Coverletter_11_6_17.tex

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\address{Gentry Hanks\\Queen's University, Department of \\Planning and Geography \\
  Kingston, ON Canada\\gentryhanks@gmail.com}
  
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  \begin{letter}
  {Dr. Mark Melder \\ Northwestern State University of Louisiana \\ Department of Criminal Justice, History, and Social Sciences \\ Room 108-D, Kyser Hall \\ Natchitoches, Louisiana 71497}
  \opening{Dear Search Committee Members,} 
With this letter I would like to apply for the \textbf{Assistant Professor of Geography} position at Northwestern State University of Louisiana.

I am currently A.B.D. in the department of Geography and Planning at Queen's University. My defense is scheduled for September 4, 2018. I completed my B.A. (Latin and Italian) and M.A. (Geography) at Louisiana State University. 

I have nine years of experience teaching in university and high school settings, both in the classroom and online. My research and teaching interests include mixed methods, open source mapping and GIS, digital ethnography, health geography, critical geographies of software, cultural geographies, and qualitative methods. I have taught diverse student populations in the US and abroad. I enjoy helping students connect to the material by making it relevant to their own lives and interests.
  
I am living in Fairhope, Alabama while I prepare to defend my dissertation on the geographies of diabetes. I used archival methods, digital ethnography, text mining of online communities, and open source mapping to examine diabetes in historical and contemporary contexts. The first chapter of my dissertation explores the history of diabetes and emotion around the time of the discovery of insulin at the University of Toronto. My next chapter investigates diabetes, embodied biotechnologies and the quantified self. The final chapter compares practices and policies regarding personal biomedical waste, generated through the treatment of diabetes, in Canada and the United States.

During my PhD program teaching assistantships, I was the tech coordinator for Moodle in Queen's Introduction to Human Geography Courses. I am versatile in my interests and abilities, allowing me to teach a variety of geography courses with interdisciplinary appeal. I would love to inspire more students to become involved in geography at Northwestern State University of Louisiana. I am passionate about engaging students and getting them excited about this rich discipline. My experience in and enthusiasm for geography, pedagogy, and technology makes me a great candidate for this position.
% I also collaborated with others on waste research in the genera research group and I conducted ethnographic interviews with waste water treatment facility employees about needles and other biomedical waste in sewerage. Additionally, I was a research assistant and conducted ethnographic research in online communities about autism and sexuality. During my MA program, I worked for Dr. Helen Regis, an Anthropologist at Louisiana State University, on an ethnographic project in New Orleans, Louisiana. I identified and organized participants, I collected 20 oral histories in Spanish and English from Latin American Cultural Activists in post-Katrina New Orleans. I also collected mental maps for the project, conducted archival research, and prepared a literature reviews.

  
You can see examples of my work at www.gentryhanks.com. Please find out more about my qualifications by reading my enclosed Curriculum Vitae. My official transcripts and letters of recommendation will arrive under separate cover. Thank you for your time and consideration. If you have any further questions regarding my candidature, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Respectfully yours,\\
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Gentry P. Hanks

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  \encl{Curriculum Vitae} 
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