How to avoid redundancy in the faculty application materials?

Question

I'm applying for a faculty position. The required documents include:

1. a letter of application
2. statement addressing the candidate's teaching interests
3. statement addressing the scholarly/performance agenda
4. curriculum vitae
5. contact information for three references
6. graduate transcripts
7. evidence of demonstrated or potential excellence in undergraduate instruction.

I'm a bit confused about items 2, 3, and 7.

In my previous applications, I submitted a teaching philosophy statement, where I elaborated on my views on different aspects of teaching a course and how I plan to engage students with the class. I also had submitted a cover letter where I briefly discussed my interest in the position and my qualifications.

However, it seems that a lot of what I would prepare for this application would be repetitions. For instance, how would items 2 and 7 differ? I should add that I only have been a teaching assistant for a few courses. I can request to teach a class this summer, though (I'm a first-year post-doc at the moment).

Edit:

Lastly, in item 3, what is the meaning of "scholarly/performance agenda"? Is this just my research so far or what I plan to do? or Both? Since the application does not further elaborate on what the search committee expects in each document, I would appreciate any suggestion on preparing these documents with the least amount of overlap.

Answer 1

how would items 2 and 7 differ?

They messed up the wording a bit. 2 is a "statement" and 7 is "evidence." My interpretation is that 7 should be your teaching evaluations or some other evidence from a third party. 2 is the regular teaching philosophy.

item 3 would also be similar to my cover letter

Well, maybe. The contents of your cover letter would really depend on the type of university you are applying to; if it's a research university, emphasize your research. If it's a teaching intensive university, emphasize your teaching. Certainly the cover letter should briefly summarize all the other documents.

Answer 2

Specific to 3 and your edit, even a teaching college wants "scholarly activity" from the faculty. At a teaching focused university near me the expectation is 60/20/20 for teaching/research/service activities. You are still expected to have scholarly output and before hiring you would like to know what your plans are for that. "Performance" is a bit harder to understand without explanation unless connected to scholarly activity. But course development and such is a kind of performance connected to teaching for example.

Scholarly activity includes things like conference attendance and participation, papers, even development of pedagogy. Maintaining and developing connections to other scholars and teachers can be important.

All of those things can be important when it comes time for tenure review as well as at initial hiring.