Assistant Professor, Interdisciplinary Cluster in California Studies: History and Ethnic Studies (Tenure-Track)
Saint Mary's College of California
Application
Details
Posted: 10-Dec-24
Location: Moraga, California
Type: Full-time
Internal Number: 5858572
Assistant Professor, Interdisciplinary Cluster in California Studies: History and Ethnic Studies (Tenure-Track)
Location: Moraga, CA Open Date: Dec 09, 2024 Deadline: Feb 03, 2025 at 11:59 PM Eastern Time
Description:Saint Mary's College (SMC) of California invites applications for two tenure-track Assistant Professor positions as part of an interdisciplinary cluster hire in California Studies. The California Studies Cluster initiative brings together units in Ethnic Studies and U.S./California History with an emphasis in Public History to understand the unique political, economic, cultural, and social challenges and opportunities that face California from the perspective of historically marginalized and racialized populations. The successful candidates will play an active role in making Saint Mary's an innovative and interdisciplinary hub for the study of California as a site for engaged learning and innovative community-based research. The successful applicants will play a leadership role in expanding our Ethnic Studies and Public History program offerings, and based on their research expertise and scholarly interests may collaborate with other interdisciplinary programs at the College such as Media Production and Community Media, Environmental Justice & Sustainability Studies, and Women's & Gender Studies. As a Catholic liberal arts institution, we seek a candidate with a commitment to undergraduate teaching and advising and whose College service would prioritize the needs of our students, especially those who are first generation students and students of color.
ETHNIC STUDIES:
The School of Liberal Arts at Saint Mary's College seeks a social science or educational studies trained scholar of ethnic studies whose area of specialization include, but are not limited to: social movements and solidarities; anti-colonial solidarities; immigrant rights; political education and anti-racist teaching; native sovereignty; and/or Black feminist thought. While the areas of specialization are open, we do seek a scholar whose research and teaching is informed by the historical praxis of ethnic studies with demonstrated evidence that their work centers California as a site for emancipatory projects and imaginations. The Ethnic Studies Department at SMC embraces intersectional, interdisciplinary, and especially community-engaged approaches to both faculty research and teaching. The successful candidate will be expected to teach undergraduate courses that may include Introduction to Ethnic Studies; Creating Community: Introduction to Skills for Building Justice; an upper division Comparative Racializations Course; as well as upper division courses connected to their expertise in relationship to California.
PUBLIC HISTORY:
The School of Liberal Arts at Saint Mary's College seeks a hands-on teacher-scholar-practitioner in Public History, with a specialization in U.S./California history from an anti-racist and decolonial perspective, and a willingness to partner with local community organizations and institutions to provide meaningful and sustained engaged learning collaborations with undergraduate students. The successful candidate will teach the Introduction to Public History course, California History, the lower-division U.S. History sequence, upper-division courses in their subfield(s) of expertise (preferably illuminating the histories of under-represented communities), plus the opportunity to teach the History methods, research, and writing courses in rotation. The successful candidate will contribute to the department and its interdisciplinary partners to grow our Public History program, National History Day partnership, and contribute as a core member to the interdisciplinary cluster in California Studies.
Qualifications: Minimum Qualifications:
In alignment with the position applied for, a Ph.D. in U.S. History with concentration or significant experience in Public History or Ethnic Studies. Graduate degrees in related fields of Education, Geography, American Studies, or other interdisciplinary programs will be considered, if they align with the teaching and scholarship themes of the respective positions in the California Studies cluster.
Demonstrated record of teaching and/or clear evidence of teaching potential attentive to matters of power, privilege, and equity. Experience as a graduate teaching assistant will be considered.
Demonstration of research potential and an established vision for future research in areas pertaining to the cluster theme.
Experience mentoring underrepresented undergraduate students in higher education.
Preferred Qualifications:
Record of collaborative and active interdisciplinary research
Experience with interdisciplinary curricular development
Experience acquiring external funds
Record of successful collaboration with community-based organizations
Saint Mary's faculty are expected to maintain an active scholarly agenda and demonstrate intellectual growth and significant achievement appropriate to their field. All faculty also contribute to the mission in alignment with Transformation 2028 strategic priorities, especially as it relates to diversity, equity, inclusion and justice, and interdisciplinary programming.
All faculty serve the College and community in many ways, such as academic advising, student and community outreach, participation in departmental and College-wide committees, and the development and assessment of the College's Core Curriculum. Faculty are also encouraged to teach in the College's Core Curriculum, January Term, and Collegiate Seminar programs.
Institutional Background
Saint Mary's College of California (Saint Mary's) is a comprehensive university, grounded in the liberal arts, Catholic, and Lasallian traditions in addition to being a vibrant and inclusive Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) that engages the intellect and the spirit with exceptional academics. Saint Mary's was founded by the De La Salle Christian Brothers and remains a living legacy of the life and work of Saint John Baptist de La Salle, the founder of the Christian Brothers and patron saint of teachers. We provide an education that changes lives and inspires the desire to find one's calling in a world in need of transformation. Saint Mary's invites students to passionately embrace knowledge, the challenges of scholarship, and their own capacity to make lasting change in the world. We are an institution made up of committed faculty and staff who value shared inquiry, integrative learning and student interaction with practices and policies that reflect a commitment to inclusive excellence and a community in which all are valued, respected, and supported.
