Designing Your CV for Faculty Positions in Rhet & Comp / Technical Communication

1. Designing Your CV for Faculty Positions in Rhet & Comp / Technical Communication Baotong Gu Georgia State University bgu@gsu.edu GSU English GTA Conference Atlanta, March 2005

2. Professional Profile Establishing a professional identity What do you want to market yourself as? A rhetorician? A compositionist? A technical communicator? A web design guru? A computers and writing specialist? A science/medical/environmental writing expert?

3. Content Design • Education • Teaching Experience • Publications • Conference Presentations • Service • Computer Skills • Honors & Awards • Professional Memberships • Significant Courses • References

4. The usual elements School Degree Area Graduation Date Other, equally important elements Dissertation title Committee members First place in your cv where you give people an idea of your professional identity Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana Ph. D. in English, Expected August 2000 Primary Area: Rhetoric and Composition Secondary Area: Technical and Professional Writing Dissertation Title: From the Turtle Shell to the Computer: A Rhetorical Perspective on the Impact of Culture on Writing Technology (Committee: Patricia Sullivan, Chair; Johndan Johnson-Eilola; Janice Lauer; Tony Silva) Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa M. A. in English, 1994 Concentration: Business and Technical Communication Thesis Title: Human-Computer Interface Design: A Human Activity Approach to Software Localization (Advisor: David Russell) Suzhou University, Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, PR China B. A. in English Language and Literature, 1983 Your Education

5. Course titles Course numbers (to show the level of course) Computerized (more of a required credential nowadays) Number of sections (to show the amount of experience) Purdue University (Department of English), West Lafayette, Indiana Graduate Instructor 08/94-06/99 420 Business Writing (8 sections, 6 in computer labs) 421 Technical Writing (4 sections, all in computer labs) 101 Freshmen Composition I (1 section) 102 Freshmen Composition II (2 sections) Writing Lab Tutor 08/97-12/97 Worked with students one on one on various writing issues Helped create various handouts on grammar and mechanical issues Contributed to the writing lab database Answered questions on grammar hotline Iowa State University (Department of English), Ames, Iowa Writing Center Tutor 08/92-12/93 Research Assistant (for Dr. David Russell) 01/92-08/93 Teaching Experience

6. Publications & Conference Presentations • List all you have: • Books, collections, articles, proceedings, local publications, etc. • Separate publications from conference presentations. • If you have many publications and/or presentations, consider dividing them up into different categories.

7. Field-relevant program administrative positions: freshman composition, wpa, wac, writing center… Positions in national and local professional organizations: NCTE, MLA, SAMLA, CCCC, ATTW, STC… Journal editorial board members and/or referee readers Committee work Conference session chairs Positions in student organizations, e.g., GEA Local conference organizing functions Director of the Sophomore College English Program 09/87-12/91 Suzhou University, Department of English, Suzhou, PR China Supervised a faculty of about 15 teachers Oversaw a program in charge of the English classes for over 1000 students Was responsible for the curriculum and course design Designed the teaching schedules for all faculty members Conducted weekly meetings on teaching related issues Observed classes and wrote teaching evaluations for all teachers Conference Researcher Conference on Written Discourse in Philanthropic Fundraising: Issues of Language and Rhetoric. Indianapolis, Indiana, October 1997 Referee ReaderJournal of Second Language Writing, December 1996 Contributing Bibliographer1996 CCCC Bibliography of Composition and Rhetoric Contributing Bibliographer1997 CCCC Bibliography of Composition and Rhetoric Service

8. Classify them: web design, database management, content/course management, networking, programming… Rather critical to tech comm positions Make your identity and skills match Software Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint), MacDraw Pro, Access, Freehand, Netscape Communicator, Photoshop, Deskscan, BHE. Platforms Macintosh, Windows 98, Windows 95, UNIX Networking & Web Development Email, LISTSERV, Server Management, HTML Coding, Java & Javascript Web Design Computer Skills

9. List major graduate courses Why? Few search committee members would actually read your transcript What courses you’ve taken is a good indicator of what you may be able to teach Group them under different categories List professor’s name Professional and Technical Writing Professional Writing Theory (Dr. Rachel Spilka) Computers and Writing (Dr. Johndan Johnson-Eilola) Writing Proposals and Grant Applications (Dr. Richard Freeman) Theory and Research in Professional and Technical Communication Writing Manuals and Instructional Materials Editing Principles and Practices Rhetoric and Composition Composition Theory (Dr. Janice Lauer) History of Rhetoric: Classical Period to the Renaissance (Dr. Janice Lauer) History of Rhetoric: Modern Period (Dr. Patricia Harkin) Postmodernism and Composition Issues (Dr. James E. Porter) Empirical Research Methodologies (Dr. Patricia Sullivan) Qualitative Research (Dr. Patricia Sullivan) The History of Rhetorical Theory I: From Plato to Bacon (Dr. Virginia Allen) Course Work

10. Misc.: Honors, Awards, Grants, Memberships • Publication awards • Teaching awards • Professional memberships: show how active you’re in professional life • Common expectations: NCTE, MLA, CCCC, ATTW

11. Format Design • A very tricky aspect • Good format design taken for granted • Poor format design not tolerated • Readers may not notice a good design, but they’ll definitely notice a bad design.

12. Format Design Issues • Minimalist design • Hanging indent • Visual hierarchy • Design consistency • Use of white space • Page focus • Column alignment (an aspect most often ignored)