Yesterday's interview at Roosevelt went really well, I think. So, fingers crossed, I may actually get a job offer this week. I'm really excited about this program, in part because they're interested in significantly expanding it over the next several years, and are, in particular, open to students working with genre fiction (assuming that we maintain high literary standards, of course). Which means that if they hire me, I can bring in guest writers to give workshops in genre fiction, and that students who enter the MFA program can focus on genre fiction.
There are very few MFA programs that have an explicit emphasis on genre fiction (and btw, though my main interest in spec lit, I think romance and other genres might be possibilities long-term as well), so I feel like there's a good chance that we could build something very special here, a program that would be a real draw for students. I'm always hearing about people who are interested in taking the time to do a MFA, but who are worried that their programs will be hostile to genre fiction. It'd be lovely to be working in a place that not only wasn't hostile, but which was actively nurturing to spec lit. :-)
I’m throwing oodles of karma at you to get this job. It sounds like a great program to be a part of, and you’d get to stay in Chicago.