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The school year has ended and next fall many professors will be packing their bags and leaving behind their Metrocards for the greener pastures of other universities — Yale, in particular, seems to be popular among Columbia’s professorial population. (Another way professors are just like us!) Bwog’s rounded up some arrivals and departures of your beloved faculty, but let us know who we missed and we’ll update the post.
David Kastan, the chair of the English Department and Edward Said Professor of English and Comparative Literature is heading to New Haven.
Noam Elcott will be joining the Art History Department as an assistant professor. Bonus fun fact: Elcott was The Blue and White’s first moder editor (in 1998), following its 100 year hiatus.
Also heading to Yale is the Music Department’s Brian Kane, who was at CU for a post-doctorate teaching fellowship.
Owen Gutfreund, responding to the University’s decision not to grant him tenure, announced in January that he was uncertain whether he would remain at Columbia (as an associate professor of urban studies and director of BC/CU Urban Studies Programs) after this spring. A quick glance at the course directory reveals that Gutfreund will not be teaching any Fall 2008 classes.
Lit Hum lecturer Jill Muller did not receive a contract renewal
Say goodbye to Annalies Wouters of Classics
Another loss for the Music Department as Ruth Rosenberg heads to the University of Illinois, Chicago.
Professor of Political Science Thomas Pogge is headed to Yale’s Philosophy Department (if you’re keeping score, that’s three for Yale).
Philosophy professor and YouTube user Christia Mercer is taking a sabbatical, as is Bwog’s inamorato, the Abelard to our Heloise, the Antony to our Cleopatra, English and Comp. Lit professor Bruce Robbins.
Next school year marks the beginning of Barnard’s hunger-striking Professor of Political Science Dennis Dalton‘s retirement.
Philosophy professors/married persons Patricia and Philip Kitcher return from sabbatical, the later of whom will be teaching Michael Seidel’s Joyce course in the fall.
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52 Comments
@Pogge! Man, I’m going to miss him! He was such an inspiration. He made my core experience, which in a sense means that he made my Columbia experience. Yale’s lucky to have him…
@Immanuel Kant Thomas Pogge is an absolute hack; don’t let the sandals and socks fool you, he’s not as smart as his nerdy exterior would lead yout o believe. I had him for CC and let me tell you, the man couldn’t teach a monkey how to throw feces. He doodled rocket ships during student presentations and gave pretntious, incredibly unhelpful notes and test.
GOOD RIDDANCE
@fan what about ann douglas. will she be back.
@Anonymous Anna Stilz is heading to Princeton.
@since when did the english department have a chair? i thought it was literally the most controversial position ever in the history of the world.
ps susan pedersen’s peacing out too apparently
@English Department Damrosch is also on sabbatical
@Sprinkles This is the problem with tenure – you’re forced to hold on to useless dinosaurs while the fresh new talent gets thrown away.
@what what ever happened to Professor Constantine?
yale should extend an offer of tenure to her.
@Anonymous Pogge is a sweet dude.
@... Pogge had cleared out of PoliSci before this year…He was considered good and gone.
@english dept. So we’ve lost Kastan, Muller, Seidel, have added nobody intriguing, and are likely to lose Gray as well. Why don’t we just fire Massimilla and complete the desecration?
@Pogge Pogge’s a huge loss.
@What about Kevin Costa and Jeffrey Holmes, the heart of the Biomedical Engineering department? (Literally; they’re both cardiac biomechanics researchers.) Both weren’t given tenure.
@Answers Bruce Robbins will be on sabbatical for two semesters aka a year, so he will be back to teach classes in the fall of ’09.
Jill Muller has lost her contract with Columbia, which means that as of now, she does not have a job there anymore. This means that whatever classes she was signed up to teach will not be happening, including a Dickens one that looked absolutely fabulous.
Let me be one more to jump into the fray and say: “Fuck Columbia!”
@Alum Can’t believe Jill Muller didn’t get her contract renewed. She was the best prof I had at Columbia.
@wasn't there a really baller Econ Prof heading to Yale?
