The other day I noted that my own scholarly aspirations are not necessarily in line with those of my colleagues. This echoes a post from last year about missing the scholarly community that a large sociology department provides. Fortunately, I have been able to fill the gap a bit with one of last year’s ASA successes. Specifically, a friend introduced me to the leader of a reading group he is in who invited me to join. This group’s monthly meetings have served to keep me active in reading about the research of others while giving me an opportunity to interact with productive scholars who encourage my own work.
When I was on the job market, I tried to prepare myself for the likelihood of ending up at a liberal arts school in the middle of nowhere. Thankfully, I actually ended up at a school that is near a large number of other schools, making participation in things like this reading group possible. While the proximity of other schools may not factor into most people’s job market decisions, it is something to consider if you want the opportunity to talk to scholars who do work in the same area as you while working at a liberal arts institution.
Memoirs of a SLACer 
[…] is not confined to the SLACers of the world. In response to these feelings, I talked about joining an old-fashioned (and long-running) reading group. Historiann, however, presents blogging as another alternative in her blog post summarizing her […]
[…] have sought opportunities to learn some new information. Whether this is attending a presentation, joining a reading group, or signing up for a workshop, I’ve done a lot of things not because they were particularly […]