Adjunct Instructors - U.S. History
Posted May 4, 2026 · We last checked this listing on Oct 6, 2026
Likely interview questions for this role
Written from this job description, not a generic list. Each one notes what the interviewer is really checking.
About your past
Tell me about teaching students who are taking U.S. history only because it's required.
What they are checking: Whether they can engage general education students who arrive with little interest in the subject.
What have you done in history in the last five years, like teaching, publishing or presenting?
What they are checking: Whether they meet the college's requirement for current activity in the field, not only a past degree.
How do you stay connected to the department when you teach part time and aren't on campus much?
What they are checking: Whether they will follow department expectations and communicate, rather than operate in isolation.
What would you do
How do you teach slavery, the Civil War and Reconstruction in a classroom where students bring very different assumptions?
What they are checking: Whether they can teach contested history honestly while keeping discussion respectful and grounded in evidence.
If the dean called you on short notice to cover a section of U.S. History 2, how would you get the course ready?
What they are checking: Whether they can prepare quickly and well for the last-minute openings the posting describes.
A student says your course is biased because of how you framed a topic. How do you respond?
What they are checking: Whether they can stay calm, explain their evidence and keep the student in the conversation.
About the work
History of the United States 1 and 2 cover a lot of ground. How would you organize the first half of the survey so it holds together?
What they are checking: Whether they can build a survey around clear themes instead of a list of events.
Where would you end U.S. History 1 and begin U.S. History 2, and why does that dividing point matter?
What they are checking: Whether they think deliberately about periodization, which shapes how students understand the whole story.
What primary sources do you like to use in a U.S. survey, and what do you want students to get from them?
What they are checking: Whether they teach students to work with evidence and not only absorb a narrative.
How do you help first-year students write a history paper with an actual argument?
What they are checking: Whether they teach writing as part of history, which is a core goal of a liberal arts survey.
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Practice this out loudThe full job description
As published by St. Norbert College.