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[phdbliss]

As an east coaster I have no clue about this place - but they're hiring in my field this year (MLA field). Anyone have any experience there, positive or negative? Also, what about the Portland area? Is it affordable?

[ptprof]

I know there has been some decent conversations about Portland in the past.

Here is a brief conversation about Portland.
http://chronicle.com/forums/index.php/topic,43854.0.html

Make a sacrificial offering to the Search function and you may find more links.

I have extended family and a friend who lives and Portland and I have visited once.  Portland is cheaper then the east coast, but not as cheap as often suggested.  The city has a good public transportation system (commuter rail and subway) and many parts of it seemed very walkable.

The area outside of Portland is beautiful and the Columbia River Gorge and Multnomah falls are amazing.  However, the miserable weather was present the entire time I was there.  Overcast and rainy every day.  Obviously, this is not daily, but the locals certainly suggested it was commonplace.  My friend is originally from NYC and struggles with the weather and SAD for long portions of the year.

From my limited experience in Portland, the left-wing city rumor is quite true.  My friend is a committed liberal (Obama is too conservative) and feels right at home in Portland, often describes it feeling like the Village or Upper West Side of Manhattan.

Hope this helps some and other posters with more detailed info chime in.

[almost_done]

I interviewed there a few hiring seasons ago for a sciences tt position. Portland as a city and geographic location was a big personal draw to me. It has great public transportation, a huge bookstore, neat restaurants, mountain view, etc.

However, as much as I love Portland, I realized during my fly-out that I wouldn't accept a job at PSU even though it would allow me to live there. In my field at least (not sure if this is campus-wide), PSU sees itself as the redheaded stepchild of the other Oregon schools (specifically, U of O- Eugene). In my program, they admitted to being very poorly funded, which impacted class size and teaching load. As much as their president seemed to want them to be/become a R1, the teaching load is quarters 2-2-2 (generally 6 unique preps) and some class sizes even in the graduate program have 40+ students. In talking with the Dean, hu mentioned that the salaries for faculty are well below the average at other schools, but that many faculty have office views of mountains and getting to live in a great city like Portland should balance out the low salary. (Literally, this was hu's argument!). I agree that Portland would be a great place to live, but in my field, a starting salary in the $50k range is about 10-15k below average. The cost of living in Portland is lower than Seattle or other large West Coast cities, but not by that much.

I'm not sure how much these views are campus-wide or continue, but I'd be sure to look for cues about funding issues within your specific department. Good luck!

[marinetti]

I interviewed there last year for a position in the humanities.  The biggest draw for me was clearly the location and quality of life in the city; I was less than impressed with how they ran their search though (not just because I didn't get it).  I spent a total of about four hours on campus, and spent the whole time being grilled, without any real attempt to get me interested in being there.  The formal job talk I had been told to prepare was (unbeknownst to me) actually supposed to be a teaching demo, and the audience was almost entirely students; one of the search committee members didn't bother showing up, and none of them asked questions.  Then I was escorted to the exit, given a handshake, and didn't hear the outcome until weeks later - with a curt "thanks for your time."

Quite possibly they already had a candidate picked out, and my experience might be reserved to the particular department; still, I got the sense that it is NOT a well-run place.  They also regularly seem to have labor issues with the faculty - when I visited, a strike was looming, but no-one would tell me what was going on.

[msparticularity]

Portland is a fabulous city, and the cost of living is very reasonable, especially for a major city. There is an amazing range of housing and neighborhood options, with decent choices at pretty much any and every level.

PSU has done many interesting and innovative things in its curriculum and integration with the community, making it theoretically the kind of place many of us have always wanted to teach. Oregon's educational institutions, however, are all critically under-funded and have been for years. In my field faculty salaries are at least $10,000 under those paid by the competition (and I'm comparing to "compass-point" universities!).

So, yeah - probably better than no job at all, and a great place to live, but jobs at PSU look to me like they bring a terrifically high level of stress and not much in the way of recognition/remuneration.

[squiddude]

Well...I was a student there some time ago.  I wish I could now say that the things people are saying in this thread were proven untrue in my experience, but they are actually painfully true, then as (apparently) now - and these dynamics were overtly obvious and very well known throughout the community, even to the students!!  Google PSU faculty and you may find some of the many articles written about the surprisingly frustrated faculty and their behavior at that place.  I could bore everyone with stories of faculty venting their egos on students and each other, but I won't.

And the people in the area have a pretty bad opinion of the school in general, I'm sorry to say.

Still, if I ever got a chance to go back to Portland I would in a heartbeat, even if it meant a job at PSU (2/2/2 ain't that bad compared to, say, 4/4 or 5/5 anyway).  Portland is simply one of the most AWESOME cities anywhere.

Good luck, if it should come to it.

[fortepiano]

<bump>

Is it really as bad as this thread suggests at Portland State? There's a job open there in my field and I'd like to apply, but only if it is an improvement from my current situation.

[larryc]

You should always apply. If the gods are with you they will bring you out for a campus visit and you can decide for yourself.

[mathspice]

Portland is simply one of the most AWESOME cities anywhere.

Ditto. I love it there. I considered going to PSU for my Master's degree, but I think I visited just for the visit. I thought it'd be pretty cool to teach there, at the university in Corvallis (cute town!) or at Mt. Hood CC. One of the many things I like about the Portland area is that one minute you're standing in the snow near Mt. Hood, but have your feet in the ocean by sunset later that day after a beautiful drive through the Douglas firs.

Oh, and next time I go, I'm going to rent a yurt:

http://blog.oregonlive.com/terryrichard/large_TR.yurt2.jpg


Hmmmmmmmmm... okay, back to the blizzard.

[femaestro]

I have a family member who is a tenured faculty member at Portland State and she loves it. She loves the city, the school and the students.  I think at any school, ones experiences and quality of life depend on the person.  If you like a relaxed environment you will like Portland.  My family member is pretty anal, an they love it, which may suggest something about the school :)

[prof_smartypants]

I applied for a job there, too, so I want to bookmark the thread. However, from what I've read here, it seems fairly similar to my current institution.... so maybe it wouldn't be the step up I thought it would.