Sample cover letter for Full Time position at lansing community college

I read with interest, your advertisement for an Adjunct Instructor in the department of Humanities at LCC.  Upon review of my CV, it was expressed to me recently, that the Humanities dept. would be an excellent fit for my credentials and experience and that I should get in contact with you. As an teaching assistant (TA), I have consistently received positive evaluations from students and I have a positive relationship with the department chair, doctoral advisor and other faculty and am dedicated to not only teaching but learning as well.

I am particularly qualified to teach courses on Art, Literature and Philosophy. My manuscript focuses on Native Americans’ responses to the hardships of the termination and relocation era in the United States through performances of cultural empowerment, primarily related to their takeover of Alcatraz Island during the 1960s. In this work, I propose that one may situate discussions of the social and political body—and even the very definitions of performance—within the contexts of the occupiers’ involvement in Alcatraz Island.

I am a proven and creative classroom leader, and have served as a teaching assistant (TA) in a number of courses in the UC-Davis Department of Theater and Dance, a department known amongst students for its rigor. My experience in multidisciplinary studies has prepared me to teach courses, for example in World Literature, Mythology and Modern and Contemporary Philosophy.As a TA, I have taught introductory courses such as “Intro to Dramatic Art” “Theatre, Performance and Culture,” and “Native American Experience.” As a teacher at UC-Davis, I developed effective approaches to intellectually engage my students.For instance, in a particularly successful classroom endeavor, I have asked students to adapt historical fictional and non-fictional texts, to create short stage performance pieces. Because my scholarship is interested in non-traditional, performance-based readings of familiar histories, my pedagogy uniquely mirrors my research techniques.

My extensive teaching and research experience in multiple departments can help meet your varying staffing needs in Humanities each semester because of my course background studies and experience in the following areas:

1. Studies in theatre history and dramatic literature beyond my undergraduate work; ancient civilizations, ancient Greece, Roman Empire, Middle Ages
2. English literature minor course work in topics related to: classical antiquity, medieval, Renaissance and 17^th century Europe, 18th- through 20th-century Europe and American literature
3. World literatures and mythology; ie. Carl Jung, Joseph Campbell
4. Literary studies using: Feminist and Gender Theory, Historicism, Psychological Criticism, Marxist Criticism
5. Critical theory and philosophy graduate seminar emphasis on writers such as Michel Foucault, Pierre Bourdieu, Judith Butler, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Homi K. Bhabha

As part of my teaching philosophy, I prefer student-centered teaching that encourages active dialogue and learning by both students and teachers because I feel that this approach will encourage students to think about the class as a community. I have had students spend a fair amount of time in smaller groups in which they not only talk and think together, but write together, particularly in literature and writing-based courses for which I was a teaching assistant.My approach with student assignments in which which has been met with enthusiastic student reactions. I would be happy to send class syllabi and student evaluations on request.

I have enclosed a copy of my curriculum vitae and a writing sample excerpted from my chapter from my dissertation. I will gladly provide any other supporting materials upon request. I look forward to hearing from you.