Northwestern University is seeking a distinguished scholar of public communication to appoint as the inaugural Owen L. Coon Professor of Policy Analysis and Communication. This individual will help to build an expanded program of research on the organization and function of discourse in democracy and will be responsible for expanding undergraduate and graduate curricula in this area.

Northwestern University

Northwestern is a top-tier, private research university with three campuses: Evanston, Chicago, and Doha. The Evanston campus, located just north of Chicago and on Lake Michigan, houses the six schools that offer undergraduate instruction (music, education and social policy, journalism, engineering and applied science, arts and sciences, and communication), the Graduate School, and the Kellogg School of Management. The Chicago campus is home to the schools of medicine and law. The new Doha campus, in Qatar, offers an undergraduate program in journalism and communication.

The School of Communication

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 and include the Roxelyn and Richard Pepper Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, the Department of Communication Studies, the Department of Radio-Television-Film, the Department of Performance Studies, and the Department of Theatre (which includes music theatre and dance). The faculty of 150 includes 105 tenure-track faculty. The school offers instruction to roughly 1200 undergraduate majors and 700 graduate and professional students.

Founded over 135 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. The current Dean of the School is Barbara J. O’Keefe.

Owen L. Coon Professor of Policy Analysis and Communication

The candidate we seek will be suitable for an appointment to an endowed professorship at the rank of associate professor or professor with tenure in the Department of Communication Studies at Northwestern University. The ideal candidate will have a high impact program of research on the role of communications in shaping public policy and decision-making (in any number of substantive policy domains: science policy, environmental policy, health policy, etc.) and will have made significant contributions to the practice of strategic communication. He or she will have an interdisciplinary profile with activity in two or more of the following disciplines: media studies, rhetorical and communication theory, journalism, political science, sociology of media and/or technology, and public policy studies. We hope to find a candidate with facility in multiple methodologies to advance knowledge in this area, including both qualitative and quantitative social scientific methods. We expect all candidates for tenured positions to present a record of achievement as a teacher and mentor for both undergraduate and graduate students.

Candidates must hold a doctorate or other terminal degree in their discipline, have proven administrative competence and experience, have demonstrated scholarly and teaching achievement of the highest quality, and have developed an international reputation and impact. We prefer a candidate whose background spans more than one area of study within the field of communication and/or cognate disciplines.

Applications and timeline

Applicants should send a letter of application, CV, sample publications, evidence of teaching effectiveness, and names of six confidential references to the Faculty Recruiting System located at the following link: https://facultyrecruiting.northwestern.edu/apply/MzU4

Inquiries and nominations can be addressed in confidence (e-mails preferred) to:
Department of Communication Studies
Northwestern University
2240 Campus Drive
Evanston, Illinois 60208
commstudies@northwestern.edu

Starting date for the appointment is negotiable but will not be later than September 1, 2020. Salary is negotiable and commensurate with experience, qualifications, and rank. For full consideration, applications or nominations should be received prior to January 15, 2019. Review of materials will begin February 1, 2019 and continue until the position is filled.

Northwestern University is an Affirmative Action, Equal Opportunity Employer. Women and minorities are encouraged to apply. Hiring is contingent on eligibility to work in the United States.