Alert UNC Folks: Probably Hugely Important News

[502845824]

L. A. Paul might be moving from UNC to Pitt.

http://leiterreports.typepad.com/blog/2016/04/pitt-makes-senior-offer-to-north-carolinas-laurie-la-paul.html

This is probably a huge deal from some folks -- she was one of the main reasons I applied to UNC. Keep this in mind as you decide. Since the news is out now, it might even be appropriate to email her and ask how seriously she is considering the offer, if you haven't accepted UNC's offer yet and want to work with her.

 

Edited April 7, 2016 by oldhatnewtricks

[Jonathan13]

Why is everyone assuming she'll accept? I hear Pitt ain't the best place to live or to do philosophy and UNC is pretty great. Seems like a difficult choice. Also, UNC will probably hire some fantastic replacement if she goes.

Edited April 8, 2016 by Jonathan13

[AnonymousMonad]

I find it unlikely that she'd go given that her partner is a professor at Duke which is quite close to UNC.

[maxhgns]

51 minutes ago, AnonymousMonad said:

I find it unlikely that she'd go given that her partner is a professor at Duke which is quite close to UNC.

Pittsburgh probably has the resources to offer a spousal hire, and Paul has the clout to ask for one.

[AnonymousMonad]

1 hour ago, maxhgns said:

Pittsburgh probably has the resources to offer a spousal hire, and Paul has the clout to ask for one.

Pittsburgh's philosophy department probably does. But her spouse is in sociology not philosophy. I think the move from Duke to Pittsburgh would be a significant move down for him, as Duke is quite good and far superior to Pitt for sociology. Even if Pitt is better than UNC for philosophy (contestable), it's not that better.

Of course, there might be other factors (e.g. perhaps he is a trailing spouse, or they really like Pittsburgh, etc...).

Edited April 8, 2016 by AnonymousMonad

[NathanKellen]

5 hours ago, Jonathan13 said:

Why is everyone assuming she'll accept? I hear Pitt ain't the best place to live or to do philosophy and UNC is pretty great. Seems like a difficult choice. Also, UNC will probably hire some fantastic replacement if she goes.

It's worth noting that UNC has lost a bunch of folks recently: at the least, Dorit Bar-On, Bill Lycan and Keith Simmons. I don't know how many additional hiring lines they may have in the works, but that's a lot of people to replace if Paul goes too.