Sad news from the MLA, as reported by Inside Higher Ed.

Today the Modern Language Association is releasing information on just how bad the situation is: The number of job postings in the MLA’s Job Information List will be down 21 percent in 2008-9, the steepest annual decline in its 34-year history. For English language and literature, the drop will be 22.2 percent and for foreign languages, 19.6 percent. Not all jobs are listed with the MLA, so the figures don’t cover every position, but the MLA’s postings have tracked consistently with national trends, especially for the assistant professor positions that are so desirable to new Ph.D.’s who want to land on the tenure track.
In another notable change this year, however, the percentage of the MLA’s job listings that are for assistant professor positions on the tenure track dropped to 56 percent from 60 percent.

At Seton Hill, our searches for two tenure-track English faculty members continue.