Research and Teaching Statements
A research statement is a common application
component for academic or scientic positions. The
purpose of this essay is to summarize your research
accomplishments and focus and to provide a roadmap
of where you’ll go in the future. These are often one to
two pages in length.
• YOUR GOAL ...
is to convince a committee that you are a great fit for their
department—that your research will fit their needs, you can bring in
funding and you will represent the organization well. Show a track
record of what you’ve done as a predictor of what you are
capable of.
• YOU WANT ...
to demonstrate strategy and innovation. Always keep in mind,
why does what I do matter? How does it serve the world? How
does it fill a unique need or niche? Many researchers are skilled
at communicating the technical details of their work but not their
unique impact. This is no place to be humble.
• REMEMBER THAT ...
reviewers will have different levels of expertise in the field. Be
sure to explain technical matters in a digestible way. Also, use
informative headers, clear transitions and organization to help
reviewers follow your arguments.
Possible Research Statement Content:
1. A summary of your research and how it contributes to the
broader field.
2. Specific examples that illustrate your results and impacts (e.g.,
major publications, breakthroughs, unique techniques you employ).
3. Who you’ve collaborated with or will collaborate with in your field
or the new department.
4. Funding history and potential (identify real possible funders to help
reviewers visualize your plan).
5. Where you’re going with your scholarly work in the future, how
you will build on current results and your specific goals for the next
three to five years.
The teaching statement aims to paint a picture of who
you are as an educator for academic positions where
teaching will be a large or small component. It should
focus on your teaching results, your goals, your values
and details of the environments/modalities/methods
you’ve taught in. They are often one to two pages
in length.
• YOUR GOAL ...
is to help a department visualize you contributing to a positive
learning environment at their institution as well as the unique
teaching talents and experience you bring.
• YOU WANT ...
to demonstrate efficacy as an educator, your experience, unique
methods you’ve used and how you interact with students.
• REMEMBER THAT ...
this statement should capture who you are as an educator. Avoid
clichés like “students don’t learn through lecture.” Instead talk
specifically about your experiences in the classroom and how you
personally build content that engages students.
Possible Teaching Statement Content:
1. Evidence of your teaching effectiveness (student reviews and
comments, problem solving you’ve done, how you assess
your success).
2. The details of your teaching (specific courses, assignments,
samples from syllabi, use of technology).
3. Inclusive teaching practices (diversity of methods, intercultural
sensitivity, trainings you’ve taken, populations you’ve
worked with).
4. The classroom environment you establish (modes of teaching,
student-teacher interaction, student roles).
5. How you are challenging the status quo and bringing innovation
into the classroom.
6. How you plan to keep growing as an educator and what you can
offer to the department going forward.
7. If the word “philosophy” feels vague, try answering these
questions: Why do you teach your subject? How have you found
students learn best? How do you translate your subject for
different learners? What makes your style yours?
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Research Statement Sample: Public Policy
RESEARCH SUMMARY
My career has consistently reected overlapping interests in public policy, governance and the capacity for public sector decisions to inuence
individuals’ opportunities to pursue educational goals, achieve economic independence and participate in their communities. During the rst 15
years of my career, I focused heavily on applied research, especially program evaluation, typically in the traditional social policy arena including
human services, workforce development and education. I began doctoral studies to conduct scholarly research about the policy process and its
impacts. In particular, I investigated how policy actors inuence government decisions via stakeholder and interest group mobilization—further,
how policy decisions dierentially impact low-income and disadvantaged communities. My scholarly record aligns well with the multiple Berkley
faculty focusing on social justice scholarship and policy eects on underserved populations.
While I have a strong background in social policy, including poverty/self-suciency and long-term services policies, I have also engaged in several
studies related to current environmental and energy policy issues, reecting an interest in how policies change in the face of ongoing economic
and climatic shifts. I take a multi-disciplinary approach to research, and my work reects a commitment to using rigorous qualitative and
quantitative methods. As a fellow with the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships Program (NSF-GRFP), I had the unique
opportunity to participate in multiple supplementary research projects that matched my interests and educational needs. Given this experience
with obtaining federal funding and contributing to several successful faculty grant proposals, I’m condent I can obtain grants from foundations
such as MacArthur and Horowitz and build toward more prestigious awards like those with the NSF’s Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences
division.
