Breaking News

'We interrupt this irregularly updated blog to bring you the following news...'

Two very significant bits of good news have come in the last 24 hours:

1. I got an email from Dr. Dickens, chair of the Bible & Theology department at Asbury College, my alma mater. It seems there is a need for an adjunct professor for the basic New Testament course beginning December 4 (short notice, but grand opportunity!!) and they want me to fill the need. (I had expressed interest and provided a resume to him several months ago in case any such opportunities arose...he said I'd be toward the top of his list.) It's a five week course on one night a week and is in the evenings (when I work at the library), but two of the sessions are during the break when the library would be closed anyway. I brought up the possibility today to my supervisors at the library and they encouraged me to go for it and that it wouldn't be problematic since I'll be getting some extra hours in the weeks leading up to finals when the library will be open later. So I am excited (yet nervous) about this very amazing opportunity...it's not a long term offer but this kind of experience is very good for getting a feel for teaching at the college level and for building my CV!

2. A colleague and fellow Ph.D. applicant to the same school to which I am applying (Nazarene Theological College [NTC], which is accredited by the University of Manchester...i.e., in England) got word yesterday that he had been officially admitted by the university. Here's how the process works:
A.) one submits their application for admission along with a 250-word proposal for what their desired dissertation topic will be;
B.) the chair of research degrees at NTC reviews the materials/proposal and if acceptable, moves the applicant to the next stage, which is...
C.) the applicant expands the proposal to about 2,000 words including a title, thesis, rationale, methodology/expected research problem areas, expected contribution to the field, current/existent research on the issue, a hypothetical outline, and a preliminary bibliography of at least 25 sources;
D.) the expanded proposal is submitted to the research degrees committee at NTC, who has three options for what to do with the proposal: (i.) accept it, which forwards the application/proposal to the research degrees committee at the University of Manchester, (ii.) reject it, which is the end of the road for the applicant for admission for that set of application materials, or (iii.) accept the proposal in principle, but delay the forwarding of the materials to the University until the proposal is revised and the approved version is back in the NTC committee's hands. (I should note that there have not yet been any proposals/applications that were approved by NTC only to be rejected by the University's committee...so on precedent, it's only a formality once the NTC committee forwards it to the University.)

My friend got to stage D.i. in the beginning of October and got word yesterday that the University gave the final approval early this month (that last stage took about a month). When I first submitted my expanded proposal, the committee at NTC responded with D.iii. After revising my proposal I resubmitted it in early October. They said they would get back to me 'in due course' (what a beautiful phrase, but this phrase caused significant anxiety over the last 42 days). So I finally got up the nerve this morning to ask if there was any change in my admission/proposal status since we last corresponded...later in the day I got this message:

'Jeffrey, Just a note to tell you that your application and proposal have been approved by the Research Degrees Committee of NTC, and have now been submitted to the University of Manchester for formal admission.

The materials were sent to the University on November 3rd, and I am hoping that the response will be with us within a couple of weeks. Typically, these have been taking just over a month to be processed there. With thanks,...'

So barring I make history in a way I would rather not, everything seems all set for beginning officially soon!

'Now back tomorrow or some time to your irregularly updated blog...Pax!'