Keaton Quinn

Applying to Teaching-Track Jobs

The following is a summary of advice I received from others, as well as a record of what worked for me while searching for a college-level mathematics teaching position in the United States and Canada. The thoughts and documents here led to interviews at Harvard, Tufts, Toronto, Yale, and Wellesley College. In contrast, I did not receive interview requests from several other notable schools I applied to. So I do not claim this is optimal advice.

Good places to look for teaching jobs include MathJobs.org and HigherEdJobs.com. As of 2026, MathJobs typically has more permanent teaching professor or professor of the practice positions. They also usually have the higher profile teaching postdocs. HigherEdJobs will have some of that too, but they also have more temporary lecturer and adjunct positions. I suggest checking both frequently.

The timeline for these jobs is different from tenure-track. While many will be posted in early fall with submission deadlines near December 1st, a nontrivial amount will also be posted throughout the winter and spring.

Application Materials

These are the most commonly requested documents in an application. Unfortunately, it seems each school wants this same information but always in a slightly different format.

Cover Letter. Write a formal letter addressed to the search committee in whatever department you are applying to. State what position you are applying to and mention which documents are part of your application. It is also good to mention the names of your references. Introduce yourself with a brief academic history. Summarize your teaching experience. Be specific. Which classes have you been a part of? In what capacity? What learning management systems or online homework systems have you used? Add another paragraph about your career goals and why you are a good match for their department. Try to personalize the letter here. For example, comment on their student body and any experience you have with those demographics. Add a closing remark and your contact information. End with a handwritten signature.

Curriculum Vitae. Organize your CV to be teaching-centric. Highlight with its own section any experience you have with service or mentorship related to education. Still include any research related activities, but place them after the teaching portion. Search committees want to be able to tell from the structure of your CV that you are serious about a teaching-track job, and that this is not just your back-up plan when research does not work out.

Teaching Statement. This is a statement on your teaching philosophy. I have been told that 2 or 3 pages is a good length. Considering that most search committees receive hundreds of applications, the more concise yet approachable your statement is the more likely it will be read in full. Most people know the right words to say now, leading to many teaching statements to sound similar. You can help separate yourself by including as many specific and real examples from your own teaching as possible. How do you use active learning in your classroom? How do you take into consideration your students' diverse backgrounds? List any examples of things you have tried in the classroom that serve as examples of you implementing your teaching philosophy.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Due to recent events, many schools are not explicitly asking for a DEI statement. However, many still want to see your intentions. At this point in time, it would be good to sprinkle what you would write in this document into the other ones. Add any explicit examples you would write here into your teaching statement. Have a sentence or two in your cover letter.

Teaching Portfolio. This is sometimes also called "evidence of teaching effectiveness". This should be a demonstration of the examples mentioned in your teaching statement. Common things you could include here are a summary of your teaching evaluations. Choice quotes from anonymous students on evaluations. Example syllabi from courses you have taught. Exercises, assignments, or assessments that you are proud of. It is nice to include a cover page that summarizes the things you have included. Briefly explain what each is, its context, and why you chose to include it so that your reader understands what they are looking at.

Interview Questions

The following are real questions and prompts that I and others were asked during interviews.

Walk me through a typical day in your class.
Can you describe a time when you had a plan that fell apart, and how you compensated for it?
What are some things that you are proud of teaching-wise?
How do you try to support student diversity?
How has your teaching evolved over time?
How do you break down complicated information for students?
How does this position align with your career goals?
How do you give effective feedback to individuals in a class that has 200+ students?
If you were coordinating a Calculus team like the ones we have now, what do you think your role as coordinator would be? What tasks would you want to handle and what tasks should the other team members handle?
How would you conduct a 75-minute long lecture block?
We are looking for the selected candidate to teach / do [thing], comment on your ability fill that role.
You mentioned [example] in your documents. Can you talk more about that?
What made you interested in our [school /program]?
How would you explain your research to undergraduates?
What is something you would especially like to teach / if you got to design any class, what would it be?
What questions do you have for us? (Occasionally early in the interview, rather than after other questions)
You have a female student in a group who is not really participating, she confides in you that she is uncomfortable in her group because she feels underprepared for the class and she's the only woman in the group. How would you handle this?
A graduate student teaching a summer class is making the class very challenging, essentially teaching for just the A+ students. Their viewpoint is that it is better for the students to learn early that "math is not for them". The result is a majority of the students are close to failing and complaining to the university. How would you deal with this grad student / situation?
A graduate student is the instructor of a class. Due to their career choices, they are graduating soon and entering industry. As a consequence they are not taking their teaching duties very seriously. They are barely preparing for lectures, and students are not happy / not performing well. How would you handle this situation if you were the graduate student's mentor/supervisor?

Questions for the Interviewers

Suggested questions to ask at the end of the interview. The first question is most important since its answer will determine what you should ask next. For example, if there is another round of interviews, save questions like the second for a later round.

Should you choose to move forward with my application, what are the next steps in the search process?
Does this position have the possibility of renewal? What does the process look like?
What is the teaching load / how many preps? What classes would I typically be teaching? (if they haven't already specified)
Is there any grading assistance (e.g., student graders)?
How would you describe the student body for the classes I would be teaching?
Do you have a specific role in mind for the person who fills this position?
Would there be any coordination between my sections and others?
Is there a service component to this position? What are the non-teaching job duties?
Are there summer courses offered? Am I expected to teach them? Would I be able to teach them if I desired?
What do your [math / department] students tend to do after graduation?
What do you enjoy about teaching at [school]?
(To a dean or higher level admin) How do you view the [math] department? What are their strengths? What do you see in their future? What are their needs? Are there any initiatives the department is undertaking?

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Juliana Belding and Erika Ward for comments, suggestions, and additions to this information.