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[felixfeelsgood]

I did a search but only came up with 2 old posts. I'm hoping that someone will have some new insights.

I was offered an interview in a humanities field at John Jay but it is not an area that offers a major (or even a minor). Can anyone speak about the humanities program in general? Also, the two posts that I found mentioned the possibility of teaching at the CUNY Graduate Center. Is this true? If so, is it also possible to pick up courses at one of the other campuses (for example, Hunter or City College)?

[fugitive_prof]

I know a little about the cop school.
It is possible to teach at CUNY grad, but this seems to be reserved for those with adequate research portfolios. The standards for tenure there in English (if this is your field) are fairly low--you have a certain amount of articles to publish OR a book and the quality of journals or press matters little.

A job is better than none and the people I know who started there did not regret their choice.

[thenewyorker]

As a John Jay faculty you would not be able to teach at another CUNY school other than the GC (Graduate Center). But there are the possibilities of collaboration with other CUNY faculty. For example, one of the profs at my school is teaching a summer course with a faculty from Hunter.

To get to teach at the GC you do need a good publication record. That is one of the things that was weighed in my department when considering a CUNY faculty's proposal of a course at the GC. But you should try as soon as possible. Sometimes you can fill a niche even without the publication record as long as you can provide evidence of your progress. But remember, your department at John Jay did not hire you to lose you to the GC right away. Play it cool. Your first priority is to the department and school that hired you and pays your salary.

A great thing about tt at CUNY is the release time. We get lots of release time in the first three years in order to be able to do research and publish. And although we have had some budget cuts (travel for faculty to conferences is a big one recently) there are plenty of avenues for research travel funding within the system. And they recently extended the tenure clock in order to make our publishing goals while teaching in NY.

Good luck. I love teaching in this system.

[jossfritz]

I interviewed with the English department a few years ago. They seemed to me to be great potential colleagues.

[jonesey]

Resurrecting an old, dead thread here:

John Jay is, obviously, in a rather tony area of NYC.  Do they offer faculty housing, or do most professors/staff/etc live in Hoboken or Washington Heights?  I know some NYC schools "assist" their faculty with housing (Columbia comes to mind) but I'm not sure about JJ.

Thanks.

[thenewyorker]

Its not that much of a tony neighborhood. You actually can find pretty good housing in Hell's Kitchen. And prices in Brooklyn and Queens are dropping, but not as much as in NJ. If you look long and hard enough you can find reasonable housing throughout much of Manhattan and in the boroughs including Washington Heights, etc. I just moved to Roosevelt Island because I was was surprised at how low the rents have dropped. That would also be a easy commute for you to John Jay.
No CUNY school that I know of assists faculty for housing. But you should dble check with the school.

[prytania3]

I know someone in English at John Jay and he is a cool guy. That said, criminal justice majors tend to be pretty low on the food chain. I teach at a cc with a CJ major where a lot of grads go on to John Jay, and as a group (always exceptions), they tend to be pretty weak and often lazy. But then--a lot of them want to be cops, so what do you expect? I've flunked so many CJ majors, it's not safe for me to be on the highway. I anticipate getting serious payback.

CUNY does not offer housing that I know of, but Washington Heights is damn nice--although not nearly as cool since all the white folks moved in.

Rents in NYC have dropped considerably, though.

[scampster]

I know someone in English at John Jay and he is a cool guy. That said, criminal justice majors tend to be pretty low on the food chain. I teach at a cc with a CJ major where a lot of grads go on to John Jay, and as a group (always exceptions), they tend to be pretty weak and often lazy. But then--a lot of them want to be cops, so what do you expect? I've flunked so many CJ majors, it's not safe for me to be on the highway. I anticipate getting serious payback.

Ah, so this is the real reason that Pry has problems with the cops!

[prytania3]

I know someone in English at John Jay and he is a cool guy. That said, criminal justice majors tend to be pretty low on the food chain. I teach at a cc with a CJ major where a lot of grads go on to John Jay, and as a group (always exceptions), they tend to be pretty weak and often lazy. But then--a lot of them want to be cops, so what do you expect? I've flunked so many CJ majors, it's not safe for me to be on the highway. I anticipate getting serious payback.

Ah, so this is the real reason that Pry has problems with the cops!

No, I started hating cops when I moved to Connecticut because they are all scumbags up here. Now, however, it's like double jeopardy.

[kedves]

I don't know anything about John Jay, but the criminal justice majors I teach are very good.  It's a more difficult major to get into than the one I teach, and they are usually sharp.  At Previous University, the occasional working police officers in class were great.

[prytania3]

I don't know anything about John Jay, but the criminal justice majors I teach are very good.  It's a more difficult major to get into than the one I teach, and they are usually sharp.  At Previous University, the occasional working police officers in class were great.

According to people I know who teach at John Jay, they are about as sharp as an accountant's pencil on April 15th.

Still, you get to live in New York, and CUNY is a good system to work for.

[der_gadfly]

John Jay is no longer offering a 2 year degree, BUT they do have articulations with darn near every 2 year CJ program in the region, including the crappy for-profit schools bottom-feeders that target the Jerry Springer audience....

[canuckois]

A good friend of mine teaches in one of the humanities departments at John Jay and, generally, I think s/he really enjoys it there: good colleagues, decent students (not great, but also not dreadful), and the opportunity to live and work in NYC.

I'd take it in a heartbeat, personally!