Interviews

The 1968~69 academic year was my post doctorate research time, but there were quite a number of job interviews as well. While I was mainly interested in academic positions, I also looked into several  industrial positions, just in case an academic position did not materialize to my satisfaction. Salary wise, industrial positions had starting salaries which were just about twice that of academic positions. But, actually, things were not that clear cut, since all academic positions involved a 9 month appointment and summers could be used for many other working opportunities. Since Janice was pregnant, she did not go to many of my interviews. I had a lot to learn about interviews! While I attended a few seminar lectures designed to assist graduate students in preparing for the interview process, they were not enough to disguise my rough edges! At the end, I was offered two jobs in industrial settings and two in academics. Since we had already set our eyes on the academic life, we did not really pay much attention, perhaps unfairly, to the industrial possibilities.

The two academic positions were both at the assistant professor level, one at the University of Kentucky(UK), in Lexington, KY, and another at Cleveland State University(CSU), in Cleveland, OH. Both schools gave me well organized interviews. For example, when CSU learned that I liked to sing, the schedule was rearranged to allow me to talk with a person from the Cleveland Symphony Chorus about auditioning for the chorus. And UK invited me to an informal party after the long day, which included talks with faculty members and a graduate seminar presentation. All the faculty members came to the party, in order to have a chance to chat about things other than just Physical Chemistry. At the end I accepted the offer from UK.