Applicants should submit:
- An application letter
- A curriculum vitae
- Documentation of research and creative or professional activity
- A personal statement summarizing previous or potential diversity and leadership efforts
- A personal statement summarizing teaching experiences and interests, leadership efforts, and/or contributions to diversity
"Documentation of research and creative or professional activity." Does that mean it's a research statement? Are my creative activity and professional activity the same thing? According to this statement, one cannot be both creative and professional, since I can only document one in this statement. If I'm being creative, perhaps I'm unprofessional? Also, if I'm documenting my research and creative activity, that implies my research is not creative. I take offense to that. My research may be irrelevant and unattractive and smell faintly of desperation and toner and only my mom will buy my book once it's finished, but I'll be damned if it isn't creative. Professional? Your mom is professional.
"A personal statement summarizing previous or potential diversity and leadership efforts." Seeing as how my research deals with the minority population group of albino hamsters, is that enough? Also, I try to avoid burning crosses or wearing my pointy hood to class, although sometimes when it's cold or I need to do laundry, I really just don't have another option. Plus, what exactly is a "diversity and leadership effort"? Are diversity and leadership the same thing? Am I leading diversity efforts? Diversifying leadership efforts? Making an effort to lead diversity? (And where exactly would I lead it?) Plus, according to the university, "diversity" can be age, language, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, abilities/disabilities, race, ethnicity, geographic region, and others. Others? Jesus Christ. So, should I write about how I aspire to lead a series of dyslexic genderqueer Lithuanian midgets? Or do I go with the standard-issue melting pot / tapestry / "we are the world" answer? Your mom is the world.
"A personal statement summarizing teaching experiences and interests, leadership efforts, and/or contributions to diversity." WTF? Seriously. Didn't we just go through all this bullshit already in the first two statements? Oh, except now you want a teaching statement? Wait, while I'm researching and being creative and professional and diversifying and leading, I'm supposed to be teaching? Your mom teaches.
Just a heads up... on a serious note.
ReplyDeleteEven if your research area is obviously minority related, you still have to tell them about it. I knew someone who ... shall we say... worked on homosexual muslim women of color in East St. Louis. The people in power didn't notice because she assumed they'd make the connection between her diversity obvious subject and her contributions to diversity.
I think what you've written is perfect. I wouldn't change a thing.
ReplyDeleteI'd hire you!
ReplyDeleteBrava!And on a related subject: what exactly makes a personal statement "personal"? Is there such a thing as an impersonal statement? Are they afraid you'll describe someone else's teaching, or leadership, or diversity efforts?
ReplyDeletePersonally, I'm inclined to give a wide berth to any institution that talks this much about "leadership." I fear it signals (1) a surplus of bloviating administrators to whom you'll have to listen during endless meetings, workshops,and retreats (or, if not, you'll have to listen to expensive outside "experts" they hire with money that might otherwise have gone to your salary, travel fund, etc. or (2) unrealistic expectations about the extent to which college professors can change the world, or even their students' lives or (3)both.
Seriously, do you think that job searchers have the option of ignoring -any- opportunity? I would have applied to SoulSucker U.
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