During the course of my doctoral program, I engaged in several collaborative research projects with faculty at Oregon State and beyond, yielding
multiple co-authored peer-reviewed publications. I have presented at a variety of policy-related conferences, including the American Society
of Public Administration (ASPA), the Midwest Political Science Association (MPSA) and the American Evaluation Association (AEA) and plan to
continue building relationships in the eld through these organizations.
CURRENT RESEARCH PORTFOLIO
I am currently engaged in multiple projects at varying stages in the publication process, all of which reect my overall research mission. My
dissertation was focused on understanding the factors that have led to state-level policy changes related to employment and day services for
individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disability (I/DD). Since the early 2000s, most states have adopted policies that emphasize
competitive, integrated employment (CIE) as the priority outcome for individuals with I/DD, but have done so with substantial variation in policy
timing, type, content and magnitude. My dissertation used a case-based, mixed-method approach in the context of the Advocacy Coalition
Framework to address the broad research questions of why and how states adopted, or resisted adopting, CIE-focused policy during the last 15 to
20 years.
I found that shifts in the policy mix were associated with coalition-based activity and other subsystem conditions, including stakeholder
mobilization, strategic use of framing and narrative, and bureaucratic advocacy. However, the timing of policy change was related to antecedent
service levels and shifts in coalition membership. My dissertation yielded a single-authored publication in the Policy Studies Journal and a second
manuscript that is currently undergoing peer review.
My primary responsibility as a post-doctoral scholar in the OSU School of Social and Behavioral Sciences is to develop a Supplemental Poverty
Measure (SPM) for the State of Oregon using a combination of national datasets (American Community Survey and Current Population Survey)
and state-level administrative data. In the spirit of federal SPM developments, we are using these data to develop a more valid measure of
poverty in the state, which will enable us to measure how tax credits, income transfers and other subsidies (e.g., childcare) aect poverty in
dierent demographic groups. This project is being conducted in collaboration with the Oregon Department of Human Services and Employment
Department.
In addition to my post-doctoral responsibilities, I am engaged in several other collaborative policy-focused studies, including a comparative study
of asset poverty in the U.S. and Canada. It is being prepared for submission to a special issue of Social Policy and Administration, an ongoing
study of re-distributional institutions in poor rural and urban communities, an ongoing study of communities’ policy innovations in the wake of
extreme weather events and a nascent study of systematic use of narratives to inuence rearms regulation and immigration policies.
Finally, I am in the planning stages for a new project to examine the variation in timing and content of state-level Earned Income Tax Credit policy
adoption in the United States. I’m eager to bring my ongoing areas of inquiry as well as this track record of publication and consistent research
productivity to your department. Additionally, I believe my research focus and expertise compliment the ongoing social policy work that Dr.
Gonzalez and Dr. Warnick are conducting in disaggregating poverty demographic data. This intersection will yield fruitful collaborations that will
advance important societal work.
FUTURE RESEARCH AGENDA
My future research portfolio will continue to explore the conditions under which policy and governance changes occur, the resources and
strategies used by policy actors to achieve policy objectives and the impacts of policy and governance changes. I am particularly interested
in contributing to scholarship that explores the development and impact of policy and governance innovations in the context of macro-level
changes, such as growing income inequality and climate change.
While the scholarly research interests described above are fairly “academic,” I also maintain a continued interest in collaborating with policy
actors through applied research contributions, including policy analysis and program evaluation, with the primary objective of producing policy-
relevant information for consumption by policymakers and the secondary objective of maintaining a close connection to the eld.
Teaching Statement Sample: Earth Sciences
A researcher is a lifelong learner. I am motivated to acquire and create new knowledge, and to share these gains through teaching. As an earth
scientist studying the societally-relevant topic of coastal geomorphic change, I’m focused on extending the impact of scholarly work through
outreach and engagement with the public. Students are an essential audience as their discoveries will advance science into the future. I believe
higher education should be a conduit not just for delivering knowledge and skills, but equipping students to acquire new experiences for
themselves. My teaching approach combines an enthusiasm for research, communicating science and inspiring others to pursue a life of inquiry
in the natural world. It involves: (1) creating equitable teaching and learning environments, (2) providing students with transformational learning
experiences and (3) incorporating best teaching practices into everything I do (including careful, frequent evaluation and revision of my teaching).
(1) I seek to create equitable learning environments. Implicit bias, though subtle and dicult to measure, is pervasive; it hinders the success
of many throughout their entire academic careers. As a woman in the physical sciences, I have experienced biases against me rst-hand. But as a
white scholar, I also know I must use the privilege I have to dismantle socially unjust systems. Teachers have a unique responsibility to recognize
social hierarchies, even those students may be unaware of, and mitigate inequity as much as possible. I strive to create learning environments that
are equitable, which to me means students are validated, supported and challenged. I have sought intentional learning opportunities to build my
skills in areas like communicating within the context of other cultures, using student-centered and culturally-mediated instruction, and viewing
myself as a facilitator of education versus its keeper.
