Introduction

More than six months ago, I wrote a post expressing my interest in taking a full-time visiting-professor position. In point of fact, a position at one university almost materialized immediately before ultimately falling through. (I learned early on in my search that these types of jobs don’t come along every day. After all, I wasn’t looking for an adjunct role,¹)

The Search

Over the past three months, I intensified my search. To that end, I interviewed at a bunch of prestigious colleges and universities in the northeastern part of the country. Most of the conversations went very well, although some interviews went better than others. (Some faculty members at one university in particular spoke to me with an inexplicable heir of superiority, but I digress.)

Despite no proper employment offers, the feedback was generally very positive. Moreover, those interviews convinced me that my skills, body of work with quite a few academic citations, interests, and experience would fit well in an academic environment.

The Breaking Bad parallels aren’t lost on me.

I spent last Tuesday at the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State. In short, it went really well. The school is growing quickly and embracing new subjects and learning mediums. In other words, it’s a progressive institution that believes in the seminal importance of technology—something that I’ve been preaching for my entire career. What’s more, the faculty couldn’t have been more friendly and knowledgeable. I didn’t sense a competitive, publish-at-all-costs vibe. Sure, research is important, but quality teaching matters as well.(In some ways, students are customers but they are more like products.) Educational institutions that ignore this reality risk obsolescence.)

Yeah, yeah. Get to the point.

Drumroll please …

I’m pleased to announce that I will be joining the W. P. Carey faculty this fall as a full-time lecturer.

I’m excited about this next step in my career. On a completely unrelated note, the Breaking Bad parallels aren’t lost on me. Remember that Walter White taught at a school in the southwest U.S. And yes, I look more than a little a bit like Heisenberg. I’ll have to brush up on my chemistry to complete the metaphor, never mind engaging in some other legally questionable activities. Also, Neil Peart (my favorite drummer) also went by the moniker The Professor. Long story short: I’m in good company.

I’m joining ASU at a great time. Times Higher Education—the world’s largest invitation-only academic opinion survey—recently recognized ASU as one of the top 100 most prestigious universities in the world. As for the Department of Information Systems, it consistently ranks among the 20 best in the country.

Thank You

Props to my friend Terri Griffith for being an invaluable sounding board over the past months.