prestigious and highly competitive awards, for example, you may highlight them in a separate section. On the other hand, if you have few honors, you probably do not want to call attention to that fact by creating a category with only one entry. You can include dissertation support, fellowships, and other awards that support individual research and teaching. If you received an award but had to decline it, you may list it here, with a note “declined.”
If you are applying for jobs in the United States, commonly known academic honors such as Phi Beta Kappa need no explanation. International scholars applying in the U.S. may want to stress the degree to which an unfamiliar award was competitive (for example, “one of three selected from among 2,000 graduating chemists nationally”). Likewise, those trained at American institutions who are applying to institutions abroad should briefly explain the honors they have earned. For example, Phi Beta Kappa may sound like a social fraternity to academics outside the U.S. who are unfamiliar with the idea of fraternities as intellectual organizations.
Experience
In this section, include all the experience that you now view as relevant to your professional objectives. For each position you have held, include the name of the institution with which you were associated, your responsibilities and accomplishments, dates, and, in most cases, your position title. Pick a format that you plan to use consistently. List positions or employers first in each entry depending on which format, on balance, shows you to best advantage. Sometimes a general heading of “Experience” will be appropriate, but frequently you will want to subdivide the section. A common division is “Teaching Experience” and “Research Experience.” A heading such as “Academic Appointments” may also be appropriate if your experience does not fit neatly into one category or another.
In some fields, and for some types of institutions, it can be useful to give the reader an overview of what you did in each position, detailing the most significant aspects of the work. Emphasize what you accomplished and uniquely contributed in a concise manner. Thus, “Responsibilities included developing various new course materials and instructional aids” becomes “Developed syllabus and diagnostic exam later adopted by the department.”
If you are describing a research project, give a brief introductory statement indicating what you set out to accomplish and what results you obtained. This is not, however, the place for a complete dissertation abstract, though in some fields candidates do include a short description of their dissertation or other research in a separate section (for an example, see the CV “Madison Candidate” in the sample materials included with this chapter).
Professional Experience
If you are applying for a position in a professional school and have experience working in that profession, describe it in some detail. If your professional experience is not related to your current scholarly pursuits, include it toward the end of your CV and condense it drastically.
Licensure/Registration/Certification
List these credentials for positions in professional schools in fields where they are required, for example, nursing, education, architecture.
Publications/Presentations
These are of great importance for an academic position. In the past, convention usually placed them last once they had grown beyond a few entries. Now many people include them earlier in the CV, often on the first page. They are listed in standard bibliographic form for your field. If you have a very long list, they may be subcategorized by topic or by publication format. Publications could be subcategorized as Peer Reviewed Articles, Book Reviews, and Book Chapters. Presentations could be subcategorized as Invited Talks, Conference Papers, and Poster Sessions. Another way to organize your list is to subcategorize by topic as a means to call attention to areas of expertise which may not be readily apparent. While it is acceptable to list articles as “submitted,” or “in preparation,” too many citations of this form not balanced by articles that are either published or in press may draw attention to the fact you do not have a strong publication record, and look like you are “padding” your accomplishments.
Be aware of prestige hierarchies, and don’t dilute the credibility of presentations at established scholarly societies or articles in refereed journals by including term papers or publications in popular journals or newspapers. Separate refereed articles from everything else. Dissertations are not usually considered publications unless they are subsequently published in a journal or as a book by a recognized publisher. Don’t pad your publications list, and don’t include in it anything you would not want a hiring committee to read.
For those with only a handful of each, publications and presentations may be listed as one section. At some point it will become clear to you that the section should be separated into “Publications” and “Presentations.”
Digital Projects
For those in humanities, arts, and social sciences who work heavily with digital content, it may be helpful to have a separate section for such projects, particularly when job announcements in that discipline state an interest in the candidate’s experience in that area. Possible headings are “Selected Digital Projects” or “Digital Projects and Publications.” An entry would give the title (hyperlinked to the site) of the project, the names of other collaborators, the year(s) you have been working on it, and a brief description of the project that indicates its import.
Grants
If you have received funding, list the funding agency and the project(s) for which it was awarded. Usually you would list fellowship or dissertation support with “Honors.” Occasionally a grant will appear in two sections of the CV. It may be listed briefly in this section and the work it supported discussed in detail under “Experience.” Candidates frequently list dollar amounts for major funded research projects, because doing so can show a history of increasing amounts.
Media Coverage
If you have been interviewed by a reporter or participated in live programming, list the kind of interview or programming it was, the name of the media outlet, the title or topic, and the date of its appearance. For example:
Radio interview on WHYY (NPR affiliate) “Radio Times” entitled “__________,” date
Scholarly and Professional Memberships/Service
List memberships or committee work in scholarly or professional organizations. If you have been very active in university committee work, you might also include it here, or perhaps create a separate section to cover it. If you have organized or moderated conference sessions, this would be an appropriate place to say so.
Research Interests
This optional category gives a brief answer to the question: “What are your future research plans?” Interests listed here should be described at a level specific enough to be credible and general enough to indicate the direction your research might take over the next several years. As a separate part of your application you may be asked to submit a Research Statement, a brief (one or two page) discussion of your future research plans (see Chapter 10, “Additional Application Materials”).
Teaching Competencies
You may use this optional category if you feel that the areas you are qualified to teach are not entirely obvious from the rest of the entries in your CV. Its listings are more general than “Research Interests.” Be careful not to list such a wide range of competencies that your list lacks credibility. If you list a subject as a teaching competency, some other part of the CV should reinforce your qualifications to teach it. Be prepared to discuss your ideas about a syllabus/text for any course you list in this section.
Skills
Whether you have a skills section depends on your field, your research, and the nature of the position or institution to which you are applying. A skills section would indicate high levels of competency in discipline specific technical skills. Examples of candidates who might include such a section are those working in the digital humanities, those in the STEM fields, those in highly quantitative social sciences, and those who are highly conversant with instructional technologies.