Author Topic: Any science, engineering, or math professors?  (Read 2123 times)

MayDay

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Any science, engineering, or math professors?
« on: July 09, 2014, 07:38:29 PM »
H is applying for a job as a professor.  It is an engineering discipline and the role is not a research position, it focuses on undergrad ed and industrial experience. 

It asks for a "a clear statement of teaching interest".  He is doing a bunch of google research but I thought I would ask if anyone in the field has suggestions, as most of what Google is turning up is humanities areas. 


sol

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Re: Any science, engineering, or math professors?
« Reply #1 on: July 09, 2014, 08:10:20 PM »
I applied to a handful of professor positions after grad school, but ultimately settled in government instead of academia.  Most jobs, even at R1 schools, requested a teaching statement as part of your application package.  Most graduate schools actually offered a 1 credit class in how to design and write your personal teaching statement for people who would be chasing teaching jobs.

My impression was that they just wanted to see that you had taken at least a cursory introduction to education, could use a limited vocabulary of relevant terms, and were aware that we don't teach by rote memorization and recitation anymore.  They like to see people talk about their passion for teaching, their organizing principles, their social conscience, and their long term teaching goals.  Sometimes people emphasize what they see as their particular teaching strength, say dealing with problem behaviors in the classroom or connecting with disadvantaged students or adapting dictated curricula to individual needs and circumstances.

In other words, it's mostly BS from the perspective of an engineer.
« Last Edit: July 09, 2014, 08:27:10 PM by sol »

BZB

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Re: Any science, engineering, or math professors?
« Reply #2 on: July 09, 2014, 08:20:21 PM »
I would recommend asking that question in the Chronicles of Higher Education forum because you'll have a good chance of getting answers from people with recent experience with that application question. Good luck!

Rural

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Re: Any science, engineering, or math professors?
« Reply #3 on: July 09, 2014, 08:53:42 PM »
+1 to the Chronicle forums. Those folks are (mostly) very nice and will set you up.

 

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