Applying for tenure-track research position and lecturer position at the same university?

Question

there is a very good research university (actually many of them; this is mathematics in the US) that have both tenure-track assistant professor open positions and lecturer open positions. I want to know what you think about applying for both. Ideally I want the tenure-track position, but the job market is tough, and I would also be happy with a lecturer position (which is much more teaching oriented). How would a hiring committee look at this? I am afraid that the tenure-track guys will say "Well, this guy/girl doesn't think he/she's good enough to get a tenure-track job because he/she is also applying for a lecturer position, so let's ditch him/her". At the same time, the lecturer guys could say "Well, it seems that he/she wants a tenure-track position but he will settle for a lectureship. We want someone more motivated."

There is a similar question here: Should I simultaneously apply for multiple jobs in different ranks at the same university? which is more about "post-doc vs. tenure-track". I think this situation is slightly different.

Answer 1

In my department, tenure-track hiring and lecturer hiring are done by different committees. When I was associate chair (until a couple of years ago), I was on both committees, but, as far as I can remember, I was the only common member. So if someone applied for both sorts of positions, that fact might not get much (or any) attention. Also, you shouldn't worry about the tenure track committee thinking you have a low opinion of yourself. We generally don't care very much about your opinion of yourself (some people are naturally modest); we care about other people's (especially experts') opinion of you.