PHP workshop notes

PHP Application Suggestions (Rebecca Seeman)

Please note that these are suggestions only, they are not requirements from the Deans Offices

In General

• Make sure you meet the requirements before applying. Several applications are rejected because they don’t meet the basic requirements. You must have taught two full years (fall and spring) and a minimum of 32 units in one school/department (not across departments). Independent studies do not count toward the unit total. Some REC (Reduced Enrollment Course) units will count. You can check with your Dean’s office if you are unsure if you meet the requirements.

• Quality over quantity.

• Make your package look professional. If your application is submitted in hard copy, include well-delineated sections in a nice new binder, with each item typed. Make the materials and information easy to find.

• PHP is like a form of tenure for adjuncts. Treat it as such, and make your package look

like you would if you were applying for tenure.

• If you are denied, send a nice email saying something like, “Thank you for your

consideration of my application. I appreciate the time you took to evaluate my work at

USF and I look forward to continue teaching here.” Never question their decision. Don’t

be overly obsequious, but be courteous and polite. This will count well for you next time

you apply.

Cover letter, etc.

• Be professional in your statement. Keep it to 1-2 pages. Use proper headings, and

address it to the Dean of your school. This should be presented like a well-considered

application letter for your dream job.

• Remember that this is an award for teaching, not research. You should stress teaching,

but it’s good to refer to your professional skills and successes. Also, this is an

award for teaching at USF, not teaching in general. Stress what you’ve done at USF and

your commitment to the university and the mission of the university and your school/department.

• USF is a Jesuit university that assigns tremendous importance to Social Justice.

If you can, discuss the ways that you support social justice in your teaching.

You can also consider community building and diversity forms of social justice.

• Do provide a detailed CV. This is a good place to show your research, work, and

teaching outside USF. Include publications if you have them, conference presentations,

etc.

Evaluations

• Only provide the past 3-5 years of evaluations – SUMMAs and BLUEs

• If you have SUMMAs (previous evaluation system), the word on the street in CAS is that the Deans’ office primarily looks at #18 (In this course, I am learning much) and #22

(Overall, I rate this instructor a good teacher). It may be helpful to include a summary of those two points.

• If you have a bad semester, year, or evaluation, try to explain what may have led to the dip in your evals, and what you did to improve it. The people evaluating the applications know that we are human and that things can go wrong. It’s generally not recommended to try to hide or ignore those things. On the other hand, don’t feel a need to overemphasize weaknesses or trouble spots – stress your strengths in your overall application.

Course materials

• Only provide 1 copy of each syllabus. If you assign interesting projects for your

students to complete, you should provide those too.

• It’s helpful to demonstrate that you’ve taught a wide variety of courses.

• It’s helpful if your course materials can demonstrate innovative teaching methods.

Show that you are thoughtful in preparing your classes, and you strive to make them

meaningful and invigorating for your students.

Teaching Philosophy

• Again, at USF it’s helpful to stress commitment to Social Justice.

• Use specific examples for how you meet your teaching philosophy goals. You might approach this section similarly to how you approach the course objectives in your syllabi – state an area of your teaching philosophy, and then list the specific ways you address this in your course(s).

Additional Materials, Recommendations

• It’s very helpful to have a strong recommendation from your department chair and/or

program head and/or members of the administration, but certainly not necessary. You may also include recommendations from fellow faculty, preferably full-time, tenured or tenure track. USF recommendations will often be stronger than recommendations from other schools or institutions, but that doesn’t mean that someone from another institution is unable to address why you are an asset to USF.

• Request recommendations from people that have observed you teach, can refer to specific traits and strengths in your work, and can be honest and authentic in their recommendation. Plan ahead: If you are lacking good recommenders, ask a colleague or superior (or someone from CTE) to observe you in a class so they are able to write a strong and specific recommendation for you.

