academic job market Archive

4/12 – Grant Writing Workshop with Dr. Karen Kelsky

By
Marilyn Weber
 – April 2, 2013Posted in: History Program Events

Join us for a four-hour grant writing workshop led by Karen Kelsky, nationally-known academic consultant who  blogs as “The Professor Is In.” Dr. Kelsky will offer tangible strategies for grant-writing, including how to think like the selection committee, how to structure your grant proposal, and how to use her Foolproof Grant Template to create a “hero narrative” that demonstrates the originality and import of your research. Dr. Karen would like the participants to send a grant application draft, if they have one, to her at gettenure@gmail.com. (Please also bring this draft to the workshop itself.)

Karen Kelsky, aka, The Professor, is a former tenured professor and Department Head with 15 years of experience teaching at the University of Oregon and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her Ph.D. is in Cultural Anthropology, with a focus on Japan, from the University of Hawai’i. Her B.A. is from the University of Michigan. Her book, Women on the Verge: Japanese Women, Western Dreams, was published in 2001 by Duke University Press. She worked with many Ph.D. students during her university career, and since 2011 has run The Professor Is In, an academic blog and business dedicated to assisting ABDs and Ph.D.s in their academic job searches, as well as grant applications, book proposals, and other elements of the academic career.

Please RSVPto Marilyn Weber, History APO – mweber@gc.cuny.edu

Friday, April 12th, noon – 4 p.m., Room 5114

Co-sponsored by the PhD Program in History and the PhD Program in History.

JGrantWritingWorkshopKelskyFlyer

Tags: , , , , , ,

Professional Development: Interviewing at a Teaching College via InsideHigherEd

By
Tracy E. Robey
 – January 3, 2013Posted in: Career Advice, Professional Development

John Fea offers advice on interviewing at a teaching college at InsideHigherEd.com.  Among his suggestions:

There will be some interviews in which the members of a search committee do not even ask you about your research. Don’t be offended by this or assume that it means that you will not be able to do scholarly work at this place. The search committee members probably looked at the description of your research in your cover letter and thought it was fine. They just want to use the 45 minutes of interview time to hear about what you will do for them in the classroom.
If you have not figured it out by now, you will be asked a lot of questions about teaching. The search committee is going to be very interested in learning about how you will plug in to both the department’s AND the college’s curriculum. In history, you may be asked if you feel prepared to teach general education courses in subjects such as Western Civilization or World Civilization (even if you are an American historian). You may be asked if you would be interested in teaching interdisciplinary courses in something like a first-year core curriculum. Think in advance about how you might respond to these questions. To get a sense of what the teaching load might look like for the average member of the history department, go to the college’s website and see if you can access the course listings from recent semesters. See what each professor in the department is teaching.

To read the full article click here.

Tags: , , , , ,

Professional Development: Tips for Phone Interviews from Lifehacker

By
Tracy E. Robey
 – December 14, 2012Posted in: Career Advice, Professional Development, Uncategorized

Interviews for tenure-track faculty jobs usually take place at the American Historical Association meeting just after New Year’s, on the telephone, or on Skype.  A telephone interview can be nerve-wracking due to the complete lack of body language cues from the committee, but according to History Program faculty members and a Lifehacker blog post, you can make the phone interview work for you with some preparation.

Molly Ford recommends taking advantage of your “invisibility” and using notes to help move through your answers and questions for the committee:

Use notes to your advantage: The best part about a phone interview is that you can have your notes in front of you (and the interviewer can’t see them). So have a copy of your resume, extensive bullet points about the experiences or skills you want to mention, and full list of questions written out ahead of time for use during the interview. You have the gift of invisibility-use it to your advantage!

She also recommends dressing up and using your normal conversation gestures to make the experience less awkward:

Use your hands: It’s okay to gesture while talking, even if no one can see you. Gesturing will make the call feel more like a regular conversation, which will normalize the situation and help to calm your nerves.

For more information about the academic job market check out our professional development blog series here on the blog.

Tags: , , , , ,

Professional Development: What Do Faculty Member Earn?

By
Tracy E. Robey
 – November 14, 2012Posted in: Professional Development, Uncategorized

For those of us thinking about tenure-track employment, the actual salaries of faculty members can be a bit of a mystery.

To learn more about what faculty members earn at institutions of higher education across the country, check out The Chronicle of Higher Education’s “What Professors Make” database.

Tags: , , ,

Professional Development: Community College Teaching as a Viable Career Path (from The Chronicle)

By
Tracy E. Robey
 – November 12, 2012Posted in: Career Advice, Professional Development, Uncategorized

Rob Jenkins explains why prejudices against teaching at community colleges have no place in today’s job market in an article for The Chronicle of Higher Education:

Finding a full-time teaching job at a community college is not necessarily any easier than finding one at a four-year university. And a community-college career is not for everyone. But when you consider that two-year colleges enroll nearly half of all American undergraduates and, correspondingly, offer nearly half of the available full-time teaching positions, does it make any sense to ignore that job market altogether?

