It has been a little more than twenty-four hours since I have informed the university of my desire to resign my position as a my tenured position.
I will fill in the background detail laters. Let me give you the short version right now. After fifteen years of teaching, I joined the Peace Corps a few years ago and did a two year stint in China. I came back to my old position last year (yes, they held it open for me) and decided after one year I just did not want to do this with my life anymore. Sometime in the fall I let my deparment chair know I was looking for other things to do with my life. I originally wanted to teach just one semester a year, but they didn't buy that. They offered me a one year terminal sabbatical if I would leave and not come back. That didn't seem like a good idea at the time. So I looked for other positions. My service in the Peace Corps entitled me to what is called non-competitive status with the U.S. Federal Government for a year, and I applied to numerous goverment jobs. Nothing came of any of this except a phone interview for a position with the educational wing of the Peace Corps. I applied for some non teaching academic jobs. Nothing. Despondant and not knowing what to do next, when the semester ended I took a two month trip to Asia.
At one point in my travels I looked at Peace Corps positions for returned volunteers. These are short term assignments. There was one in Indonesia for six-eight months that sounded intriguing. So I applied. At some point, I thought about the year terminal sabbatical. Perhaps if I got offered the Peace Corps position I take it if I my university agreed to a terminal sabbatical?
I wrote out a letter to my Dean explaining my situation, saying that I would take the position if the terminal sabbatical were still available. In fact, given that the school year was to begin in less than a month, I would have to get the terminal sabbatical approved before I would know about the Peace Corps position. I figured if I did not get the Peace Corps position I would return to China for a year to study.
I kept putting off the time for making a decision. I originally was going to send it in when I returned to the States, then when I left my parents, then as soon as I got back to Ogden. But I could not make a decision. Finally the other morning, Monday morning, I awoke with the realization that it was shit or get off the pot time. Then I thought, well, I'll go running. Then I thought, no, I have to make the decision. So I did. I pulled up the letter, pasted it into the an e mail to my dean, clicked the send button and went for a run.
I will fill in the background detail laters. Let me give you the short version right now. After fifteen years of teaching, I joined the Peace Corps a few years ago and did a two year stint in China. I came back to my old position last year (yes, they held it open for me) and decided after one year I just did not want to do this with my life anymore. Sometime in the fall I let my deparment chair know I was looking for other things to do with my life. I originally wanted to teach just one semester a year, but they didn't buy that. They offered me a one year terminal sabbatical if I would leave and not come back. That didn't seem like a good idea at the time. So I looked for other positions. My service in the Peace Corps entitled me to what is called non-competitive status with the U.S. Federal Government for a year, and I applied to numerous goverment jobs. Nothing came of any of this except a phone interview for a position with the educational wing of the Peace Corps. I applied for some non teaching academic jobs. Nothing. Despondant and not knowing what to do next, when the semester ended I took a two month trip to Asia.
At one point in my travels I looked at Peace Corps positions for returned volunteers. These are short term assignments. There was one in Indonesia for six-eight months that sounded intriguing. So I applied. At some point, I thought about the year terminal sabbatical. Perhaps if I got offered the Peace Corps position I take it if I my university agreed to a terminal sabbatical?
I wrote out a letter to my Dean explaining my situation, saying that I would take the position if the terminal sabbatical were still available. In fact, given that the school year was to begin in less than a month, I would have to get the terminal sabbatical approved before I would know about the Peace Corps position. I figured if I did not get the Peace Corps position I would return to China for a year to study.
I kept putting off the time for making a decision. I originally was going to send it in when I returned to the States, then when I left my parents, then as soon as I got back to Ogden. But I could not make a decision. Finally the other morning, Monday morning, I awoke with the realization that it was shit or get off the pot time. Then I thought, well, I'll go running. Then I thought, no, I have to make the decision. So I did. I pulled up the letter, pasted it into the an e mail to my dean, clicked the send button and went for a run.
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