Letters / My teaching (tutor) experiences - Cover letter for a faculty position [4]

Hi there, I am asking for help to try to write a cover letter where i can highlight my teaching (tutor) experiences without boring the reader or minimizing my research experience. I was told by the director of the department who i meet personally that they don't have any positions to be filled at this moment but he still asked me to submit an application and all the paperwork just in case. I am not sure if i am inlcuding too much nonsense details or if they actually help to reader have an idea of how much pressure, work, and students i can handle. This is a draft, thus focus on the main idea and then gramatical errors. any help will be greatly appreciated.

Dr. Timothy Anderson:
I am writing to formally apply for a Faculty position in the science field at Central Texas College (CTC). I obtained my Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Baylor College of Medicine in 2008. As a National Research Service Award (NRSA) winner and author of numerous manuscripts, I believe I have the experience to help guide students toward successful careers. During our previous meeting it has been considered that my educational background, research, teaching experiences and commitment to teaching will tremendously contribute to the academic programs that CTC has to offer.

I attribute much of my educational success to the great teachings that I have received from patient, passionate and committed instructors. Inspired by these role models I decided to devote my spare time during my undergraduate and graduate training to serve as an academic and life mentor to my junior colleagues. During my time as an undergraduate student at the University of Puerto Rico and a graduate student at Baylor College of Medicine, I actively sought out teaching and tutoring opportunities and took a prominent role as a teaching assistant in various courses. In these sessions, I worked with both undergraduate and graduate students at different academic levels to help them grasp difficult concepts. At the University of Puerto Rico I tutored undergraduate students, majoring in Biology, on a variety of courses and laboratories such as Biology I and II, Human Anatomy and Physiology, Microbiology, General Chemistry, and Biochemistry. In addition, I served as a teaching assistant on a Biochemistry laboratory course where I taught and supervised the completion of experiments performed by a group of six undergraduate students. While at Baylor College of Medicine, I taught a Cell and Molecular Biology course for four years. There were six intense lectures each summer, with 10-15 junior graduate students per class. I also led discussion groups for graduate students who were in need of additional assistance on topics such as Molecular Methods, Organization of the Cell, Cell Division, Cancer, Biology of Aging, Genetics and Gene Regulation. Once I obtained my Ph.D. I moved to Okinawa, Japan where I joined University of Maryland University College (UMUC), Asia division, as an adjunct faculty. I taught Biology courses and its laboratory in a face to face format for over a year, and I continue to do so through the distance education program. These experiences not only have served to hone my communication skills but also expand my knowledge and ability to teach a wide variety of courses at both undergraduate and graduate level.

I believe my rigorous training as a Ph.D. student working under the guidance of Dr. Zhou Songyang has also well prepared me for this position. My thesis work was focused on understanding how proteins interact with each other to maintain the fidelity of signal transduction, important for normal cell function. I approached this problem by determining the specificity required for protein-protein interactions to occur. We developed a peptide based approach on an array format that facilitates large scale analysis of protein-protein interactions. This strategy was successfully used to map the specificities of a variety of interactions, including the BRCA1 C-terminal (BRCT) domain. Mutations on the BRCA1 gene account for approximately 80-90% of all hereditary breast cancer. Although the exact function of the BRCT domain of BRCA1 was not known, interestingly most BRCA1-cancer associated mutations are group to this region of the protein. We have demonstrated that BRCT domains can indeed mediate protein-protein interactions that are dependent on the phosphorylation status of their targets. In addition, I carried out cell-based screens and identified previously unknown proteins that interact with the BRCT domain of BRCA1. These discoveries are a major step in breast cancer research since understanding the functions of BRCA1 and its interacting proteins will further assist in the research and design of potential therapeutic approaches for identifying treatments and eventual cures for this lethal genetic disease.

I am confident that my teaching experience and training as a biologist and biochemist well qualifies me to contribute and maintain CTC's standards of academic excellence. I look forward to the opportunity to meet with you in the near future. I am enclosing my Curriculum Vitae, transcripts, and application as requested. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you need any additional information.

Thank you for your consideration,