Salary Range The salary range for this position is reflected in the Faculty Salary Scale, available here.
A substantial number of Saint Mary's students are first-generation-to-college, and the College has been designated a Minority Serving Institution, as a Hispanic Serving Institution and as an Asian American Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institution. We encourage candidates who bring experience or dedication to working specifically with these student populations. The California Studies cluster intends to support greater diversity in our faculty and staff to broaden students' academic experience and to enrich our campus community. Candidates must be sensitive to the needs of and possess an interest in working in an academic community that is diverse with regard to gender, race, ethnicity, religion, nationality, sexual orientation or identity, disability status, and protected veteran status. We seek candidates who have a demonstrated commitment to supporting and further building our community in these dimensions. Our community believes that diversity, equity and inclusion are essential to the fulfillment of our institutional mission. We value inclusiveness in learning, curricular and cocurricular programming, campus climate, recruitment, admissions, hiring and retention. For more information, please visit our Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion website.
The foundation for everything we do at Saint Mary's is our mission: To probe deeply the mystery of existence by cultivating the ways of knowing and the arts of thinking. Recognizing that the paths to knowledge are many, Saint Mary's College of California offers a diverse curriculum that includes the humanities, arts, sciences, social sciences, education, business administration and nursing, serving traditional students and adult learners in both undergraduate and graduate programs. As an institution where the liberal arts inform and enrich all areas of learning, it places special importance on fostering the intellectual skills and habits of mind, which liberate persons to probe deeply the mystery of existence and live authentically in response to the truths they discover. This liberation is achieved as faculty and students, led by wonder about the nature of reality, look twice, ask why, seek not merely facts but fundamental principles, strive for an integration of all knowledge and express themselves precisely and eloquently. To affirm and foster the Christian understanding of the human person which animates the educational mission of the Catholic Church. Saint Mary's College holds... that the mystery which inspires wonder about the nature of existence is revealed in the person of Jesus Christ giving a transcendent meaning to creation and human existence. Nourished by its Christian faith, the College understands the intellectual and spiritual journeys of the human person to be inextricably connected. It promotes the dialogue of faith and reason: it builds community among its members through the celebration of the church's sacramental life; it defends the goodness, dignity and freedom of each person, and fosters sensitivity to social and ethical concerns. Recognizing that all those who sincerely quest for truth contribute to and enhance its stature as a Catholic institution of higher learning, Saint Mary's welcomes members from its own and other traditions, inviting them to collaborate in fulfilling the spiritual mission of the College. To create a student-centered educational community whose members support one another with mutual understanding and respect. As a Lasallian college, Saint Mary's holds that students are given to its care by God and that teachers grow spiritually and personally when their work is motivated by faith and zeal. The College seeks students, faculty, administrators and staff from different social, economic and cultural backgrounds who come together to grow in knowledge, wisdom and love. A distinctive mark of a Lasallian school is its awareness of the consequences of economic and social injustice and its commitment to the poor. Its members learn to live "their responsibility to share their goods and their service with those who are in need, a responsibility based on the union of all men and women in the world today and on a clear understanding of the meaning of Christianity." (From: The Brothers of the Christian Schools in the World Today: A Declaration).The foundation for everything we do at Saint Mary's is our mission: To probe deeply the mystery of existence by cultivating the ways of knowing and the arts of thinking. Recognizing that the paths to knowledge are many, Saint Mary's College of California offers a diverse curriculum that includes the humanities, arts, sciences, social sciences, education, business administration and nursing, serving traditional students and adult learners in both undergraduate and graduate programs. As an institution where the liberal arts inform and enrich all areas of learning, it places special importance on fostering the intellectual skills and habits of mind, which liberate persons to probe deeply the mystery of existence and live authentically in response to the truths they discover. This liberation is achieved as faculty and students, led by wonder about the nature of reality, look twice, ask why, seek not merely facts but fundamental principles, strive for an integration of all knowledge and express themselves precisely and eloquently. To affirm and foster the Christian understanding of the human person which animates the educational mission of the Catholic Church. Saint Mary's College holds that the mystery which inspires wonder about the nature of existence is revealed in the person of Jesus Christ giving a transcendent meaning to creation and human existence. Nourished by its Christian faith, the College understands the intellectual and spiritual journeys of the human person to be inextricably connected. It promotes the dialogue of faith and reason: it builds community among its members through the celebration of the church's sacramental life; it defends the goodness, dignity and freedom of each person, and fosters sensitivity to social and ethical concerns. Recognizing that all those who sincerely quest for truth contribute to and enhance its stature as a Catholic institution of higher learning, Saint Mary's welcomes members from its own and other traditions, inviting them to collaborate in fulfilling the spiritual mission of the College. To create a student-centered educational community whose members support one another with mutual understanding and respect. As a Lasallian college, Saint Mary's holds that students are given to its care by God and that teachers grow spiritually and personally when their work is motivated by faith and zeal. The College seeks students, faculty, administrators and staff from different social, economic and cultural backgrounds who come together to grow in knowledge, wisdom and love. A distinctive mark of a Lasallian school is its awareness of the consequences of economic and social injustice and its commitment to the poor. Its members learn to live "their responsibility to share their goods and their service with those who are in need, a responsibility based on the union of all men and women in the world today and on a clear understanding of the meaning of Christianity." (From: The Brothers of the Christian Schools in the World Today: A Declaration).