The Job Search and the Foreign Dilemma

By Christopher Garland. Two months ago, on a particularly sweltering afternoon at a large, southern R1 university, I bumped into Arun, a fellow PhD student in the humanities. Facing a job market that is at best “uncertain” (seemingly one of the most popular euphemisms), we chatted about the general trials and tribulations that face all graduate students: getting specific application materials together, finishing the dissertation, and trying to "move on." Apart from the shared experience of anxiety about cover letters, CVs, and job postings, we discussed another aspect of the job search that affects a significant segment of this country's higher education workforce. If we "foreigners" want to stay in this country and in the field in which we’ve worked so hard to make our mark, we have to find an academic job. Read more...