where she went to grad school
Colleges and universities often prefer to not hire their alumni as faculty. They frequently prefer to bring the additional perspectives of people educated at other institutions.
We had an excellent adjunct instructor who applied for a full time position and was not selected, in great part, because 1 of her 3 college degrees was from us. As it was the first of her degrees and not her second or terminal degree, I thought it silly, but found it was not uncommon.
Tennessee for sure
Not just for the activities you described but for economic reasons. Tennessee is one state that has it figured out.
I found one that says
"My Brittany is Smarter Than Your Honor Student" Of course, those are available for your favorite breed. The sticker on my tailgate is a yellow caution diamond that says “Weird Load”. Nuff said.
Surprised no one suggested Boston
The city is lousy with institutions of higher learning.
It is a half day’s drive to White and Green Mountains, along with the Berkshires. And not unreasonably far away from the Adirondacks. Albany is a better choice for access to the Adirondacks, and all of their great paddling, but Boston has better access to coasal paddling, and all the back-woods paddling routes of Maine. And there is plenty of whitewater around.
FWIW
-rs
They worry about intellectual inbreeding
(I guess.) Or getting rafts of students who fall in love with the area and never go anywhere else, which probably does limit their long-term learning and perspective. ALSO could make it look like the university is unfit to send its grads to other “ponds.” Maybe raise doubts about how up-to-date their programs are.
There’s a similar principle in effect at many businesses: After long employment in the same company, to get a big career jump and raise you have to leave and work elsewhere for a few years, THEN come back–with bigger salary level negotiated in the interviews.
It’s like if they know another company wanted you, you must be worth more now! Plus it means you were willing to get out of your comfort zone, which is a positive trait.
Update on my moving situation
I’m sorry for my not updating you all about my moving situation. I certainly do appreciate all of your input. Though, I haven’t made a decision yet, it has been REALLY helpful.
Just to clarify, in addition to wanting to be as close as possible to both mountain backpacking/hiking and river/lake kayaking, the reason why I want to be in a reasonably big city with a major university is:
-I’m 40 and single. It’s hard to find people in my situation to hang out with a small city/town. That’s the main reason for the size of the city, not the night life.
-I want to be near a major university because I want to continue to interact with international students, who generally would only go to major universities. This would possibly be in the capacity of my working at a university’s office of international students.
Thank you again for your help. If you need any additional clarifications, please let me know.
Take care.
Darwin
daroos@indiana.edu
Now you’ve made it easy
– Last Updated: Jan-27-11 11:14 AM EST –
Boulder, CO. Full variety of hanger-outers there. It's not just old hippies, yuppies, or hippies-turned-yuppies. And you won't believe how crazy they are about self-powered outdoor activities.
Real estate is expensive, but you can no doubt find a slot as a housemate at reasonable rent if you don't have to have an apartment to yourself. (I did this in the Boston suburbs.) The prominent university presence should pretty much guarantee that option.
The one downside is distance from the ocean. But you did not list that as a requirement.
International students
Real biggie like Boston probably better, but… Rensselaer (Polytechnic Instutute) in Troy has a significant international population, and the sexier advanced programs in Nanotech in Albany are drawing from well outside. Worth a look at the Capital District in NY state - it certainly fits your backpacking and WW kayaking goals.
You have a point there
A friend’s Thai wife’s family does not even consider Denver on the radar of big cities. To them, “city” means NYC or LA --nothing smaller. They refused to visit them in CO, thinking it was a deserted outpost and beneath them (which is fine with me; we don’t need more snobs). They need to update their references about 150 years.
My own parents (both immigrants) thought only of places like SF, LA, NY, DC, Chicago, and of course Boston, in their notion of “city.” Then again, they were not interested in the outdoor recreation aspects.
A suggestion
– Last Updated: Jan-28-11 6:09 AM EST –
Hey, if you go for Huntsville, as SuperTroll suggested, and you need accommodation suggestions, you can check out http://aamu.universityhotelnetwork.com/ (I read that you are looking for cities with big universities, too). Hope this helps.
yep on the river.
bozeman montana!!! South central montana…google it.
Bozeman home to MSU about 35,000 people in town. Yellowstone ecosystem surrounding bozeman has about 8 million acres and well over 2000 miles of hiking trails some of which have fewer than 4 people a year.
The gallitin river is a whitewater boaters paradise as well as the yellowstone river thru yankee jim canyon…the madison too has class. all these mentioned have class 1-5.
lol
lol
Look at all the different responses.
Just move to the U S of A and pick a spot. You will be golden.
I’ll say Michigan, great outdoors and much water … as long as you don’t need a job. Not too many of those left around here these days. :-/
Lynchburg or Roanoke Virginia