Good News on the Job Front

In early February, I posted about the closing of the College of Visual Arts - my alma mater and where I'd been teaching for 8 years. (Follow that previous link for more info on that.) My only real update since then was at the end of May when I was about to be jobless for the first time.

Well, the short version of what I'm about to share can be summed up with this:

I met with the Chair of Fine Arts from Hamline University back in April when they were looking at purchasing a lot of the equipment from the CVA Photo Labs to start their first "wet" labs. (Hamline has had a digital lab for years, but they've never had a traditional darkroom.) As the Photo Tech at CVA, it was my job to help sell everything in the labs as the school was closing. Hamline was looking at enlargers, easels, drying racks, film processing equipment, and even things like sinks, eye-wash stations, ventilation hoods, and revolving doors - the WHOLE shebang. The Chair was THRILLED with the equipment they were going to get (along with the deal they were getting), and I was THRILLED to see CVA's Photo Labs live on in a different location.

Well, the photo labs at Hamline ran into a snag, and they didn't end up taking any of CVA's photo equipment. The Chair and I were both disappointed.

Then in early June (after being officially jobless for 5 days), I was contacted by the same Chair of Fine Arts at Hamline basically saying I'd made a good impression on her, and she was wondering if I'd be interested in interviewing for 3 Digital Photo classes and some Independent Study students over the 2013-14 academic year.

I had an interview with the Chair and with 2 other full time professors, and I heard back pretty quickly that I'd "be a good fit for our program." I officially turned in my contract a few days ago, and Henry and I stopped by Hamline yesterday so I could get my ID shown above - you can see the horns from my "Hammerfest" Trinona Time Trial shirt in the photo.

It's not a full time position, but it's a good start. And knowing that it's been in the works since early June has really allowed me to enjoy more of the summer with Henry knowing that I had SOMETHING in the fall.

Now (something I'm happy to write).... time to work on my syllabus.