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[manandwoman]

I recently found this board and have been following with interest.

I and my husband work in the same university with non tenure track positions..I am a recent Asst. Prof and him Associate. We have been working on jobs based on soft money so far and have been very happy here. However we also have been missing the chance to teach and be in a place where things are more "stable".
I should say we are in a good situation as of now. He has his brand new R01 -5 year grant and myself have a 5 year career award with funding for research and my salary.

So are now looking to move but also want a good place which will take us both. Our research is some what related but differnt areas. We just saw an ad for a univ inviting applications for all levels.. ( so more than one or two positions in our field) for a brand new department.

We will be both applying - Me for asst. prof level and him for associate.. ( or do we let them decide that?)

Now, the fact is we wont be taking these jobs whole heartedly unless we both get in. We could continue were we are and keep looking and bring in more research funds and just enjoy our research.

So should we mention about each other in our applications? I assume that the department would prefer us in some ways since we are coming in with funds. On the other hand, they may or may not want people in our area ( the specialised one).
One thought we had was to not say anything and see if we are invited for interviews and then think about it.
My husband is co-author on  two of my publications. They may ask one of us about the other? What should we do? I would like to be hired based on my own credentials. My husband has more experience and has a bigger research grant. But I think I am a great candidate myself for this univ ( not a top tier) going in with decent research and research funds. 

One though I had was to apply independently of course and one of us can e-mail the chair and mention the fact that the other person is also applying?

Please advice or share similar experiences.

[boringmember]

I would apply independently.  If one of you gets a campus visit, you can mention it at the visit when you meet with a Dean-type person.

[totoro]

If both of you have your salaries funded for the next 5 years, I'm actually surprised that you aren't being "headhunted". I'm assuming you are in different fields? As you both sound like excellent candidates I'm not sure what to advise you. Interested in hearing responses.

[helpful]

I would apply together. You are both together in a strong position. You don't have to move, but you want to for the right place. The right place would be a place that wants both of you.

I do not understand how your husband can be associate prof without having tenure or tenure track positions, though. Is this common?

[manandwoman]

Thank you all for very useful and interesting comments and suggestions.
My husband has about 7 years more experience than I have.  His R01 is brand new ( just got it this year). He has never tried to apply for a tenure track position untill last year. and when he did apply to a smaller school ( he did not have a grant) they did not call him for an interview. We were surprised since he has several publications . We figured may be the area of specialisation was not of their interest. I have to say he is a bit too laid back person  and never even made a good research statement and all that untill now. He has had a great PhD advisor ( world famous) and he himself is well known in his area of specialisation..although people in this school we are applying may not know this - like I said this is a brand new department.

I guess, I feel like my credntials are bit pale when compared to husband's. So I am bit worried.

helpful: to answer your qn about tenured position.. we are not sure yet. We figured that most asst. Profs in that university ( It is research univ offering PhD) have PhD and few years of experience and no one has any grants (that we could see on their websites). So husband was hoping he could negotiate for at least a direct Asociate Prof position ( they are looking for all levels for this new department) and we assumed in that case it could be tenured. We are not sure. May be some one else will chime in on this one.

So I assume that at least some of you think that we should apply together?

I just don't want to complicate things and also secretly wish to see them calling us for inteviews independently.

We do think we are incredibly fortunate to have funds for next few years. Just want to make the right choise moving forward.
Another options husband suggested is that if in case I end up getting ( and he does not - very unlikely - but you never know what exactly they want) then he could easily move there with his grant and work from there. However I am not sure I want him to leave this place for another non tenure track position.

[totoro]

If someone who previously is untenured is appointed as associate professor it is usually still a tenure track position. Normally it is an accelerated period of 3 years before the decision. I had a position like that. If you can get a tenure track position somewhere, I can't see why they wouldn't want to host your husband's research if they have the infrastructure and he has the required funding to pay for its use. Are there advantages to him staying at the institution he is at?

[msparticularity]

I'm confused--if you have an NSF Career Grant, your positions is required to be tenure-track, and yet you say you are a nonTT assistant professor. Is it actually a Career Grant?

[manandwoman]

It is an NIH career award ( for new investigators).

As of now this is the plan:

We both submit our separate applications. Then myself or my husband will write an email to the search chair ( with cc to the other person) saying that we would like to disclose that spouse is applying too and briefly mentioning what we woul each bring to the department if chosen.

any suggestions?

[manandwoman]

totoro,
              Good to know about that bit about Associate Prof and accerated tenure. Like I said we are very inexperienced with this TT application and the whole deal.

How did that work out for you with accelerated TT?

[msparticularity]

It is an NIH career award ( for new investigators).

Thanks for the clarification. I'll stay out of the discussion, since my background with NIH stuff is zilch.

[totoro]

I got tenure. But I've seen other people fail to do so when just brought in as associate on the basis of number of years post-PhD but they had been working outside academia (NGO). I was 8 years post PhD when I started the job and postdocs etc. are rare in my social science field. I did do a post-doc, a VAP, and then a research assistant prof type job before starting as tenure track associate prof.

totoro,
              Good to know about that bit about Associate Prof and accerated tenure. Like I said we are very inexperienced with this TT application and the whole deal.

How did that work out for you with accelerated TT?

[macaroon]

This is not directly related to your original question, but do the both of you have teaching experience?

If not, go to www.insidehighered.com right now and try to pick up a class for the fall. It's really common for NIH-funded folks from research institutions to have extremely weak "education" components to their CVs.  If you've never taught a class before, even with all the grant funding, your applications won't be competitive in departments that run undergraduate majors.

[dellaroux]

Also, I realize there might be more latitude for this in some fields, but it would probably be a good idea to get an editor to go over your written materials.

Your English is pretty strong but there are occasional phrases and idioms that suggest you're a non-native speaker and that might also affect how seriously your applications are taken if teaching is expected for a school which might have had student complaints about understanding their instructors.

I'm not saying that's fair or the best way to judge what someone's potential contributions may be but I do think it's a level of analysis that could affect how your candidacy is perceived.

On the other hand it's seen as more honest in other settings to be up-front about your languages, so maybe the best is to open up that question for discussion and see what the consensus here might be on it (I am not offhand recalling any recent discussions for job apps, I think there have been some in other arenas, but not this--correct me if I'm wrong...)

[manandwoman]

Dellaroux,
                 Thank you for this honest feedback and suggestions. You are right - English is not my native language. I know I am not editing or paying much attention to how I write on the board here, but for application material and academic work, I do pay attention and try my best. On top of this my husband or my mentor always proof reads for me. My husband is a native english speaker and the best proof reader one can find.. ( bit of husband bragging here ;-)) -- Not just my opinion though.

I told my husband about what you wrote and he said that my spoken English is really good ( and I tend to let things slide a bit when I write especially since I know that he will proof read) and when I prepare and deliver talks they are really good except there are some words ( which I dont use regularly) that I pronounce it ..with an accent!! Now I don't know if I can ever change my accent. Let us hope that this won't be an issue when it is time for the interviews.

There are instances where my husband tries to proof read and  change the way I wrote somethings and I tell him to let it be..since that is just my style and I like it to be that way - good or bad. But for 99% I accept his generous proof reading assistance.

[manandwoman]

macaroon,
              This is one of my fears. Husband has some teaching experience and I have very little and none in the near future. I have mentored grad and undergrad students though. Next semester I will try and do a bit of teaching if things don't work out now.