25 year Anniversary of my "Professing" Career

It was 25 years ago this month that I defended my PhD thesis at the University of Bristol.  Then my academic career journey began with my first job in the Department of Philosophy at Aberdeen University in Scotland (a one year lectureship appointment).  

In my first year of teaching at Aberdeen I taught 4 courses:  a 1st year course "Philosophy, Politics and Society", a 3rd year course "Social and Political Philosophy", a fourth year research seminar on "Karl Marx" and and 3rd/4th year "Topics" seminar.  In my first year I taught approximately 130 students.  This year at Queen's University I am also teaching 4 courses, but for a much larger cohort:  approximately 675 students!  And back in 1999 the central question that consumed most of my intellectual energy was "How can Rawlsian justice be defended against the onslaught of criticisms from its critics?".  Today the central question that consumes most of my intellectual energy is "What constitutes "well-ordered" science in the 21st century?"  So a lot has changed over the quarter of a century of my academic career. 

In this post I will just note the various places I moved around to during my somewhat bohemian academic career- I have had the privilege of having great colleagues and thousands of students in 9 different universities from 5 different countries.  In two future posts I will write some substantive reflections on both research and teaching, casting an eye on what I see as key moments or insights that have helped me fuel my curiosity and enthusiasm for both teaching and research.  I can honestly say that my love for both teaching and research has never been higher than it is at this point.  I consider myself extremely fortunate to have the career that I have, I could not think of anything more rewarding than doing research and conversing with bright and open-minded students.  

Assuming my good health can persist to enable me to continue working into the more distant future, I see the "25 year mark" of my career as approximating the "mid-point" of my academic career.  I am really looking forward to the intellectual adventures and career opportunities the future holds, whatever they may be.

Over the past quarter of a century I have had the great opportunity to live and work at some great places, all of which have played formative roles in shaping my intellectual development and fueling my passion for research and teaching.  Here is a summary of where my career has taken me so far:

First job:  Lectureship at the University of Aberdeen (Philosophy Department)

Second job:  Lectureship at the University of Birmingham (Department of Political Science and International Relations) *This was a big move, as I switched from Philosophy to Political Science

Third job:  Lectureship at the University of Manchester (Department of Government)  I thought I might have remained here for the rest of my career (very strong theory group there) but there were familial considerations that meant I kept an eye out for jobs back in Canada.

Fourth job:  Assistant (then Associate) Professor at Waterloo University (Department of Political Science, cross-appointed with Philosophy) 

Fifth job:  One year research fellowship at Oxford University (Department of Politics and International Relations)  This was my first ever research leave, after 7 years of continuous full-time teaching at 4 different universities, so it was a very productive research year for me.  I did not have any teaching responsibilities with this position, but did organize and host a two-day conference on "Genetics and Justice" with some funding I received from the Wellcome Trust.  I also had the opportunity to extract the DNA from a strawberry and have a tour of the Sanger Institute at an educational course I attended that year. 

Sixth job:  Queen's National Scholar and Associate Professor (eventually Full) at Queen's University (Department of Political Studies, cross-appointed with Philosophy).  I have stayed here for the past 16 years.

Seventh job:  One semester as Visiting Professor at UCLA (Luskin School of Public Affairs) 

Eighth "placement":  One semester as Fulbright Research Chair in the Social Sciences at University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (Department of Political Science)

Nineth job:  Visiting Professor at Bilkent University (Department of Philosophy) in Türkiye.

An amazing part of working in academia is that one has the opportunity to take sabbaticals, which I consider to have been critical in keeping my passion for learning and teaching burning over the past 25 years.  

In two separate future posts I will write up some reflections on both research and teaching at the 25 year mark.  

Cheers, 

Colin