Career Center

Position Summary

The James Madison College, a residential college of public affairs at Michigan State University, seeks to fill a tenure-track assistant professor position in Social Relations and Policy. We seek a teacher-scholar to teach theories of social inequality and intersectionality, with expertise in the fields of Queer Studies, Indigenous Studies, and/or Latino/Latinx Studies. 

Teaching Responsibilities

This teaching-intensive position carries a 2-2 teaching load with courses ranging from four to five credits. Most classes at James Madison College range from 15 to 30 students, with engaging, student-centered seminars. Faculty are also expected to engage in additional mentoring and advising of undergraduate students as part of their work responsibilities.

The college prioritizes and seeks to support teaching excellence, broadly understood. Support is  provided within the college and across the university to assist faculty in developing their teaching strengths. The college has a formal mentoring program focused on supporting faculty success across all dimensions of faculty work, including teaching. The faculty understand that excellence in teaching can be achieved in diverse ways and no particular pedagogical approach is privileged over any other.

All James Madison College faculty teach undergraduate students from their first through their senior year. Faculty teach across the first-year curriculum, including writing and research seminars and/or the Introduction to Public Affairs. This position requires the faculty member to teach Social Theory and Social Relations (MC280), a required course in the Social Relations and Policy major typically taken in the second year. The successful candidate will also teach upper-level electives and a senior seminar of their own design. Although we identify courses here, the college is currently undergoing a review to re-envision our curriculum. We are responsive to the teaching interests of the new faculty member in this position, and intend for their teaching to help innovate and expand our teaching in areas such as theories of social inequality and ethnic studies.

Opportunities to work with graduate students also exist through James Madison College’s Interdisciplinary Inquiry and Teaching Program, which mentors graduate student fellows from different MSU departments in interdisciplinary teaching. At their discretion, faculty may also choose to work on graduate student committees in outside colleges.

Research

James Madison College faculty are expected to maintain an active scholarly agenda. As a multidisciplinary college with faculty in varied social science and humanities fields, the college encourages and supports faculty to develop their own research agenda, and has a broad understanding of scholarship.

The college provides research support, including a start-up package, annual support for conference presentations, funding for undergraduate student researchers, and additional support for faculty research. In addition, there is some internal support for research in the humanities and social sciences through Michigan State University.

Service

As an undergraduate residential college with commitments to our students, our faculty and staff colleagues, and the larger university, faculty undertake service activities needed to fulfill the college mission and participate in governance processes. Faculty members are expected to participate in this service work, although expectations of (and opportunities for) service vary in accordance with rank and length of service.

The college also recognizes a broad range of public service, including engagement with local communities, involvement in national or international public affairs, and service to the disciplinary or interdisciplinary fields in which faculty work.

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, citizenship, age, disability or protected veteran status.

Required Degree

Doctorate -Sociology, Ethnic Studies, Public Policy, Education or a related interdisciplinary field

Minimum Requirements

• Potential for excellence in undergraduate teaching in an interdisciplinary setting.
• Ability to teach theories of social inequality and social theory.
• Ability to develop and teach courses in the candidate’s field of expertise (Queer Studies, Indigenous Studies, and/or Latino/Latinx Studies).
• Ability to conduct and publish innovative research in the candidate’s field(s) of expertise.
• Willingness to mentor, advise, and engage with students in a vibrant residential undergraduate environment.
• Commitment to promoting a diverse, equitable, and inclusive learning environment

Desired Qualifications

• Experience working with undergraduate students in various capacities, including teaching undergraduate seminars.
• Experience promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in an educational setting, with evidence in practice.

Required Application Materials

• Applicants should supply a letter of application (cover letter) which includes how their teaching and research interests would contribute to James Madison College’s curriculum and mission. As part of our commitment to equitable and thorough review of applications, the committee would appreciate candidates limiting their letters to three pages.
• Supporting materials should include a
  • CV, transcript,
  • diversity statement,
  • evidence of teaching approach and effectiveness (e.g. sample syllabi, student evaluations), and
  • a sample of scholarship (e.g. article, dissertation chapter, conference paper).
• The names and contact information of three confidential references that speak to teaching and scholarly promise must be provided as part of the application process. MSU will contact these references with instructions for the references on how to upload their confidential letter into MSU’s application system.

Special Instructions

Applications must be submitted electronically to the Michigan State University Human Resources website: https://careers.msu.edu. Review of applications will begin on September 20, 2023 and will continue until the position is filled. Please contact Katie Dyjach (dyjachk@msu.edu) with any questions.

Review of Applications Begins On

09/20/2023

Website

jmc.msu.edu

Department Statement

James Madison College provides undergraduates an engaging liberal arts education in public affairs in a residential college setting within a research-intensive university. The college’s multidisciplinary perspective with a focus on social science prepares students to pursue a variety of careers with a heightened social awareness and global responsibility. Faculty offices, academic advisors, classrooms, seminar rooms, meeting spaces and a cafeteria are located in Case Hall, contributing to the living-learning environment.

The Social Relations and Policy major is an interdisciplinary field of public affairs that addresses relations of power and inequality among groups, paying close attention to the influence and intersectionality of class, race, ethnicity, sex/gender, religion and national identity. The field explores historical and contemporary social relations in the United States and internationally. Courses focus on the sociology, history and politics of intergroup relations, including current offerings in Social Movements, Education Policy, and Environmental Justice, among others. The program uses the study of social relations as a way to cultivate reasoning, methodological and analytical skills and the capacities for empathetic observation, normative judgment and effective problem-solving.

Michigan State University has varied Ethnic Studies and Interdisciplinary departments and programs including but not limited to American Indian and Indigenous Studies, Chicano/Latino Studies, African American and African Studies, Asian Pacific American Studies, the Center for Latin American Studies and the Center for Gender in Global Context. The university also has varied centers for research, outreach and collaboration, including the Institute for Public Policy and Social Research, the Center for Community and Economic Development, the Center for Community Engaged Learning and MSU Extension. The Office of Institutional Diversity and Inclusion organizes support for faculty, including the Diversity Research Initiative. Faculty and staff also organize important spaces for support of research, teaching and existing on campus, including the Women of Color Initiative, faculty-staff associations and learning communities. In response to longstanding student demands, the university is currently building a free-standing Multicultural Center to serve underrepresented and under-resourced students, helping to address issues of bias, inequities, and campus climate.

MSU Statement

Michigan State University has been advancing the common good with uncommon will for more than 160 years. One of the top research universities in the world, MSU pushes the boundaries of discovery and forges enduring partnerships to solve the most pressing global challenges while providing life-changing opportunities to a diverse and inclusive academic community through more than 200 programs of study in 17 degree-granting colleges.

About Michigan State University

Spartans work every day to advance the common good in uncommon ways.Together, we tackle some of the world?s toughest problems to find solutions that make life better?from alternative energy to better food safety to breakthrough medical and environmental applications achieved through rare isotope research.We teach. We explore and we discover. We collaborate and lead. We innovate, inspire, and empower. We achieve our potential and create circumstances that help our students and others achieve theirs.We're good at it, and we've been at it for more than 150 years.The nation?s pioneer land-grant university, MSU began as a bold experiment that democratized higher education and helped bring science and innovation into everyday life. The revolutionary concept became a model for the nation.Today, MSU is one of the top research universities in the world?on one of the biggest, greenest campuses in the nation. Home to nationally ranked and recognized academic, residential college, and service-learning programs, we?re a diverse community of dedicated students and scholars, athletes and artists, scientists and leaders.In ways both practical and profound, we work to create a stronger, more sustainable, and more hopeful future for all.

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