• If you can, provide a few student recommendations, but not too many. Unsolicited recommendations are best, like an email sent after a course, or a scanned pdf of a card (Always keep thank you cards from students. Scan yours into PDFs when you receive them so you won’t lose them). You can also include midterm and final course evaluations in your courses, and include student comments in your application.

• This is a section where you can provide a sample or two of your research or outside

work. Again, quality over quantity.

November 8, 2017 PHP1 Workshop Notes (Sue Bae)

1. Letter of Application and/or Teaching Philosophy Statement

· Address the university’s mission organically; doesn’t have to be a separate document; include when addressing the department/programs outcomes

· If your research informs, directly, your teaching, then tie that into your statement

· Likewise, direct your professional life to your teaching

· Don’t just write about it in disconnected manner; demonstrate that/how you live it (the mission) or even part of it

· If having, or had difficult, semester (s), show how you negotiated the difficulties

· Don’t ignore the evals that show you’re struggling; acknowledge and address it

· Often, core courses get lower evals than electives; deans understand this; but explain how you deal with this

· Evidence of asking CTE (or others) to help address issues in teaching or advice for improvement can demonstrate your efforts to improve and engage; this shows honesty and openness/willingness to developing your craft

· But don’t dwell on negative evals if it’s just one semester out of years of good teaching (just an outlier)

· Tell a story; weave together the various skills, experiences, background philosophy

· If you teach a variety of courses/areas, address all areas, but provide enough info about your main area (course you’ve taught most or most like to teach); admin requires enough data for specific course(s) as they will award PHP in specific course(s)

2. Recommendation letters

· Not required; but ideal if it’s from someone at USF who is familiar with your teaching: through direct observation or prolonged knowledge and discussion with you (this demonstrates real evidence of your teaching and philosophy, skills, experience)

· Recommender should be able to speak to your teaching in terms of USF’s mission as background

· Preferably from those with extended experience at USF (FT or PT)

· Department chairs can be recommenders

· Will not be blind recommendations; faculty, themselves, will be submitting the letters

· How many letters: 2-3 is appropriate number

· Student letter is ok, as long as it’s not obviously solicited and speaks to specifics of your teaching and interactions with students re:course, with substantial and appropriate content (be sure to delete any personal information)

3. Suggestions for action (in Nov.):

· Check to see you’ve completed 32 units (in same program/department) & 2 years

· CAS- Claudine van Delden can verify your units for you; other colleges – check with your chairs

· Check & gather SUMMAs and BLUEs (your Associate Dean can help you determine how to evaluate your BLUE evaluations)

· Notify dept. chair/program head

· Request classroom observations (dept chairs or CTE); CTE can come to observe and provide valuable feedback (a formal process and a fresh eye to assess your teaching)

· CAS - Can request to view samples of major application documents from Asst. Dean Claudine Van Delden

· Check in with your assoc. dean if you’re not sure you’re ready to apply; get their recommendation

4. Misc.

· Past Directed Studies units are not counted towards the 32 units

· Recently instated RECs (courses that were changed due to underenrollment) can count as long as there are more than 4 students enrolled; you will received evaluations for these courses (only courses with evaluations will be counted toward total units)

· Can include evals, other than university’s, such as mid-term or end-term evals you do in class (as additional material)

· Evals should consistently score at or above USF mean

· This process can be an assessment of your work (even if you decide not to apply at this time)

· Admin currently awards PHP in a specific course(s); but salary applies to all courses taught in the program/dept; this means your seniority will be limited to the course stated on your php award letter (no seniority or bumping rights outside of those courses); this issue is currently being contested by the union and is under negotiations with university.

· PHP is determined by deans of the colleges

· Apply during a strong year. If you're currently experiencing a poor teaching year, wait till the following year or until your student evaluations and colleague or supervisors can provide strong recommendations. That doesn't mean that all of your semesters will be stellar - we are all human and have professional slumps, but your application year should demonstrate your work in a period of strength.

· After receiving PHP, you are allowed a 2-year absence (leave) while retaining status; if you go over 2 years, you need special permission from the dean