Career Center

ASSOCIATE OR FULL PROFESSOR

Northwestern University invites applications for a full-time, tenured faculty position at the level of Associate or Full Professor for an anticipated fall 2023 start. The hire will become a core faculty member of Northwestern's new interschool humanities PhD Program entitled Rhetoric, Media, and Publics, the successor program to the PhD program in Rhetoric and Public Culture. The position will be jointly appointed in the School of Communication and the Medill School of Journalism. Applicants must hold a PhD in Communication Studies, Journalism, media studies, Rhetoric, or other related field within the humanities. Applicants should also have exemplary publication and teaching records.

Area of specialization is open, although we are particularly interested in candidates who will be able to teach the program's required doctoral seminar in the "History of Media Technologies"; and whose research and teaching demonstrates a deep historical and theoretical knowledge of journalism, rhetoric, media, and communication regardless of period specialization. We are also interested in research profiles specializing in global, non-western, comparative, and non-English-language contexts, including research focusing on marginalized perspectives and decolonial approaches to media practices, rhetorics, technologies, forms, aesthetics, audiences, and publics.

The program in Rhetoric, Media, and Publics draws upon resources within three schools at Northwestern: the School of Communication; the Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications; and the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences. Consequently, we use interdisciplinary perspectives to investigate how different media are mobilized within modern historical contexts to constitute distinct publics with specific social relations as well as ethical-political orientations. Program inquiry focuses on a diverse array of media, from oral to print, from the visual to the sonic, from journalism to social, and from the performative to the digital. Our aim is to investigate how the formal and aesthetic particularities of different media technologies interact with the diverse aims that producers and their audiences bring to their use. By drawing upon rhetorical analysis, journalism studies, critical/cultural theory, media history, media aesthetics, and political theory, we train students to think rigorously about the relationships among individual experiences in everyday life and large-scale social, technological, and political transformations. We seek to understand how global inequalities are both perpetuated and challenged as audiences, publics, and communities are called into being through communication practices over time. We encourage our students not only to analyze but also to engage different publics in their scholarship, in order to deepen their critique of such inequalities.

Preferred Start Date:  September 1, 2023

Salary:   Competitive, depending on qualifications and experience.

Application procedure: Applications and supporting documents will be accepted only by online submission here. Materials should include a cover letter, curriculum vitae, and article- or chapter-length writing sample, and the names of three references who may submit confidential letters of recommendation. Inquiries about the search may be sent to the Search Chair, Professor James J. Hodge at james.hodge@northwestern.edu.

Application Deadline:  November 1, 2022. For full consideration, applications should be submitted by the deadline, but review of applications may continue until the position is filled.

The Schools: The School of Communication has five departments and offers a suite of interdisciplinary undergraduate, professional, and graduate programs. The departments span the communication arts and sciences including the Department of Radio-Television-Film, the Roxelyn and Richard Pepper Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, the Department of Communication Studies, the Department of Performance Studies, and the Department of Theatre (which includes music theatre and dance). The faculty of over 180 includes 99 tenure-eligible faculty. The school offers instruction to roughly 1000 undergraduate majors and 650 graduate and professional students. Founded over 144 years ago, the School has been a leader in developing the communication disciplines and professions, and continues to be a center of excellence in the communication arts and sciences. Our current Dean is E. Patrick Johnson.

The Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications has two departments and offers a range of undergraduate, graduate, and professional degree programs. The Department of Journalism and the Department of Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) feature an interdisciplinary mix of over 150 faculty from industry and academia. In addition to the main Evanston campus, the Medill School has campuses in Chicago, Washington D.C., San Francisco, and Qatar. The Medill School is also home to several research centers and labs including: The Local News Initiative, The Knight Lab, and The Spiegel Research Center. Founded in 1921, the Medill School has a rich history of educating the next generation of leaders in journalism and marketing. Our current Dean is Charles Whitaker.

The University: Northwestern University is one of the nation’s largest private research universities. Located on the shore of Lake Michigan, the main campus is in Evanston and the medical campus is 12 miles south in downtown Chicago. There is continuing expansion of University facilities and programs, particularly in the sciences and medicine. Diverse cultural, social, and recreational activities abound on and near each campus.

Departments: SoC Communication Studies & Medill Journalism

Please read ALL instructions and make preparations before proceeding to the application page:

• Applications will only be accepted via online submission (see link below).
• Please prepare all documents in advance as Adobe PDF files, and please be sure all information is entered correctly and accurately (especially names and email addresses), as there will be no opportunity for online revision after your application has been submitted.
• Please also prepare a list of names and email addresses for your external academic references; your references will be contacted directly by the online system and invited to upload their letters on your behalf.
• All required fields in the application form are marked with an asterisk and must be filled before clicking the “Submit” button.
• Be aware that incomplete applications cannot be saved.

Applications accepted here: Apply for Job

Northwestern requires all staff and faculty to be vaccinated against COVID-19, subject to limited exceptions. For more information, please visit our COVID-19 and Campus Updates website.

The Northwestern campus sits on the traditional homelands of the people of the Council of Three Fires, the Ojibwe, Potawatomi, and Odawa as well as the Menominee, Miami and Ho-Chunk nations. We acknowledge and honor the original people of the land upon which Northwestern University stands, and the Native people who remain on this land today.

Northwestern University is an Equal Opportunity, Affirmative Action Employer of all protected classes, including veterans and individuals with disabilities. Women, racial and ethnic minorities, individuals with disabilities, and veterans are encouraged to apply. Click for information on EEO is the Law.
  

About Northwestern University

Northwestern University is a major private research university with 12 academic divisions located on three campuses in Evanston, Chicago, and Education City in Doha, Qatar. We have approximately 2,500 full-time faculty members, 17,000 graduate and undergraduate students, and over 5,700 full and part-time staff. Northwestern University combines innovative teaching and pioneering research in a highly collaborative environment. It provides students and faculty exceptional opportunities for intellectual, personal and professional growth.

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