Postdoctoral Cover Letter Title

A Faculty cover letter should not exceed 1 page, so you must present your qualifications to the Faculty Search Committee in a concise manner. Use verbs that illustrate impact (“led,” “developed,” “innovated”) over verbs that make you sound passive (“participated”).Aim for verbs that are more specific to the actual contribution you made. For every sentence, challenge yourself to remove as many words as possible without changing the meaning of the sentence. Keywords cited by grant-funding agencies, easily recognizable by any faculty member, should be included in relevant sections of your Faculty Cover Letter.

The Faculty cover letter emphasizes your past and present academic career, while promoting your future potential.

For many of us, exuding confidence in an open letter of introduction is challenging, but you have to believe in yourself before you can convince others to believe in you.

Knowing what the Faculty Search Committee is looking for will help you tailor your application.

Searches for new hires may focus on specific research areas ( nanomaterials, systems engineering, therapeutic science, renewable energy).

The faculty cover letter, as with cover letters for other positions, is the first part of your application to be read by the Faculty Search Committee.

Therefore, the primary purpose of a faculty cover letter is to summarize your application by connecting your Research and Teaching Statements, CV, and references.In many cases, campus- or state-wide research initiatives may complement your research program.Finally, take advantage of any experiences you’ve had outside of academia.– include header (similar to your resume and other supporting documents) [Mailing date] [Search committee mailing info, including department and address] [Dear Professor _____________________, or Dear Search Committee Chair and Members:] [Paragraph 1: simple introduction.] I am writing to apply for the position of [official title] announced in the XXX [e.g., Chronicle of Higher Education]. I will defend my dissertation, "[dissertation title]” and expect to graduate in [month]. in XX from the [department name] at the University of California, Davis.Think of creative alternatives and diversify your future financial portfolio.This, in turn, differentiates your research program from colleagues.Demonstrate expert understanding of your field, and confidently state your qualifications as a leader in research, an educator, and a citizen of the university. You must differentiate yourself and your research program from other candidates, as well as previous or current advisor(s).Ask yourself what you will do that is unique compared to any of your past or future colleagues.Engineering students are likely to be co-authors of patents; state this information.Beyond reiterating your past accomplishments, you must also show that you are prepared to handle the future challenges of being a Principal Investigator.