If you are reading this review, you should feel lucky that you have been warned… I, unfortunately, did not meet the same fate.
In July 2023, I had an interview for a professor position with Tennessee State University while I was waiting for an answer from R1 schools (Now, I am at R1 school). Since I was starting to feel desperate during my job hunt, I decided to accept their interview request and figured, “What’s the worst that could happen?” I sorely underestimated just how bad the following 4 months would be.
I must say this school is absolutely horrible in every way. From the first time that they contacted me, every moment was very unpleasant. Starting with the interview offer email, they didn't even ask me what day worked for my schedule, they just notified me on a Thursday evening that they expected me to come in for an interview early on a Tuesday morning. On top of that, they expected me to pay for the flight up front (as you can imagine, a last-minute flight from a small town in the middle of summer cost a pretty penny) and only offered reimbursement for accommodations if I stayed at the hotel of their choice, which was also quite expensive (don’t even get me started on how disgusting the room was! The floors were sticky and a noxious odor gave me an instant headache that lasted all night). I should have realized by that time that this school was absolutely crap. Upon arrival at the airport, no one picked me up (even though most universities have a faculty member pick up interviewees), so I had to take an Uber to the hotel The next day, "thankfully," someone picked me up for my interview.
The interview experience was also horrifying, literally nothing was prepared. There was no water and no laser pointer, and we just had a presentation in a random classroom. "Thankfully," someone offered me his personal water for my presentation because their water fountain was broken (along with their other facilities, which was a telling sign of just how awful the entire campus was.)
After the interview, we hiked across campus (remember, it was summer time in Nashville) to their student cafeteria for lunch. I am not joking. "Unfortunately," the cafeteria was closed for summer vacation time, so we had to hike back across campus and drive to an awful restaurant where they didn’t even offer to let me order a soda or sweet tea because they didn’t want to pay for drinks.
After the chaotic campus visit, the worst faculty member during the whole interview process was their Dean. I was forced to do an additional online meeting with the Dean a few days after my interview because he simply did not show up on the day of my interview. Along with that, he was 10 minutes late for our Zoom meeting, and once he joined the Zoom room, the first thing he said was, "I have only a few minutes, introduce yourself." I am not joking. He was absolutely horrifying person.
However, the absolute worst part of this entire endeavor was that it took FOUR MONTHS to get my reimbursement! With the cost of the plane tickets, hotel, and Uber, they owed me close to $1,000, which is no small sum. My wife and I called and emailed multiple people within the department upwards of 50 times before my wife eventually got a hold of the assistant dean, who was the only helpful person in all of TSU.
Overall, I can not find any good aspects of this school. So don't waste your time unless you are absolutely desperate. I really feel bad for their students and any decent faculty members that are trapped in that hellhole of a department.