Working/Functional Title

Tenure System Assistant Professor - AAAS

Position Summary

The Department of African American and African Studies (AAAS) invites applications for an assistant professor tenure-stream faculty position in Black Feminisms, Genders, and Sexualities Studies (9-month appointment) in the College of Arts & Letters at Michigan State University. The position is a 100% appointment in African American and African Studies and begins August 16, 2023. 

AAAS at MSU was initially founded as a Ph.D. granting program in 2002 as a unit committed to making concrete connections between faculty scholarship, pedagogy, and social justice causes. On July 1, 2019, AAAS became a department. An undergraduate major was launched in 2022 in order to extend the Black Studies experience to an increasingly interested undergraduate population. The new AAAS department embraces diverse approaches to intellectual leadership and artist-scholarship. We welcome interdisciplinary and integrated research, teaching, creative work, and engagement practices that are leading-edge in the doing of Black Studies. As a department our areas of specialization include Black Feminisms, Genders, and Sexualities Studies in all aspects of curriculum. Within the AAAS major, the curriculum is shaped by three concentrations: Communities in Action; Creative Expression, Culture, and Performance; and Black Institutions, Sustainability, and Statecraft. 

Our new colleague will play a key role in collaboratively building the new AAAS Department with core areas in Black Feminisms, Genders, and Sexualities Studies. The normal teaching load is 2-2 (two courses per semester). The successful candidate will maintain high quality research in Black Studies or related interdisciplinary fields and approaches. A typical workload percentage for a 100% appointment in the College of Arts and Letters is 40% research, 40% teaching, 20% service. The service load for this position will be distinctive as the candidate will provide support to the new build of the AAAS Department. Responsibilities include, but are not limited to, the following:  

• Aiding in the implementation of strategic short- and long-range plans for departmental development;  
• Assisting in the creation and implementation of operating policies and procedures, including best practices for recruiting outstanding faculty, students, and staff;  
• Collaborating with AAAS faculty in sustaining public-facing humanities research agendas and excellence in outreach to foster and produce knowledge in the field and local communities.   

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

Minimum Requirements

We seek a candidate who holds a terminal degree (doctorate or MFA) in their field and demonstrates an interdisciplinary approach to leading-edge Black Studies. Leading-edge Black Studies across our curriculum in AAAS at MSU includes, but is not limited to, these areas: Black Ecologies (e.g. geographies, outdoors, nature, land movements etc.), Speculative Arts (e.g. Black Futures, Black Fantastic, Black Funk, Cyborg, Radical Imagination, Otherworldly and Underground Constructions of Blackness), Black Institutions (e.g. Education, Cultural, Community-Based, Religion, Spirituality, and/or Entrepreneurship etc.), Queer of Color Critique, Environmental Justice, Activism, Abolition, and Black Girlhood Studies.  

Candidates should possess excellent communication skills. A successful candidate should have a demonstrated history of community engagement and/or community-based approaches to scholarship. Candidates should have a capacity to engage in curriculum and departmental development. Preference will be given to candidates who can research and teach in Black Feminisms, Genders, and Sexualities Studies and engage as well as contribute to current AAAS curriculum. 

Candidates must demonstrate commitment to and alignment with department vision and values. As a department that is newly building, we have found transformative justice and leadership development processes critical to creating new departmental policies, procedures, etc. We actively engage and practice dreaming and wellness, individually and together, as a department. Candidates must welcome and be ready to engage these change efforts with openness and care.  

Minimum Qualifications:

1. Research and/or creative work centered in Black Feminisms, Genders, and Sexualities Studies. 
2. Interest in AAAS new build collaboration. 
3. Doctorate or MFA in a field related to Black Studies. 
4. Interdisciplinary and integrated research, teaching, creative work, and engagement practices that are leading-edge in the doing of Black Studies.  

Desired Qualifications

1. Capacity to teach Black Feminisms, Genders, and Sexualities Studies and engage curriculum in its current configuration. 
2. Interdisciplinary approach to leading-edge Black Studies in, but not limited to,  Black Ecologies (e.g., geographies, outdoors, nature, land movements etc.), Speculative Arts (e.g. Black Futures, Black Fantastic, Black Funk, Cyborg, Radical Imagination, Otherworldly and Underground Constructions of Blackness), Black Institutions (e.g. Education, Cultural, Community-Based, Religion, Spirituality, and/or Entrepreneurship etc.), Queer of Color Critique, Environmental Justice, Activism, Abolition, and Black Girlhood Studies.  
3. Concrete connections among scholarship, pedagogy, and social justice causes. We welcome candidates with a demonstrated history of community engagement and/or community-based approaches to scholarship.   
4. Excellent communication skills. 
5. Capacity to engage departmental development as aligned with AAAS vision and values, transformative justice and leadership development, and dreaming and wellness participatory practices of the department. 

Required Application Materials

Qualified applicants should submit

1. A cover letter that addresses the candidate’s qualifications with respect to the required and desired review criteria. Cover letters should also articulate research and/or creative work trajectory emphasizing current practices and future plans 
2. A current curriculum vitae
3. A 1-page statement of the candidate’s philosophy of diversity, equity, and inclusion as it pertains  to intellectual leadership in the areas of teaching/curriculum development, research/creative activities, service, outreach, advising, and/or administration. The statement should also include an explanation of related past or planned activities/endeavors as well as how the candidate will advance our goals of inclusive excellence.

Please note that candidates who advance to the secondary review stage of the process will be asked to submit letters from three referees who can comment on the candidate’s research, teaching, engagement, and/or service qualifications. No letters are required at the time of application.  

Together-we-will Statement

Special Instructions

Review of applications will begin November 15, 2022 and will continue until the position is filled. Applications must be submitted electronically to the Michigan State University Human Resources website http://careers.msu.edu. Posting number 819514.

For more information on this position, please contact the search committee chair: Dr. Terah Venzant Chambers at terah@msu.edu. Additional members of the search committee include Dr. Ruth Nicole Brown (Chair of AAAS), Dr. Trimiko Melancon (AAAS faculty member), and Dr. Yvonne Morris (AAAS faculty member).  

Review of Applications Begins On

11/15/2022

Website

https://aaas.msu.edu

Department Statement

The College of Arts & Letters recognizes that only an academic and organizational culture which actively seeks out and strengthens diverse voices and perspectives among its members results in true excellence. We are an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer. The College of Arts & Letters is particularly interested in candidates of all backgrounds who are committed to the principle that intellectual leadership is achieved through open access and pro-active inclusion.

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.

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About Michigan State University

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