Internal candidate

Hmmm. My curiosity was piqued the other day regarding the filling of the post at LVU. The name of the successful candidate was already listed on the departmental website as a lecturer. But, since said candidate has already filed the dissertation, it couldn't be a matter of an ABD. My curiosity finally got to me, so I did a quick search on the university website, and discovered that yes indeed, said candidate has been teaching classes there for a couple terms already. Internal candidate!

And now they have a lectureship opened up. Is it worth applying yet a fifth time to the same school? Well, if internal candidacies really result in "conversions" to tenure-track posts, damn right. On the other hand, from what my informant told me, they aren't necessarily looking for someone with my brand of interdisciplinarity.

The frustrating thing is that there aren't any hard and fast rules. There's so little to latch onto, like a rock climber on a sheer face. If I apply, it may result in nothing. If I don't apply, it surely will. On the one hand, if they're really interested in more traditional [subfield 1'ers] then I'm out. But, maybe they just filled their quota of traditionalists, and they want to branch out a bit. Who knows! This is just so frustrating, going around in circles.

I think I'll email the prof who chaired the last search committee. I know him. He's friendly with my dissertation chair. He was a visiting prof in my doctoral department a few years ago. I'll just ask him for some feedback on my application. I figure, if he's offended by my asking, then I won't really have burnt any bridges. Rather, I'll simply discover that the bridge was never there.