Hey! The Leonard J. Arrington Chair in Mormon History and Culture at Utah State University is now accepting applications.
Details can be found here.
Position Summary: Utah State University is seeking a senior scholar to fill the endowed Leonard J. Arrington Chair in Mormon History and Culture. The person holding this chair will play an important role in the new Religious Studies Program in the College of Humanities, Arts, & Social Sciences at Utah State University. This is a tenured position, with joint appointments in History and Religious Studies. Review of applications will begin Sept. 4, 2006. The position will remain open until filled.
Miminal Qualifications: PhD in History, Religious Studies or other appropriate field. The successful candidate will have a strong, demonstrated record of excellence in scholarship and teaching, as well as academic leadership, in the study of Mormon history and culture. He or she must demonstrate strong interpersonal relational skills in brokering the diverse viewpoints of participants in religious studies.
Come work in Logan with me!!!!
Any chance that D. Michael Quinn could land that job?
I would hope so, but am not sure. The recent WSJ article on Quinn casts some doubt.
I have a feeling that, even though Mike spent some time at IUPUI, they are looking for something more in the mold of Jan Shipps. Someone that can make friends with all sides. While I regret the position Mike is in and find him a wonderful scholar, I’m not sure that he is viewed as a bridge builder (whether or not it is deserved).
Damn! If only I had my Ph.D!
I’ll be very interested who gets chosen. I nominate Marti Bradley.
What a tragedy this is. Surely Mike Quinn has already applied for this job, but I agree that his chances of success are slim. He is a phenomenal scholar.
Just my two cents as an Aggie- USU is a fantastic place to be! There is a wonderful atmosphere in Logan and on campus for everyone.
Tragic that Quinn has been blacklisted. The church hardliners are so shortsighted failing to grasp the long term positive aspects of objective criticism. Had they lived in Smith’s time, we wouldn’t have the BofM witnesses.
Quinn lives in Rancho Cucamonga, California. What kind of a nutcake would leave California or Seattle for a place like Logan, Utah?
Um, Rancho Cucamona compared to Logan? Any day, this nutcake would leave for Logan.
Oops, obviously should have said Rancho Cucamonga, but still– southern California? Yuck, and I live there, so I know whereof I speak.
As a Mormon/Jew, I feel that D. Michael Quinn is not an unbiased scholar. I would feel the same toward someone who wasn’t sympathetic to the Jewish cause and history. i.e. there are still educated people that think our history and suffering at Auschwitz was “blown out of purportion” or that we kind of brought it on ourselves with our business successes in the face of poor unsuccessful germans after WWI. Quinn used the Church and his position at BYU attempting to make a name for himself in the anti-mormon world and the money that world generates in books/speaking engagement. (ask Steve Benson how much a year he makes charging individuals 70 dollars a pop to hear him tell us about the same old tired stories of his one-time claim to fame of being a Benson.) Back to Quinn, He tried to tell us he was “unbiased” with his articles on 19th century same-sex dynamics while all the while being homosexual in his thinking and using his own “homoerotic” thoughts and feelings to taint our Mormon History.
I guess its fair to say, Quinn is reaping what he has sowed. Although I have compassion upon him as a human being, having lost so much, and sadly living on his mom’s futon, with no prospect of hire. But who could say that’s the Church’s fault and not his own series of bad choices beginning with his “Magic World View” book. (I believe that is one of the poorest example of research I have ever read.) My husband is a descendant of Joseph Smith and Quinn truly stretched what little truth he had to say about Joseph and his family (see passages about the Almanacs he quotes which are half a century to a full century’s time-distance from Joseph’s childhood and how Quinn trys to call these Farmers’ Almanacs in his footnotes and text “magical” and that Joseph received his “education” to magical thinking from them…how absurd!) It’s fair to say I am very biased when it comes to Quinn, I don’t have any malice for him, just his ability to use his words as a pesticide to kill the truth of Mormon history in respect to my own personal knowledge of my husband’s family history records and journals.
THanx John for letting me pontificate…Love, Kittywaymo
Kittywaymo has a right to her opinion but I also have a right to disagree with it. I have listened to him more than once and he is a spellbinding speaker. I have spoken to him and he comes across as unpretentious and just a nice person. The breadth of his scholarship is amazing. I think he has suffered for his courage and dedication to his field.