For more information about the academic job market click the “professional development series” tag at the bottom of this article or the Professional Development tab at the top of this page.

Tags: , , , , , ,

Professional Development: How to Prepare for a Tenure-Track Job Interview from The Professor Is In

By
Tracy E. Robey
 – November 9, 2012Posted in: Career Advice, Professional Development, Uncategorized

For those of you preparing for tenure-track job interviews: Dr. Karen Kelsky, blogging as The Professor Is In, shares The #Facepalm Fails of the Academic Interview.

Among the questions that have produced uncomfortable moments of silence and fumbled answers is the obvious, yet almost-too-obvious

Tell us about your dissertation.

Yeah, I’m serious. I am constantly amazed at how many of you do not know how to simply and clearly and concisely describe your dissertation in a way that makes us understand why we should care about it, and how it intervenes and advances your field, in 3 minutes or less. Figure it out.

Check out Dr. Karen’s blog and Facebook page for more great advice about how to prepare for an academic job interview.

Tags: , , , , , ,

Professional Development: How Do I Write and Revise My C.V.?

By
Tracy E. Robey
 – November 9, 2012Posted in: Career Advice, Professional Development, Uncategorized

By Tracy E. Robey

When I wrote my first c.v., I assumed that I just needed to find out how to arrange the headings and dump in my information.  The result wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t good either.

The main problem was that my models were the c.v.s of distinguished scholars many decades my senior.  Whereas the biggest scholars probably don’t need to specify how many sections of Western Civ they’ve taught and how many students take the class, graduate students and newly-minted Ph.D.s can and should volunteer more info to give greater insight into their (more limited) life’s work so far.  I now like to think about the c.v. as an argument about my academic life: the things I include and how I list them reflect what I find most important and interesting about my scholarly career so far.

To give you a sense of what a c.v. might look like, I’ve attached a version of my own c.v. with track-changes comments on the various formatting and stylistic choices here:

Sample C.V. with Comments

 

Four Overarching Issues Students Should Consider When Writing and Revising a C.V.

1) You must be completely honest and precise.

Given the state of the academic job market, search committees report on message boards that they are seeing more fabricated credentials and dishonesty in job applications.  What this means for all of us is an increase in the level of scrutiny given to c.v.s.  To help readers of your c.v. focus on your accomplishments, make sure that the information you provide is clear and backed by supporting information, if necessary.  For example, I was concerned that the Master’s thesis proposal advising I mention under service might raise some red flags if I didn’t specify more, so I gave the student’s last name, the College, and the semester.

2) Don’t disguise gaps in your credentials.

Attempts to disguise gaps in credentials seem to happen most in the publications section, where translations, book reviews, and encyclopedia entries might be used to try to cover a shortage of grade-A, peer-reviewed journal articles.  Do not make readers of your c.v. untangle a layer of publication camouflage: give them clear headings that show you know the relative value of academic publications and are making no attempt to mislead or confuse them.

3) Get your teaching title right.

While searching for model c.v.s several years ago, I found students who had ascended to the title of “Professor” before graduating, according to their c.v.s (!).  The lesson: it can be complicated to know your own job title at CUNY, but you need to sort it out with HR because people will notice and raise eyebrows if it doesn’t seem right.

4) Don’t pad your c.v.

Do not attempt to “pad” your c.v. by double- or triple-listing accomplishments in multiple sections without very good reasons for doing so.  For example, as a Writing Fellow, I attended workshop sessions where graduate students explained how Fellows could list the fellowship in three different places on the document: in awards, work, and teaching.  This seems ill-advised.  Padding, like credential camouflage mentioned above, will be noticed and met with raised eyebrows.  At the very least, padding takes attention away from your most impressive accomplishments.

What are your thoughts on the c.v.?  Do you agree or disagree with some of the less orthodox choices I made in the document?  Comment below to get the discussion started.

Tags: , , , , , , ,

University of Texas at Arlington Seeks Director of Interdisciplinary Studies Program

By
Tracy E. Robey
 – November 7, 2012Posted in: Job Opportunities, Uncategorized

Job Title: Director, Interdisciplinary Studies Program

Institution: University of Texas at Arlington

Department: School of Urban and Public Affairs

Job Description: The School of Urban and Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Arlington invites applications for the position of Director of the Interdisciplinary Studies Program. This program serves an academically and socially diverse group of more than 500 undergraduate students, providing the integrative learning skills they need to leverage coursework spanning the university’s academic offerings toward individualized and rigorous Bachelors of Arts and Bachelors of Science degrees. The candidate will be hired as Associate or Full Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies.

