Job? Cross fingers.

Dear Chair of Search Committe in Feminist Studies,

A friend in the Austin recently forwarded me your posting of the visiting position in Feminist Studies. I wonder: are you and the committee nearing selection of a candidate?

If not, I would love to submit a full application, as we have some luck. I will be in Austin over Memorial weekend, and could drive to Georgetown that Friday, or on any other date convenient to you, should you and the committee find you would like to interview, formally or informally. I'm sure this introduction will feel a bit awkward to you, but I have not been actively searching for a position, and certainly did not expect this opportunity to present itself.

Most of my work is in Feminist Theory (French) and 20th Century Literature, but I have teaching experience in feminist philosophy and am conversant with the broad outlines of the several schools and movements in feminist thought and activism.

The timing would be perfect. I currently have plans to leave my position in order to pursue what I can only call a self-funded sabbatical. My plan is to return to my hometown later this year to research and write.

This strange arrangement results from teaching at a school that operates on the quarter system. Teaching and working with students is a vocation I enjoy and undertake in its full seriousness. Teaching at our pace, five classes per quarter, has allowed me to hone my course organization, classroom presentation, and assessment skills. Teaching here and in a number of academic settings, I have learned how to maintain rigorous standards while adapting my teaching styles and modes of counseling to students with a variety of backgrounds, learning styles, academic and career goals. It has also taught me much about the pressures students experience at such schools, or any school, and how to guide them compassionately and firmly through their learning process to success. It is time, however, for me to write again, and eventually move to teaching in a traditional academic setting.

Since the 'sabbatical' plan is already in place, it would be no trouble at all to adjust it in order to be available for this position. I could easily move to the area in June, concentrate on fully developing an introductory course, revise the upper level course I have to suit your department's needs, and develop a topics course I've been considering on Irigaray and feminist realism. The course would explore relationships between the future-oriented culture of ethics and difference that Irigaray envisions, coupled with examinations of the present in the work of bell hooks, Gloria Anzaldua, and Catherine MacKinnon (esp. Are Women Human?), for instance. I could be ready to go for the year by mid-August. Leaving after the visiting year would be no trouble, as I could simply go back to my 'sabbatical' plan. In other words, if you and the department are interested, I'm ready to go. Furthering my teaching experience in the field while assisting your department in the absence of Professor Kafer would be a delight.

All of which is dependent, of course, on your department's interest in my service. If the search is not near closing, I will gather my materials and send them to you next week.

I've attached my current vita, and will follow with remaining materials -- a proper cover letter for instance -- should your search still be open.

Thank you, and may your search be smooth and successful in any case.