Boost Your Scholarly Profile: Curriculum Vitae

If you haven't updated your CV within the year, then it is time to do it!  Often, we only update our CVs when applying for jobs or going up for an award or promotion. The downside of this approach is that we often forget noteworthy accomplishments over time. 

Refreshing your CV allows you to:

• Act quickly on job positions, as well as grant & professional development opportunities.
• Take stock of your career trajectory and identify gaps in your research, teaching, and professional experiences.
• Re-write your CV for the positions you want or consider having multiple CVs to suit different purposes.
• Keep an up-to-date online profile (for example, on LinkedIn or our institutional repository) so that potential collaborators may find you.
• Highlight your most important achievements and record your most recent activities that you may forget later.

Follow the steps to keep your CV up-to-date and ready to go!

1. Update Your Personal Contact & Education Information

• Include your name, email address, mailing address, and phone number. You may choose to include your LinkedIn profile or a website that you keep updated. 
  • Note: You don't need to include the words "Curriculum Vitae" or a heading that says "Personal Information." Your name should be as large as-- or larger than-- the other headings on the page.
• List your academic degrees, with most recently earned first, including institution name, city, state, date awarded, and dissertation/thesis title and advisor, if applicable.

2. Decide on a Structure: Identify Headings and Heading Order

• Browse CVs in your field to get an idea of typical CV structure in your discipline. Note the types and order of the headings.  Education typically comes first, followed by research and teaching experience. 

Headings often include: Education, Research Interests, Professional Employment, Teaching Experience, Research Experience, Publications, Presentations, Honors & Awards, References (if applying for a job). They may also include: Qualifications/Skills, Grants & Fellowships, Institutional Service, Certifications, Professional Associations, Current Research, and Community Involvement.

• ​Useful Links:
  • Curriculum Vitae: Tips and Samples - University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  • Curriculum Vitae - Duke University Career Center (includes links to discipline samples)
  • CV Samples - University of Pennsylvania

3. Update the Information under Each Heading 

• Use reverse chronological order whenever possible.
• Consider placing the date ranges to the right of the main information (e.g. position descriptions) rather than to the left.
• Consider using verb statements to keep your descriptions succinct.

4. Proofread for Consistency and Errors

• Keep headings consistent in capitalization, bold or plain font, and punctuation.
• Check for spelling and grammar errors.
• Give your CV to a peer and ask them what jumps out at them; be sure your CV is able to be scanned quickly for important points.

UTA Digital Measures provides a centralized data resource for faculty to collect and organize their teaching, publications, presentations, and service, as well as awards and accomplishments in one centralized location.  Faculty can easily display these accomplishments through a variety of reports including annual reviews, promotion and tenure dossiers, and post-tenure review reports. University, college and departmental leadership can also access faculty data easily through UTA Digital Measures for both internal and external reporting purposes, such as accreditation and Unit Effectiveness Process.


What are the benefits of Digital Measures?

• Provides an efficient online and automated process for collecting, tracking, and performing annual review, accreditation reports, promotions and tenure, and post tenure review.
• Faculty members can use the system to organize many facets of their academic and professional careers and generate customized CVs.
• Provides a single point of entry for data that is frequently requested for faculty activity reports.
• Administrators can generate reports from DM data, eliminating the need for frequent requests for information on publications, grants or other productivity information.​