A lot of things about the job have turned really bad in the last couple of years. Lousy within-department interactions, with a departmental bias held strong against our area and communicated openly in faculty meetings. A horrible dean, truly the worst manager I've ever known. Explicit communication that our area will not be supported or grown, which always surprises everybody because deans at other universities pretty much universally support our area because we bring in so much money. And to top it off we have lousy math dept. interactions. They've been so bad lately that Mentor and I have gotten an email informing us that our knowledge, backgrounds, and experience are insufficient for us to be qualified to do the job of running a particular program we're running.
What is good about my job? The little bubble that is my area. My direct area colleagues and our area grad students are truly awesome. We work well together, we have terrific collaborations, and I enjoy the collaborative research we do. Everybody in my area is a great colleague.
But is that bubble enough to protect from the incursions from our department, our dean, the math department, and the horrible state political situation that is ruining everybody's town/county/educational system? I find myself wishing I'd applied to a job in the northwest where a couple of my colleagues are going.
What keeps me here: Our city, the weather, the friendly culture of the midwest, Jake's job/family situation. What makes me want to leave: Our state, the racist & sexist culture of the midwest, my job. If I were single, I probably would have left already, but it's more complicated when you're talking about uprooting a family.
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