Stage one complete

Thanks for your well-wishing, friends. It's evening now. Met with the Provost. Seemed to go fine. But who can ever tell with a provost?

Lunch with the faculty (vaguely Mexican) as an interlude to their faculty meeting. Nice camraderie. Pleasant colleagues. Honest talk. That was really nice. I hate putting on a mask, or trying to see beneath someone else's.

Teaching demo went well. There were actually about 30 living, breathing students sitting in. Quite impressive, considering it's finals week, and none of them were required to be there. They seemed to like me. One student said "So far, you win." The irony is that I was the first of three candidates for the post. Another student said they all wanted to come, to make sure they have a good teacher for next year.

Then, interview with the chair and committee. That seemed to go well also. The chair of the committee (the prof I'd be replacing) articulated as much on the ride back to the hotel, saying there was good feedback from faculty.

Of course, they haven't met the other candidates yet. Meantime, I'm relaxing for an hour or so before they get me for dinner. Tick tick tick.

Looks like they have two more visits next week, then they'll make recommendations to the provost, who will decide on an offer. So, I should expect to hear in the next couple weeks (if they'll be offering me the post).

Mixed feelings, of course, but I so want to be in front of a classroom again. I so want the chance to show what I can do. I so want to be a professor. And a temporary post is still a post, still a foot in the door, another line on the CV, more experience, more exposure.