St. Paul!

St. Paul College and the Cathedral more-or-less next door.

Next year I'll be working in St. Paul, Minnesota. I'll be teaching full-time at St. Paul College (SPC), replacing an instructor who is going on sabbatical. Although the colleges in the Minnesota State system typically teach a fairly high percentage of their courses online, I'll be teaching a lot in person this fall. That means I'll be working on campus Monday through Thursday. The reason is that SPC's History courses attract a lot of high school students that take them for both high school and college credit in Minnesota's Post-Secondary Enrollment Option (PSEO) program.

I had PSEO students in my survey courses at Bemidji State University; sometimes a dozen or more in a class of 50 to 60. They tended to be above-average in preparation and motivation. The BSU provost always seemed to be a bit peeved that they were often students who wouldn't consider actually going to BSU for their undergrad programs. I was just happy to be getting them in my classes! In any case, some of the survey classes I'll be teaching at St. Paul College have had up to 80% or more PSEO students. And they'll be city kids. And a lot more diverse than the students I get at BSU. I'm looking forward to all those things.

Another view with the cathedral and downtown. The college is about a block to the left.

I'm looking forward to being in St. Paul four days a week, too. This summer I'll find an apartment, hopefully on Summit Hill within walking distance of the college. SPC is located just next door to the Minnesota History Center and very close to the St. Paul Cathedral and the James Jerome Hill mansion. Downtown St. Paul is a few blocks away. It promises to be an adventure in low-key urban living! I'm planning on driving back to Bemidji on weekends. My son Gio will probably want to spend some time with me and explore the Cities. Maybe my daughter Vivi will visit. So I'll probably get a sofa-sleeper they can use on visits. The rest of the time I'll be on my own.

This will probably be a one-year stay in the Cities, unless another full-time job materializes for me in the system (or I can kludge together enough gig-work to keep me afloat, which may be possible). There are a couple of retirements coming after the 2024-25 academic year which may open spots for me. We'll see how things develop. In the meantime, I'm anticipating an interesting adventure!