This blog nearly disappeared into the ether, nearly three years ago when I last noted that a lot of wonderful things happened. My feelings haven’t changed since then! Of greatest note is that I had alluded to my new job; however, I hadn’t yet made the formal announcement as I wanted to wait until a bit later to provide the great news. Well, that was a long time again and the word has long been out; I accepted a position as an assistant professor at Seton Hall University, South Orange, NJ.

The move was, obviously, an enormous one for me; however, I never thought twice about it. Although I’m a native Californian, over the years, I’ve come to despise that state for many very good reasons. Although I did not know where I would eventually end up, I had three separate positions for which I was in the running at the time I accepted the offer from Seton Hall – one in Boston, another in Texas, and Seton Hall. Following my interview with Seton Hall, I was immediately offered a position and gladly accepted. The Boston position looked intriguing and while I like Texas, I did not want that position there as it was in a terrible location (albeit with a prestigious university).

Nearly three years later, I have never regretted making the move to NJ. While I had never been here before (except I may have caught a flight out of Newark, once), I absolutely love the state. NJ has an astonishingly bad reputation but I found those criticisms to be completely unfounded. Furthermore, I really enjoy my position and have made many, many friends. The cultural offerings are no less than spectacular – I live just 30 miles from NYC and a mere 75 miles from Philadelphia.

My scholarly pursuits have flourished – I’ve taught graduate and undergraduate courses, completed data collection for my first research project last spring, have presented at several conferences, and have already had two articles published, with a third one under review now (more on those later).

Equally important is that I have found enormous happiness in my personal life. It’s been more than two decades since I’ve been this content with my life and am very, very involved with music, as well as with philanthropic organizations. I’ll post more highlights of the past three years in coming posts.