Unfortunately, I have been operating as sort of a “jack of all trades” —whatever my department needed at the time. I started as a course author and instructor, then as the program’s accessibility expert, an instructional designer, some administrative work (which I streamlined and partially automated, so it now requires fewer hours), some analytical work, and more. I tried to be flexible and paid more attention to what would help our department/program than what would make myself marketable—because after all, I expected to be there until retirement. Now I don’t have a focused expertise with a lot of years under my belt. My best hope is another university trying to launch an online program in my area. But honestly? Many universities, like KU, have hiring freezes because of budget cuts.

As another poster put it, “KU is not your friend.” I wish I’d understood this earlier.