Career Center

The Department of History at the University of South Carolina is pleased to invite applications for a new two-year Visiting Assistant Professor Position focused on teaching and interpreting the documents on which the United States was founded (including the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, Federalist Papers, Emancipation Proclamation, other freedom papers, and more). This Visiting Assistant Professor position is available beginning on August 16, 2022. This twelve-month position includes a five-course teaching load (two in the Fall; two in the Spring, and one either in the Winter term or over the Summer session). In addition, the Visiting Assistant Professor Position will be associated with the Department's renowned History Center, directed by Prof. Patricia Sullivan, and will have the opportunity to assist with activities, projects, and works-in-progress organized by that unit Our intent is to build a faculty learning community focused on various intellectual, social, cultural, economic, religious and political aspects of the Founding Documents and their importance for civic engagement and reinvigorated democracy in the twenty-first century. All told, there will be a total of six Teaching Post Docs across History, Political Science, and African American Studies.

This opportunity is the result of new legislation in South Carolina (the REACH Act) that requires college students in the state to complete a three-credit course that includes the American founding documents. We seek candidates who are committed to teaching students how to place these documents into the intellectual history of democracy within and beyond the United States. Teaching will be limited to courses that satisfy the State's Founding Documents requirement (including HIST 111: US History to 1865; HIST 201: Founding Documents; AFAM 200: Freedom Papers; and HIST 469-470 Constitutional History of the US, I & II).

Please forward a letter of application that includes a cover letter, a clear statement of your commitment to teaching Founding Documents, two letters of reference, a brief writing sample (not to exceed 20 pages), and a transcript that shows all requirements for the degree completion have been completed no later than May 31, 2022. For best consideration, a complete application should be submitted by July 11, 2022. Applications will be reviewed until the positions are filled.

1. Completion of a History PhD from 2018-2022. (ABDs are NOT eligible for consideration)

2. Demonstrable experience teaching or researching the history of democracy and/or the founding documents of the United States

3. Interest in shaping civics education for the 21st century

4. Experience in building intellectual community and events planning