Question: I'm currently preparing job applications, and I was wondering where would be the appropriate place to mention my academic activism. So far, my CV lists my involvement with the graduate-student organization of my national professional society and with an associated online journal. But I feel it is important to outline the philosophy behind what the organization does and to state how, and why, this forms an important part of my approach to academe. So, should I put that on my CV, in my teaching statement, in my cover letter, or elsewhere? I've also been heavily involved in what proved to be an unsuccessful unionizing effort on my campus. At the moment, I don't provide any information about that on my CV.
Julie: As you try to decide how to handle information about yourself that you consider critical to your identity -- but that may not be well-received by others -- you have a lot of decisions to make. In our experience, you are like most people in opting to provide some details but not others. There do seem to be a small number of individuals who are happy to say to any employer, "This is who I am, this is what I stand for, and if you don't like it, I didn't want to work for you anyway. No compromises." However, those people seem more the exception than the rule. Most balance several considerations -- the importance of being true to themselves with the more pragmatic concern of landing a job. For those who find themselves in the middle ground, thinking through a strategy for presenting information can actually make it possible to reveal more about yourself and have the information well-received.
Mary: Strategic considerations are probably most important at the paper stage of an application, where you and the hiring committee are still strangers to each other, almost abstractions. If someone on a screening committee has a knee-jerk negative reaction to something on your CV that removes you from further consideration, will you still be glad you've provided the information? There's a possibility that the same person who reads your résumé and translates "activist" as "troublemaker" might be very favorably impressed with you in person and become one of your biggest supporters.
Julie: However, if you feel very strongly that you need to explain what you did in a particular organization, mention it on your vita with a description that includes positive terms such as "was part of a team of [junior faculty members, graduate students, postdocs -- whatever it was] that helped organize others to ... ." Then give the vita to a few people who don't know you very well and ask what stands out. If they all say something like "committed scholar and teacher who serves his/her institution" then you are on the right track. If they say "academic agitator" or some other such description, then you need to decide if that's how you want to be seen. First impressions count, and if you want a job, you want to make good ones.
Mary: While I've heard some people advise Ph.D.'s to describe their activism on the CV, while leaving the name of the organization in which they were active a mystery, there are people like me who are driven crazy by descriptions of what someone did without an accompanying organizational name. When I see such a thing, my first impression is always that someone is trying to hide something, so of course that's the first question I'll ask them when I meet them in person!
Julie: You seem particularly concerned about how departments will react to your union activity. Before preparing your application materials, you might want to check into the situation regarding graduate-student and faculty unionization at the institutions where you are applying. Many college and university Web sites include links to their own campus newspapers and to local papers. Search them as well as the sections of the Web site that are for graduate-student and faculty organizations. See what you can learn. Institutions will have varying degrees of sympathy to unions. However, be on guard that even if faculty members and graduate students are unionized, there may be individuals on the search committee who aren't happy with the situation and may still view your activities with distaste.
Mary: One factor you need to consider is whether something that is central to your sense of identity is also central to your professional academic life. You mention that your academic activism is central to your approach to academia. If by that you mean it's something that will inform your teaching and scholarship, then it is an issue you probably want to discuss with a hiring committee by the time you have an interview. You might even consider discussing it in your letter of application or statement of teaching philosophy, as long as you are willing to have someone screen you out on that basis; the statements one hiring committee doesn't like may cause you to be selected by another.
Julie: There's not much point in "fooling" a hiring committee into thinking you're someone who doesn't teach the way you teach or conduct the kind of research you do when the hiring department is opposed to the reality of your work. The resulting hire, which is unlikely to occur anyway, would almost certainly result in constant clashes between you and your department and, if not a non-renewal of your contract, a denial of tenure. You need to find a place where, even if people don't agree with your ideas and approach, they respect them as valid.
Mary: On a related topic, people often ask us about the presentation of information not necessarily directly related to an academic approach. Perhaps someone is gay or lesbian, or a member of an unpopular religious group (or an atheist applying to a religious institution), or is a single parent, and is in a field where those central facts about private life don't directly affect the person's research. In this case, the concern may be more about being accepted on your own terms, or at least not discriminated against, rather than about material that may come into teaching or research.
Julie: In these cases, it seems best to leave that information out of the vita and cover letter, for the same reason that the candidate is still an abstraction and not a known individual. Again, do some research on the institutional Web site and try to figure out how comfortable you would be on the campus. If you are gay or lesbian, see if there are associations of gay and lesbian faculty and staff members and students. Are there courses in gender studies? You can get a sense of how welcoming the institution is by looking at the Web site, but you probably won't really know until you visit the campus. Then there will be subtle clues in language, such as "we provide moving expenses for every new faculty member and their spouse or partner." And if you don't detect such clues, then the absence may tell you that you aren't interested in that institution.
Mary: It may be more difficult to determine religious acceptance from an institutional Web site. However you can see if your faith is represented locally in places of worship. Also, look at the campus newspaper to see what you can read about religion. I'd leave religious affiliation off the vita because it isn't relevant. Many universities that have institutional affiliation with one religion want to have a faculty with a diversity of religious perspectives; others aren't as open.
Julie: We've both worked with many students who did not reveal their sexual orientation or personal situations in written materials or interviews but waited until they had offers and made second visits to figure out how comfortable they would be living and working there. Sometimes they've been pleasantly surprised, finding that an environment is actually more welcoming than they had expected.
Mary: Something to keep in mind when deciding how much to reveal about factors that won't directly affect your teaching or research is that some members of a hiring committee may be uncomfortable with revelations of what they consider private personal information. Someone who is trying to make a fair decision based on a candidate's relevant qualifications may simply feel that considering personal information is inappropriate, and they may be uncomfortable when it is volunteered. Are they being suspected of being discriminatory? Are they being appealed to on the basis of some presumption of a common interest? In the end, a department is a workplace, not a family or social gathering, and keeping the focus on professional considerations is the best protection against all forms of discrimination.
 |
 |
 |
