I love divine intervention? The latest for me came in a wonderful email early Friday from John Watson, J.D., Ph.D., an associate professor at the American University School of Communication, and someone recalling when we were members of the fledging Garden State Association of Black Journalists in the late 1980s.
"I just finished reading your commentary on the AptiQuant hoax in the Journal of Mass Media Ethics," Watson wrote. "Well done. It's a rare experience to discover someone I met in the professional world of journalism writing in the peer-reviewed scholarly journals. As someone who made the transition a bit earlier than you and who still sometimes finds it bewildering, you seem to be handling it well."
Specializing in communication law and journalism ethics, Watson also let me know "I am available if you need any help navigating this new world." I quickly thanked him for his encouragement and asked for immediate help. I needed a three-page curriculum vitae by today! Could he email a copy of his CV so I could perhaps model it during the weekend? He shared his full academic-size version and one only four pages long. Just what I needed!
The notion of a CV has been, well, bewildering. For most of my career, the focus has been on one-page resumes. On the other hand, a complete CV seems to need basically everything you have ever done in your life. Last June, I created what I thought was a thorough three-page CV, only to have a friend and mentor tell me I had crammed six pages worth of information into it – with little chance of any of it being read by swamped evaluators. Another challenge is producing a suitable document when my experience is much more professional than academic.
A few helpful guides exist online, including "Writing the Curriculum Vitae," "How to Prepare a Killer CV" and "The Alternative to Your Journalism CV." This time, however, I gratefully used Watson's example – and one shared by my fellow Marquette alum Andrew Mendelson, Ph.D., the journalism department chairman at Temple University – to fashion a legitimate three-page summary of my work and service so far in academia. My hope is to have a more extensive CV by summer's end. Your suggestions and prayers are much appreciated.
"I just finished reading your commentary on the AptiQuant hoax in the Journal of Mass Media Ethics," Watson wrote. "Well done. It's a rare experience to discover someone I met in the professional world of journalism writing in the peer-reviewed scholarly journals. As someone who made the transition a bit earlier than you and who still sometimes finds it bewildering, you seem to be handling it well."
Specializing in communication law and journalism ethics, Watson also let me know "I am available if you need any help navigating this new world." I quickly thanked him for his encouragement and asked for immediate help. I needed a three-page curriculum vitae by today! Could he email a copy of his CV so I could perhaps model it during the weekend? He shared his full academic-size version and one only four pages long. Just what I needed!
The notion of a CV has been, well, bewildering. For most of my career, the focus has been on one-page resumes. On the other hand, a complete CV seems to need basically everything you have ever done in your life. Last June, I created what I thought was a thorough three-page CV, only to have a friend and mentor tell me I had crammed six pages worth of information into it – with little chance of any of it being read by swamped evaluators. Another challenge is producing a suitable document when my experience is much more professional than academic.
A few helpful guides exist online, including "Writing the Curriculum Vitae," "How to Prepare a Killer CV" and "The Alternative to Your Journalism CV." This time, however, I gratefully used Watson's example – and one shared by my fellow Marquette alum Andrew Mendelson, Ph.D., the journalism department chairman at Temple University – to fashion a legitimate three-page summary of my work and service so far in academia. My hope is to have a more extensive CV by summer's end. Your suggestions and prayers are much appreciated.
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