The duties of the Director will include active research and teaching, program administration, curriculum development, student recruitment, and outreach to other degree programs on campus. The successful candidate will have a publication record and scholarship commensurate with rank, administrative experience, and a vision for programmatic and curricular development that enhances the program’s core mission of integrative learning. The program is currently developing Master of Arts and Master of Science degrees in Interdisciplinary Studies. The new director will be an integral part of developing the MA program. Preference will be given to candidates who present a clear vision for both the undergraduate and graduate curriculum.

Interdisciplinary Studies is part of the School of Urban and Public Affairs (SUPA), which offers excellent support for teaching and research. SUPA’s multidisciplinary faculty supports five graduate degrees (http://www.uta.edu/supa/). The University of Texas at Arlington is located between Dallas and Fort Worth in the heart of the fourth largest metropolitan area in the United States and one of the fastest-growing; offering geographical advantages as a setting for research, community service, and program development.

Preferred Qualifications:

–A PhD in their field of study.

–Earned tenure.

–Demonstrated administrative experience.

–Research and teaching experience in an interdisciplinary field, including but not limited to: Interdisciplinary Studies; African American Studies; Women/Gender Studies; Science, Technology & Society; Cultural Studies; Environmental & Sustainable Studies; Global Studies; American Studies; Urban Studies; Ethnic Studies; or Neuroscience and Cognitive Studies.

Materials Needed: Applicants should submit a letter of application summarizing relevant background and experience, CV, and names and contacts of three references by mail and email to: Dr. Rod Hissong, c/o Marjorie Dick (marjorie.dick@uta.edu<mailto:marjorie.dick@uta.edu>), Chair INTS Director Search Committee, School of Urban and Public Affairs, Box 19588, University of Texas Arlington, Arlington, TX 76019-0588.  Review of applicants will begin immediately, but applications submitted and completed by January 4, 2013 will receive full consideration. Search will continue until the position is filled. Interested applicants should contact Dr. Hissong for more information at (817) 272-3350.

UT Arlington is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer. Women, minorities, veterans, and individuals with disabilities are encouraged to apply. The use of tobacco products is prohibited on UT Arlington properties. A criminal background check will be conducted on finalists.

Contact Information:
Name: Dr. Rod Hissong, Chair
INTS Director Search Committee
School of Urban and Public Affairs
The University of Texas
Phone Number: 817-272-3350
Email Address: c/o marjorie.dick@uta.edu<mailto:marjorie.dick@uta.edu>
Address: Box 19588
City: Arlington
State: TX
Zip Code: 76019-0588

Tags: , ,

Latin American History: Temporary Lecturer Position at the University of South Dakota

By
Tracy E. Robey
 – November 7, 2012Posted in: Job Opportunities

Dear colleague,

Please draw to the attention of your advanced graduate students and recent PhDs the attached advertisement for a lectureship in Latin American History at the University of South Dakota.

Latin American History Temporary Lecturer Position Description

Yours,

Clayton Miles Lehmann

Deptartment of History

University of South Dakota

Tags: , , ,

Professional Development: “Why Your Job Cover Letter Sucks” from The Professor Is In

By
Tracy E. Robey
 – November 5, 2012Posted in: Career Advice, Professional Development, Uncategorized

Dr. Karen Kelsky, former tenured faculty member and chairperson now working as a highly successful consultant to academics, tells you “Why Your Job Cover Letter Sucks (and what you can do to fix it).”

In the introduction, she points out that the the vast majority of job letters need work:

In my 15 years as a faculty member I served on approximately 11 search committees. Some of these search committees I chaired. These committees brought in ten new assistant professors into my departments.

Estimating that each search brought in an average of 200 applications (a conservative estimate for a field like Anthropology, a generous estimate for a much smaller field like East Asian Languages and Literatures), that means I have read approximately 2200 job applications.

That means I’ve read 2200 job cover letters.

I’ve also read the cover letters of my own students, and a passel of Ph.D. students who came to me for advice, as well as a large number of clients since opening The Professor is In (as of July 2012 let’s say 600).

So let’s say I’ve read 2400 (2800) job cover letters. Of those 2400 (2800) job cover letters, it is safe to say that 2300 (2700) sucked. Sucked badly. Sucked epically. Sucked the way Cakewrecks cakes suck.

Dr. Karen then goes on to tell you exactly how to organize and fix it, so this is a great place to start when you’re thinking about how to write and revise your job letter.

Tags: , , , , , ,
« Older Entries
CUNY Logo

2013 CUNY Academic Commons

Creative Commons License.

Built with WordPress. Protected by Akismet. Powered by CUNY