had a chance to create your own class, what would you do? I got out my syllabus and said "I would do something like this". As soon as they started looking at it they were saying things like "I will never look at a syllabus the same again" and "Don't let the undergrads see this!" (which they had already by the way). They were also making comments like "We really need to implement this class!" and "I hope you can start this class in the near future". So those were definitely positive comments.

And that was about it. Dr. Mee took me to meet Loran and the girls and was telling us how nice of a town Platteville was and making encouraging comments. I was just glad it was over by that point! I do still want the job. I was impressed with the faculty and the students and the campus. Once you are assigned a class, the class is yours and no one oversees you, which I like. Dr. Mee also said that when the new faculty comes in, he would sit down with them and work how who taught what based on their expertise. I was really happy with that because I prefer some of the other courses not really the ones in the job description.

Now I wait. Apparently the Dean is a man of his word, so if I don't hear anything by 5pm CST tomorrow, I will assume that someone else got the job and we will carry on with the next thing.