Faculty interview, hire new teachers

Candidates for open teaching positions at STA go through an application process that can vary by department.

April 28, 2015

story by Alexandra Frisch, alternative coverage by Christina Elias

When a new teaching position is open at STA, the administration carefully filters through and interviews the applicants according to math teacher Jo Weller, who is involved in selecting a new math teacher this year.

“You definitely have to filter through [the applicants],” Weller said. “People want jobs and all kinds of people are applying whether they are remotely qualified or not. When you see [applicants] that have potential, that’s when you follow up with an interview.”

According to Weller, when it comes to a math position the main requirements are teaching experience and a strong math background. This includes at least a bachelor’s degree in math, though many applicants have master’s degrees. The administration also looks for teachers with teacher certification, a good transcript and plenty of classroom management skills. If a potential teacher fulfills the requirements then they are brought on campus for an interview.

“Several people have applied,” Weller said. “We have interviewed eight and we have hired one person.”

According to Weller, the recently hired teacher currently works in Illinois and is one of the only faculty members in the math department at her school. Weller also said that because she lives in Illinois, throughout the interview process she skyped and emailed her and was even able to bring her on campus for an in-person interview.

“I think this will be a great opportunity for her,” Weller said. “She’ll get to come to STA and be in an all-girls environment and be part of a department. I think the students will really learn from her and I think they’ll really like her so I’m really excited.”

Another department with a job opening is the music department. The hunt for a new teacher in this department was led by Greg Monsma, head of the STA music department. Because music and math are different, so was the search process.

“Music is a very niche field, especially choral music,” Monsma said. “Choir conducting is basically it’s own type of performance, we’re on stage too. So half of the job is educating and the other half is making sure that you’re a highly qualified musician as well.”

According to Monsma, 36 people applied for the post and five of them were brought in for interviews. Of the five that were interviewed, three were actually brought in to teach STA singers for a class period.

“That gave us a sense of their teaching style and and expertise in teaching music,” Monsma said.

According to Monsma, more teaching requirements included having sang at a university level, lots of musical experience, and a track record of having students succeed at national and state wide festivals. Monsma also stated that of the three people who came in to teach a class, all three had master’s degrees and at least five years of teaching experience.

Although he is not yet allowed to announce any names, Monsma said he has made a decision and will announce the newest teacher fairly soon.