Status update -what's next?

So many friends and family have kept us in their prayers over the last year that I feel not updating our status would be unfair. I admit I don't particularly want to update you because it is still pretty raw. It also has to do with the fact that while I process life by writing about it here or other places, Pete does not.

Well, here it goes. The application process for academic jobs ( math postdocs) starts in the fall. The applications basically are finished by Christmas and then you wait. The first thing you hear back from is the NSF grant in January and then the trickle down effect starts happening as the weeks go on. By March you more or less know. I will say frustration ruled in our case. First there was not good news with the NSF grant and then there continued to be a lot of bad news as the weeks went on. However, people who knew Pete and his CV were sure that he would get a job because he was a very strong candidate. He went and talked to various people who all said there was almost no way he wouldn't get something. Of course, they added you can never be 100% when it comes to these things. They offered up a host of reasons why there may be a delay with some schools offering positions, and advice was given that Pete postpone May graduation in favor of August graduation to give a couple extra months for things to get sorted out. We went into the summer with plans to graduate in August. Pete has done 7 years of graduate school, and the policy here is to basically kick you out by cutting off funding after your 7th year. It boiled down to him having to graduate no matter what. Once summer really kicked off and things began to settle down he again went to talk to some people that he trusts and there was an idea that he could get something called a limited term lecturing position. This would allow him to graduate in August but still get paid by Purdue for an extra year while working on applications again. It wasn't awesome but it was the best we could hope for.  He talked to the people in charge of setting this up, but was once again faced with disappointing news. The position would pay only $100 more a semester and there would be no insurance- this ended up not being an option for us. Faced with a deadline to defend and to make our plans known to the graduate department within a day we were lost.

 To apply to industry takes a few months and as we have lived month to month for 7 years there isn't savings to allow us the luxury of being without income. Also, Pete had an industry job before but quit it to follow his dream of becoming an academic. To get so close to that dream and then walk away wasn't something he was ready to do, especially since he had and still has numerous people telling him that he should have gotten a postdoc. Of course, this doesn't really make him feel better at all. During all of this he has had one professor that he trusts above all the others and he is who Pete sought out during this moment. However, the professor was not in his office and had not returned Pete's email. Then at 7:30pm Pete's phone rings (and he answers it, if you know Pete this is a big deal) and the professor found Pete's number and called him knowing that his advice was much needed.  He had also called two other professors before calling Pete in order to discuss options. It was decided that there wasn't a lot to do at this point in the game, but what could be done was that Pete could petition the graduate program for an 8th year and he would get it since the people who make these decisions are the people Pete has been talking to all summer. In the next few weeks he will formally ask for his 8th year and come the fall semester he will start applying for jobs in academics and in industry.

There you have it. Our year in a glance. Pete's year in a glance. There isn't much else to say. Thank you for your support of us as we have struggled through and thank you for your continued support as we try one more time.