An example of applying this knowledge is my work with the Oregon State University (OSU) Science & Math Investigative Learning Experiences
(SMILE) program aimed at providing underrepresented Oregon K-12 students with pathway programs to degrees and careers in STEM. My
hands-on activities guided high school students, elementary school students and K-12 teachers in the SMILE program through an experiment
investigating organic carbon burial in salt marsh cores at the OSU Marine Geology Repository. This experience not only exposed the SMILE
students to earth science content often lacking in current K-12 curricula, but also engaged them as aspiring scientists in exciting, societally-
relevant research happening in their region.
(2) I seek never to suer from “narration sickness” wherein teachers are tasked with depositing their information into students [1]. I have
witnessed this paradigm often as a student in STEM courses. Too frequently earth science professors approach dicult, socially complex issues,
such as those related to climate change, from only the scientic perspective. By not incorporating students’ experiences, the signicance of
the issue is often lost. Higher education, when viewed as a process of critical inquiry performed by students and teachers as equals can be
transformative and lead to social change. I therefore teach content centered around discussions on complicated and controversial issues related
to earth system processes that draw upon the students’ experiences. This form of progressive, problem-solving education provides a means of
empowerment for and increases participation by under-represented groups in lifelong learning.
As a GTA for an advanced oceanography course, geological oceanography, I worked to narrow the perceived intellectual gap between myself
and students through careful redirection of questions—helping students discover knowledge in themselves and their classmates. Additionally, I
elected to learn about dierence, power and discrimination through completing inclusive classroom coursework. As part of a supplemental class,
I designed a pilot course investigating the intersection of global change, natural resources and socio-economic inequality. As an example lesson
plan, I devised a discussion exploring environmental injustice surrounding preparation, mitigation and perception of large storm events, with a
focus on Hurricane Katrina. I am eager to deliver this and similar content in my future position.
(3) I strive to incorporate best teaching practices in my classrooms. Despite the challenges of connecting students with their natural
environment in online and large-enrollment courses, I feel it’s vital to incorporate more of these experiences into our lesson plans to combat
poor retention of students in the earth sciences. To hone transformative teaching experience during my graduate degree, I developed and
implemented authentic activities that enhanced how students viewed, valued and interacted with their natural environment. As an example, I
created lab assignments for a new course for undergraduates wherein students analyzed real-world stream gauge data maintained by the U.S.
Geological Survey. The project asked them to examine stream discharge and suspended sediment time series data, develop a research narrative
integrating peer-reviewed literature and present their ndings. Each student was assigned a dierent river and given freedom to investigate any
aspect of interest related to the record of sediment discharge. This authentic learning experience provided students the opportunity to work with
real-world data and to communicate a nal research product.
Virtual learning is also becoming increasingly prevalent in today’s academic environments. Though these courses are ecient and cost-
eective, students are often placed in a passive role. Because it is unlikely that large institutions will reduce class sizes, we as educators must
nd instructional techniques to increase active and cooperative learning. I have therefore sought opportunities to gain practical strategies
to facilitate engaged learning in large-enrollment, online courses. I have assisted in teaching a number of high-enrollment, introductory
courses, introductory online courses and writing intensive online courses. These experiences taught me valuable, practical knowledge. I also
participated in workshops, seminars and short-courses during my graduate degree.
In an eort to continue improving my teaching skills within the virtual and in-person environment, I have also paid careful attention to
assessments I receive from my online students. The importance of self-evaluation cannot be over-stated—simply put, it allows us to
understand what has been working and what needs revision to ensure our students’ success towards becoming individual thinkers and
learners. As an example, for an introductory geology course for graduate students, I evaluated end-of-term student evaluations of my
teaching and created a detailed, analytic rubric to incorporate into lab exercises. Not only does this rubric make grading more ecient and
less biased, it more clearly states the expectations for the students, who rise to them and improve their performance.
Through my teaching, I strive to provide students with the skills and experience to be independent learners once they have graduated. My
ultimate goal is to be a teacher who provides her students with experiential learning that is transformative to their worldviews. I want to be
the type of educator that inspires students to become teachers themselves.
[1] Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York, Continuum.
