Collegiate Assistant Professor

The College at the University of Chicago is now accepting applications for four-year postdoctoral teaching appointments as Harper and Schmidt Fellows who hold the rank of Collegiate Assistant Professor. Collegiate Assistant Professors are members of the College Faculty whose primary professional responsibility is to teach in the general education (Core) program.  https://college.uchicago.edu/academics/core-curriculum

Core courses in the Humanities typically deal with fundamental issues and texts in history, philosophy, and literature. Currently, the Core is organized into eight year-long sequences: Readings in World Literature; Human Being and Citizen; Greece and Rome: Texts, Traditions, Transformations; Philosophical Perspectives on the Humanities; Media Aesthetics; Reading Cultures; Poetry and the Human; and Language and the Human.  We encourage applicants to spend time reviewing the descriptions and syllabi for Core sequences to understand the distinct topics and approaches and gauge best fit.  Descriptions of these courses are available here: https://college.uchicago.edu/academics/core/humanities-core

Core courses in the Social Sciences explore, on the basis of significant works or primary source materials, the fundamental concepts and the different modes of inquiry that have defined the social sciences in the modern period. Currently, we are inviting applications for Collegiate Assistant Professors to teach in several of the year-long sequences into which the Core is organized: Self, Culture and Society; Classics of Social and Political Thought; Power, Identity, and Resistance; Democracy: Equality, Liberty and the Dilemma of Self-Governance; and Global Society. We encourage applicants to spend time reviewing the descriptions and syllabi for Core sequences to understand the distinct topics and approaches and gauge best fit.  Descriptions of these courses are available here: https://college.uchicago.edu/academics/core/social-sciences-core

Some Collegiate Assistant Professors also teach in the Introduction to the Civilizations Core Sequences.  We are currently accepting applications in the Civilizations of East Asia and Introduction to Latin American Civilizations core sequences. These courses are taught on the basis of intensive readings of significant primary source documents. For descriptions and syllabi of the Introduction to the Civilizations of East Asia and Introduction to  Latin American Civilization see:  https://college.uchicago.edu/academics/core/civilization-studies-core

The positions are open to scholars in all disciplines and areas of specialization who will have completed all requirements for their Ph.D. degree no later than August 31, 2025. Candidates must demonstrate excellence in teaching as well as in their original scholarship.  While many Core sequences feature set reading lists, applicants need not have conventional expertise in the specific texts and topics that are currently taught.  Rather, we welcome applicants from a wide variety of disciplinary backgrounds who can apply conceptual and methodological creativity and skill to the teaching of general education courses.  Applicants should be prepared 1) to identify and guide students through fundamental questions in a Core sequence and 2) to contribute meaningfully to the instructional community and the curricular evolution for that Core sequence.

In most years, Collegiate Assistant Professors teach two courses (usually of identical preparation) for each of three quarters. In the second through fourth year of residence, each Collegiate Assistant Professor has the opportunity to design up to two independent courses and each is eligible for one quarter of research sabbatical. In the fourth year there is a possibility of another quarter of sabbatical with salary reduction.

The position comes with a minimum salary of $82,571, carries full benefits, and an annual professional development fund of $6,250. The effective date for these teaching appointments is September 1, 2025

To apply for these positions, please see our web site at https://fellows.uchicago.edu.

The terms and conditions of these positions are described in the collective bargaining agreement between the University and the Service Employees International Union. 

On-line application deadline: 11:59:59 PM EDT, Tuesday, October 15, 2024.

All University departments and institutes are charged with building a faculty from a diversity of backgrounds and with diverse viewpoints; with cultivating an inclusive community that values freedom of expression; and with welcoming and supporting all their members.

We seek a diverse pool of applicants who wish to join an academic community that places the highest value on rigorous inquiry and encourages diverse perspectives, experiences, groups of individuals, and ideas to inform and stimulate intellectual challenge, engagement, and exchange. See the University's Statements on Diversity.

The University of Chicago is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity/Disabled/Veterans Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, national or ethnic origin, age, status as an individual with a disability, military or veteran status, genetic information, or other protected classes under the law. For additional information please see the University's Notice of Nondiscrimination.

Job seekers in need of a reasonable accommodation to complete the application process should call 773-834-3988 or email [email protected] with their request.