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atlchemist
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« on: January 22, 2012, 02:36:58 PM » |
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I have my third phone interview coming up on Tuesday. The first two were for smaller schools that don't rely heavily on lecturers (one state college and one SLAC). This one is for a lecture position at a large masters-granting state university. I am a little freaked out because the e-mail I received from the SC chair inviting me for a phone interview said that lecturers in their department teach five lectures and/or labs each semester. This kind of freaks me out, but if this is the job I get then I'll do what I have to do.
I have heard very good things about this university's chemistry department. It is quite large and about as productive as can be without a Ph.D. program. I know that this job would be quite a bit different than the other two I've interviewed for, so do you have any advice on how to focus my preparations?
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filmcam
New member
Posts: 11
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« Reply #1 on: January 22, 2012, 03:23:43 PM » |
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5 courses a semester will be killing....
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atlchemist
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« Reply #2 on: January 22, 2012, 03:45:11 PM » |
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I should add that I don't know how many preps this would be, but I'm guessing just 1-2. 4-5 preps would certainly be killer.
Looking at the course schedule, there are 19 sections of introductory lab. One of the lecturers teaches four labs (three of them are the same) and one lecture. So maybe not so bad?
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atlchemist
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« Reply #3 on: January 23, 2012, 01:23:43 PM » |
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Any ideas? Please?
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drnobody
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« Reply #4 on: January 23, 2012, 06:15:53 PM » |
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Since it's a phone interview I think the preparation for it would be the same general guide as any phone interview (see "Asked and Answered" in "Job-Seeking Experiences." They may ask you more about your ability to teach more classes or something, but I'd think a phone interview is a phone interview (as much as anyone can predict that).
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helpful
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« Reply #5 on: January 23, 2012, 06:18:12 PM » |
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Is a lecturer position in this case similar to a Visiting Assistant Professor, or is another type of position?
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atlchemist
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« Reply #6 on: January 23, 2012, 09:41:10 PM » |
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Renewable contract, non-tenure-track, teaching only (15 contact hours/week, likely five labs a week or four labs and one lecture).
I'm just a little stumped because my last interview was with a SLAC and I laid on the "liberal arts philosophy" thick. (I really am passionate about the liberal arts, which is part of why I'm stumped on thinking about an interview with a large university.) For my last interview, I was big on the college's mission statement, which I am finding to be far more vague at this large university.
I guess that I felt like I knew how to speak the language of the SLAC people, because I attended a SLAC for undergrad, but I'm not as confident in speaking the language of the large public university people. (My graduate program is a private R1 with about half as many students as the university where I'm interviewing.)
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glowdart
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« Reply #7 on: January 23, 2012, 09:47:07 PM » |
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Be ready to talk about what they're likely to ask about -- which I'm going to guess is how you work with students in a lab. Do the students take lecture from someone else and a lab with you? If so, then be able to address that dynamic.
Challenges you've faced in the lab setting. Experiments that work. Etc.
I would also go through the faculty handbook or union contract at that school and figure out what criteria are used to evaluate lecturers. That will help you to understand the likely job duties.
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atlchemist
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« Reply #8 on: January 24, 2012, 10:50:15 AM » |
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Thanks for the advice. I just finished the interview and think it went well. The only question I wasn't prepared for was "describe a new experiment you would implement for a first-semester XXXX lab" (leaving out my specific field here). I had a great experiment in mind for a second-semester XXXX lab but couldn't think of a really impressive experiment appropriate for first-semester XXXX students off the top of my head. I babbled a little bit "well, when I had the curriculum development fellowship, I developed this awesome new experiment, but it was more appropriate for second-semester XXXX students." Luckily the SC chair said "that's fine, tell us about that."
Otherwise it went swimmingly, and I am starting to feel more comfortable on phone interviews. Now if I could just get a dang campus invite!
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