Cuts Begin at Florida State University: Ongoing Searches Halted
An inside source has mentioned that an ongoing search to replace the retiring chair of his/her department at FSU has been put on indefinite hold. The department will have to function without a chair or perhaps an interim chair will be picked from among the faculty. That person would need to take on substantial additional responsibilities with no commensurate pay increase or additional resources. There were apparently candidates for the chair in the pipeline, but that's been called off now.
Because of the nature of the source, I won't mention the department. This is going to be some nasty business, though. It sounds like non-tenured people are already actively interviewing at other universities. Long story short, most of this department is likely to vanish in the next few months. Where that leaves students is anybody's guess.
No phones, no lightbulbs, and now no chair. It conjures images of professors standing in dark, silent closets.
How does an academic department function without a chair, anyhow?