@fuck yale
@dorf Michael Dorf from the law school is going to Cornell.
@woah so our best ‘rising star’ just got poached too?
there is no way our law school stays above nyu
we’ve lost manning, waldron and dorf in a short amount of time
@question # 23 what is a while? i’ll miss bruce robbins; when is he back?
@damn it Muller’s teaching in the fall and spring. Sad to hear she won’t be here beyond that. Who (no specific name needed) is your source? An administrator?
@muller fan The woman, the legend, herself has told people Columbia (stupidly) did not renew her contract and that she won’t be back in the fall. Because Columbia sucks.
@muller fan I should amend, “Because Columbia sucks” is my addition, not anything Professor Muller ever said. She’s way too classy for that. She loves this school. I’m just livid that it didn’t love her back.
@thank god bruce robbins is leaving for a while. he wont be missed.
@Sure? Jill Muller is scheduled to teach an English seminar in the fall… sure she’s leaving?
@Alum A bit of perspective, please.
Postdocs are *supposed* to leave when their fellowships end. Occasionally one will be offered a tenure-track position or perhaps a position as a lecturer or research scholar, but the vast majority go elsewhere. That’s not a sign that anything is wrong at Columbia, especially since the same is true of other universities’ postdocs.
Also, the reason many lecturers don’t get contract renewals is that their positions are intended to be temporary. They are often intended for junior scholars who are trying to bolster their credentials so they can get on the tenure track elsewhere. This isn’t true of all lecturers, but it probably is true of most in the Arts & Sciences, with the possible exception of language lecturers.
@... who in this list is a postdoc?
@Alum Brian Kane of the music department. It says so in the article.
@hamdel the jill muller one is really surprising. she was my favorite professor there.
didn’t she win some big teaching award recently too?
@Answers 2 She was shortlisted for the Presidential Teaching Award last year.
@... wow culpa has nothing but glowing reviews for jill muller.
i suppose it only makes sense that columbia would send her packing…
@wow pogge to yale?
columbia pretty much sucks doesn’t it
also. bwog. you might want to cover this http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/06/nyregion/06rape.html?ref=nyregion
@... holy shittttt that was without a doubt the scariest story I’ve ever read in my life!
@really horrible.. bwog you should def cover this story…
@where is anders stephanson going?
@EAL Whoa whoa whoa!
Since when is Anders leaving? If he is, the entire History Department will be taking a giant step backward. I hope this isn’t true.
@Owen Gutfreund will be returning…he’s teaching Barnard’s BLI senior seminar
@bastids! jill muller was the best lit hum teacher ever :( Also, Anupama Rao (History) is taking a sabbatical, I think.
@Ezra Tawil won’t be teaching classes, since he was selected to be a fellow at the New York Public Library’s Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers and will be working on a book all year.
@another departure Trinity Jackman is leaving to Toronto. She was on a post-doctorate teaching fellowship in the history department.
@Michael Siedel still on sabattical :( but his joyce class is being taught by Philip Kitcher so it will probably still be kind of awesome
@Anonymous Michael Seidel retired after this past fall semester…
@Helper And Barnard’s hunger-strike-liking Dennis Dalton, we can’t forget he’s retiring.
@Helper And Patricia and Philip Kitcher are coming back from their time off.
@Helper I think THOMAS POGGE (Poli Sci?) is headed to Yale.
And CHRISTIA MERCER (Philosophy) is going to be on sabbatical for the school year.
@another music loss Ruth Rosenberg is headed to the University of Illinois, Chicago.
@Said Nah, that’s the name of the Chair position. Kind of like the Boaz Professor of
@Said Didn’t he die in 2003, or is there someone else by the name of Edward Said in English now?
@Massad isn’t currently listed as teaching any classes either.
@Ouch That’s sad about Muller! Also,
Annalies Wouters of Classics is leaving.
Alan Cameron has also retired this year.
@One view http://www.smugopedia.com/archives/yale.html
@Also Jill Muller (Lit Hum lecturer) did not receive a contract renewal. Those bastards!