Does this school want a cover letter or more?

[anony]

Portland State University's job posting says:

"Send application letter which includes a statement indicating teaching and research interests and experience, Curriculum Vitae, and three letters of reference to:..."

does that mean a cover letter which talks about research and teaching interests? Or a cover letter and a separate statement of teaching and research interests?

[bubba steve]

Well, if you take them literally, they mean a letter that includes teaching and research statements. But it's hard to imagine they would care if you just had a cover letter that mentioned you had separate research and teaching statements enclosed, and then enclosed those. Sometimes in ads like this (asking for a letter including research and teaching statements), I've had a cover letter that includes my full research interests description, but only a brief section on teaching, and then I've enclosed a separate full teaching statement, so that people who are interested can go to that document to learn more.

[anonymous]

I took it to mean they wanted only a cover letter and CV. It may not matter if you send research and teaching statements, but the advice I've always gotten is don't send more materials than they ask for -- it runs the risk of irritating the search committee.

[Economst]

They are looking for the least qualified person for their government-mandated quotas. Just type some stuff--the resulting incoherence is a good proxy for the amount of minority in you.

[Real Economist]

They are also looking for ACORN members. The goal of the group is to use this position to register thousands of false names and minorities on the voting role so they can turn Idaho from a place where real Americans are represented to a home for terrorists, Marxists, and homosexuals.