How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Survey

Abstract

When I finished graduate studies with a fresh Ph.D. in hand, I set out to conquer the world of academia.¹ I counted myself among the fortunate ones. I had a full-time job, one that would enable me to give up my adjunct workload of five or more classes per semester plus all of the summer session courses available. Although my field of interest was Colonial and Revolutionary America, specifically South Carolina, I had taught more World and Western Civilization (a subtle but important distinction to many historians) than the American survey. Moreover, I had been fortunate enough to land a few upper-level courses-often in areas such as Sports and Race, fields of interest to me but, again, not my research specialty. With my new position I would have the opportunity to work more frequently with students on research projects, hold office hours in an office rather than a coffee lounge, and have more substantive interactions with colleagues. It also would enable me to have the time and access to the library and funding resources to work on revising my manuscript and begin some new research projects.