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[retainthenull]

In the interest of full disclosure, I am not in the running for a job at SFA. I received my BA at the school back in the stone age and would like teach there someday. For what it's worth I was in the communication department. Thoughts on the department or school in general??

[spork]

Got to admire any school named after the Bionic Man.

[historywoman]

I attended SFA as well to work on a BFA in theater, back in the Stone Age.  Loved the school, loved the town, loved the people. Can't speak for the communications department, but I can for the history department.   I went back for a historical conference 8 years ago.  Many of the professors in the history department that had been there when I attended in the early seventies were still there, including the female professor that I had for the second half of U.S. history--a woman that had been hired in a field hostile to women in the late sixties, only to later become the department chair.  It speaks volumes about the deparment and university for people to remain there for almost forty years, still loving their work and approaching it with great enthusiasm.

A colleague of mine in the midwest recieved an offer from them about three years ago.  She rejected it, because it was too isolated, too far from her family, had too heavy of a teaching load (4-4) and only paid in the mid-thirties.  Several of us that were familiar with the school thought she was, frankly, nuts, given the state of the history job market.   

I'd take a job there in a heartbeat.

HW

[mysecretidentity]

Okay, I wasn't going to say anything, but I can't stand not to.  I can't let this go unanswered.  I am, by the way, a semi-regular poster, with a temporary moniker, to protect my identity. 

Let me first say that SFA can be a very good place for students because the university does somehow manage to hire good, dedicated teachers on a regular basis.  It is an isolated place, so students tend to form strong communities with each other and also with faculty.  And in some departments, it may be a good place for faculty; I can only speak to my own experience. 

That experience was not good.  I was a faculty member at SFA for three very long years.  It was the most hellish place I could possibly imagine for a faculty member, not only because of the isolation, but for the completely shabby, downright abusive, way faculty were treated.  I no longer try to tell fellow academics about specific SFA experiences, because when I do, no one believes me; they say no place could ever be that bad.

Again, this was in one department--ymmv.  There has been some administrative turnover at upper levels since I left.  I do not stay in touch with anyone who is still there, so I don't know if things are improving or not. 

I'm not saying SFA couldn't be a good place in the right circumstances.  But if someday you do get a job offer from SFA, look very carefully into your department and college.  Ask tough questions about faculty retention (of the 10 or so people hired in my department in the years I was there, only one remains).  Ask why faculty leave, and don't be satisfied with the answer that they didn't like the small town.  Get the full story before you say yes.

[mysecretidentity]

Got to admire any school named after the Bionic Man.

By the way, Spork, there is a statue of Stephen F. (the other one) in front of the library at SFA.  He's curiously well-endowed for a college-campus statue.

[mileage_may_vary]

I had an offer from a department there not too long ago that I turned down.  The department had clearly had a meltdown and had a huge migration.  Huge.  They were making 8-10 hires that year and planned the same for the next.  I wasn't sure that the problems that caused the migration had cleared up.  The other problem was that the salary was low and completely non-negotiable. 

[dogvomit]

I had a telephone interview in one science dept at SFA and the faculty got in a fight during it.  Later I spoke with the prof who I would have replaced, he said it was always like that.

The Forestry Program is pretty good and there are rumors the institution will eventually become part of the A&M system.  As an independent state school it has little bargaining power against the TExas State, UT, TAMU and Texas TEch Systems. 

A recent add I saw on higheredjobs was posted with a 38K salary.

This all seems pretty negative, but I never worked there, could be a great place.

[captainwillard]

My impression is that they have a problem with hiring from within, often without conducting a search (I believe the relatively new president was chosen this way).  The president and board have a reputation for being obsessed with athletics and disinterested in academics.  Salaries are supposedly some of the lowest in the state.

On the other hand, they have been looking outside for some deans.  There are some good programs--not just forestry; the arts are surprisingly good there and I think nursing has been coming on strong, to name two examples.  And there are some nice people there, of course, and quality people who stay for good reasons other than salary.

I've never heard anything good or bad about the communications department.

[athena1]

I grew up close to there and SFA did not have a good reputation. None of my "brainy" friends would have considered going there. I also knew someone who took ed leadership courses with them and dropped the program b/c it was so terrible.

[chief]

I had a conference interview with this school a few years ago.   The two interviewers spent 20 minutes describing the low pay, the apathetic students, and the backbiting in the department.   Even before they asked the first question, I knew I did not want to work there. 

[jones41]

I did time at SFA also--three years.  Like many challenging experiences in my life, I'm glad that I went through it, but I wouldn't wish it on anyone else.

In my first semester there, the department chair called me into her office and said, among other things, "We do things differently here behind the pine cone curtain."  (I had been seen speaking to a colleague she didn't like, and she wanted me to know that such behavior could jeopardize my job in the future.)

I could say much more, but as mysecretidentity writes,

I no longer try to tell fellow academics about specific SFA experiences, because when I do, no one believes me; they say no place could ever be that bad.

[historywoman]

Any chance that those of you that endured your time in hell at SFA could reveal the general areas in which you worked, such as social sciences, arts, humanities, hard sciences, etc.? No need to be any more specific than general areas, so that you don't out yourself. I'd like to able to warn any friends and/or colleagues considering applying for jobs there about the problems that you have encountered and the caveats you have given.  With all the information that all of you have provided, I've certainly reconsidered my statement that I'd take a job there in a heartbeat. 

HW

[cleochase]

Hmm... SFA sounds a lot like Morehead St. in KY.

[dogvomit]

and LSU-Shreveport, my friend has told me stories that would make your hair curl!

[misc1]

I, too, am an SFA survivor.  I worked there for 4 years and we had 3 chairs in that space.  One sexually harassed both male and female junior colleagues alike, and one informed the tenure track faculty (with some frequency) that "we have no intention of tenuring and promoting all of the junior faculty we hire".  I would say that that should be enough said.  But it isn't.  The senior faculty, by and large, were hateful, mean-spirited, spiteful, and racist.  The administration was not interested in changing things.  We had an outside mediator into our department.  The mediator reported that there were serious problems (as noted by the difficulty in retaining faculty, for example), and the senior faculty denied his findings. 

This atmosphere was not relegated to my department exclusively.  I had friends from several departments who reported similar patterns of behavior in their faculty. 

It is also true that like others have mentioned, people find my experiences downright unbelievable, so I only share the barest outline of my time there (if that).