I have not had time to game or write this column for a while, because I am a devotee of that very strange cult called 'Academia'. I teach at a small college, and this semester I found all my 'game mojo' was being tapped teaching two game-related classes. Then, suddenly, it happened. A bunch of colleagues all left at the same time. And now I stand on a crossroad. To go one way, I must step up and accept more responsibility, step into a higher position. Or, I could slack my way and see if anyone reading this knows a PhD looking for a professorship instead.

Long and short, my small near-DC teaching (not research) university is looking to fill up to 5 faculty positions, two of them department chairs. We are an engineering and business school, and after a short reshuffle, we are looking for, best guess (a) our Humanities-and-Sciences Chair, (b) our CS chair, (c) a space professor, and (d) a cyber professor, and (e) a DsC analytics/cyber professor.

Plusses: small campus (500 undergrads, ditto grads), very family-friendly hours, pay is maybe $60K+/year for a 10-month professor and +20% for chairs. Great location between Baltimore and DC. Houses available under $300K. Probably can find a campus job for spouses.

Minuses: teaching pays less than industry work, heavy teaching loads, annual contracts, academia as a whole is going through weird changes like most of society.

Still, I really love teaching, and this self-serving post is really to try to stack the deck of work colleagues in hopes of freeing up more gaming time. I might even be up for handing over my game design course to jump-start the fun parts. If you're game, email me for the inside scoop.

Until next break, Sandy sandy@rpg.net, freelance