The Academic Career: Building a Career at a Rural Institution

Joshua Mabie (PhD 2012), Professor of English at University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, describes his career path as “a little unconventional.” After graduating from college with a degree in social studies education, Mabie began teaching high school history. Gradually realizing that he "loved literature more than history,” he started taking college English night classes. Four years later, he was teaching high school English literature while applying to English graduate programs. In 2006, English at Minnesota accepted the Wisconsin native to its MA program and then its PhD program, even as he changed fields mid-stream: “I went into graduate school thinking I wanted to be a scholar of Renaissance drama, and left a scholar of nineteenth-century American literature,” says Mabie, who is particularly interested in ecocriticism, environmental studies, and pilgrimage and travel narratives.

The scholar has taught at UW-Whitewater since 2012. He graciously answered questions via email. 

Please describe your current position. What surprised you about the role?

At UW-Whitewater, I teach a wide range of students in a 4/4 load. I teach courses in environmental and nineteenth-century American literature and a lot of freshman English. My scholarship has shifted a bit over time. I still have a couple of ongoing critical projects I’m working on, but I have also been writing creative nonfiction. In 2017, my wife and I bought a farm, and we’ve been converting from a corn and soybean monoculture to an organic orchard, apiary, and flower farm. I’ve been writing about sustainability, agriculture, and rural issues through my experience on my farm.

After years of teaching a rigid high school schedule, I was pleasantly surprised to find how much freedom and flexibility I have as a professor. However, I also continue to be surprised by how many things vie for my attention and how research, teaching, and service demands pull me in different directions. Committee work and all the review and report writing that goes along with it was an unexpected part of the job. 

What is most fulfilling or energizing about your work?

I love that I have the freedom to let my mind wander. I get paid to study things that I’m fascinated by, and I get to talk about this stuff with students who get me to think about it in totally different ways. Teaching remains a true pleasure, and I continue to be inspired by my students.

Whitewater is known for its business school more than its humanities programs, and the university has relatively few English majors, so I teach a heavy general education load. My favorite course to teach is an upper-division humanities gen ed class. It draws students from across the university (accounting, marketing, criminal justice, and education majors) who come to discussions of literature, philosophy, and religious studies with completely different perspectives than mine, and I learn so much from them. I feel the weight of teaching the last humanities course that most of these students will take before they begin their careers, and I delight in sending them out into the world with a little bit of Thoreau, Du Bois, Ishiguro, and Marilynne Robinson. 

What advice would you give current graduate students preparing for the academic job market?

I might suggest that grad students look at job postings early in their studies (even before prelims) to see what fields and subspecialties are in demand and then tailor their dissertation and teaching to those fields and subfields. I might also suggest that students look at a few alt-ac or non-academic job postings early in their careers to see what kinds of skills and experience these jobs might require. I worked temp jobs between semesters at Minnesota when I didn’t have summer funding, but I probably should have been more strategic about finding an internship or a job that would fill gaps in the resume I would have sent out to alt-ac and business jobs.

I might also suggest including something in job letters about how you see yourself and your work fitting into the local community. I think this is especially true if you are applying for jobs at schools in locations very different from the places you’ve lived. Hiring committees I have served on have agonized over whether a tenure-track candidate from a city or the coast would last at a school in rural Wisconsin. I think I got my job in part because I’m from Wisconsin originally, and the hiring committee thought I wouldn’t leave for some other job somewhere else. 

What English professors here significantly nurtured your development?

I have benefited so much from the research mentorship and support that I received at Minnesota. Seminars with Professors Nabil Matar, Daniel Philippon, Ed Griffin, and Paula Rabinowitz exposed me to a range of methods and sources that I still draw on today. The writing I did for their seminars (often on sources they assigned and recommended to me) led directly to my first publications, which helped me get my job and tenure. Dr. Rabinowitz’s writing for publication and grant writing class continues to help me win research support all these years later. My adviser Dan Philippon not only supported my research but also modeled excellence in teaching and service. 

What do you wish you had known as a graduate student?

I wish I had known more about external funding opportunities. So many libraries and archives offer short-term fellowships and research support for grad students, but I never really applied for any of this funding. As an example, I’m working on a project on Wendell Berry and the fight to preserve the Red River Gorge in Kentucky, and I’ve spent some time at the Filson Library in Louisville. The Filson has an amazing collection and offers small fellowships ($500 per week) to grad students. So many other small, specialized libraries offer modest support that is quite a bit less competitive than higher profile libraries like the Huntington or the Newberry. And the librarians at these small libraries are incredible!