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Mass Communication: University Fellow for Faculty Diversity

Employer
University of North Carolina at Asheville
Location
Asheville, NC

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Faculty Jobs
Professional Fields, Communication & Journalism
Position Type
Postdoc
Employment Type
Full Time
Institution Type
Four-Year Institution

Job Details

Posting Number:

F0145

Department:

Mass Communication: University Fellow for Faculty Diversity

Rank:

Lecturer

Tenure Status:

Non Tenure Track

Position Summary:

The University of North Carolina Asheville Department of Mass Communication invites applications for a University Fellow for Faculty Diversity in Mass Communication to begin Fall 2023.
The UNC Asheville Department of Mass Communication has about 100 majors and is dedicated to supporting students in gaining a holistic mass communication education in the liberal arts tradition with emphases on journalism, video production, and public relations.
To support a more diverse professoriate, the Department of Mass Communication at the University of North Carolina Asheville invites applications for the new University Fellowship for Faculty Diversity (University Fellows) Program to begin Fall 2023. The program invites pre-doctoral and post-doctoral candidates seeking a faculty position at a liberal arts institution that takes equal pride in the excellence of its faculty’s teaching and the quality of the faculty’s scholarship and creative production. Applicants must have recently earned a Ph.D. in Mass Communication or be a Ph.D. candidate nearing the completion of their degree.
The University Fellow for Faculty Diversity in Mass Communication will bring a research agenda exploring issues of mass communication and its intersections with issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Topics could include: the examination of structural inequities in media systems and solution-based public policy proposals; international and intercultural communication systems and narrower geographic foci including Africa, Asia, and Latinx regions. The projected course offerings for this position include Media, Ethics and Society, which is our designated elective in the Liberal Arts Core; First Year Experience courses with topics focusing on diversity and multiculturalism in mass communication; Basic Video Production or Basic Journalism, depending on the expertise of the successful candidate; and upper-division electives exploring mass communication and diversity. These upper division electives could include International Mass Communication, Intercultural Mass Communication, Inequities of U.S. Communication Systems, and other courses exploring mass communication and culture and mass communication and the systemic marginalization of peoples.

Applicants should submit the following electronically at https://jobs.unca.edu:

  • Cover Letter addressing your interest in this position and why you are a fit for our institution, your teaching philosophy, and a description of your scholarly interests and the ways in which you engage or contribute to the evolution of your discipline.
  • Curriculum Vitae
  • References: Names and contact information for three references from whom we will request letters of reference to be sent separately; these references should address your written, verbal and interpersonal skills; ability to teach and mentor undergraduate students; and potential to develop and maintain a successful research program.

Review of applications will begin immediately and continue until the position is filled. Inquiries should be directed to Sonya DiPalma, Search Committee Chair, at sdipalma@unca.edu.

University Fellows Program Mission

UNC Asheville is among the nation’s best public liberal arts & sciences colleges and the only designated liberal arts institution in the North Carolina university system. We are the founders of the National Conference on Undergraduate Research and our students and faculty helped to design, fabricate, and install the largest public art installation ever shown in Times Square, collaborating side by side with a recent McArthur genius award winner. We offer an extraordinary liberal arts education at an incredibly affordable rate (tuition is under $7500 per year for in-state students), all in the beautiful mountain town of Asheville, NC.

Our excellence is first and foremost a product of a faculty deeply committed to both teaching and scholarship in their discipline. That excellence also demands that our curriculum, co-curricular activities, and entire community welcome, reflect, and celebrate a diversity of perspectives, lived experiences, and identities. Currently, our required core curriculum includes diversity intensive courses and we offer living learning communities specifically designed for students of color. But we have prioritized doing more. Just this fall, we released a Racial Justice Roadmap that will serve as a guide to the work in which we will be engaging to become an even more inclusive campus. That Racial Justice Roadmap includes initiatives that span student affairs, admissions and financial aid, and critically important, academic affairs.

In particular, to support the development of a more excellent and diverse professoriate at UNC Asheville, we are launching the University Fellowship for Faculty Diversity (University Fellows) Program. The program invites pre-doctoral and post-doctoral candidates specifically considering careers at a liberal arts institution which takes equal pride in the excellence of its faculty’s teaching and the quality of its faculty’s scholarship and creative production. UNC Asheville encourages applications from candidates who are able to help us advance one of our most important strategic objectives—to develop, maintain, and support a faculty whose diversity more closely represents the demographics of the nation and the state of NC, particularly with respect to race, with special attention to domestic underrepresentation of minorities in various disciplines.

University Fellows Program Details

Faculty at the University of North Carolina Asheville ordinarily teach 24 credit hours per year. University Fellows will have a lightened teaching load, receive extensive mentorship, and receive support for the development of their pedagogy and disciplinary work.

In particular, University Fellows should expect to teach as few as three courses in their first year and will receive funds for professional development and research and/or creative production (to be arranged at the time of being awarded the fellowship). Salaries for pre-doctoral fellows before earning their degree will be commensurate with lecturers in the discipline; salaries for fellows who have earned their degree will be commensurate with visiting assistant professors.

By early fall of a University Fellow’s final year, it will be determined whether a tenure track offer will be made to the faculty member. In the event that an offer is not made or the tenure track position is not one that the fellow would like to accept, we will support the Fellow in the best ways possible in applying for a tenure track position elsewhere.

A few other details about each fellowship (pre-doctoral vs. post-doctoral) are summarized below:

Pre-doctoral:
Three year term

Course Release:
Teach 12 credit hours over the first year (12 credit hours of release over the first year, not all to be taken in one semester).
Four to six credit hours of release over the next two years.

Expectation is to complete the terminal degree by the end of year one. There may be opportunities that warrant consideration of completion beyond the first year, but these will be considered on a case by case basis.

Salary increase, subject to budget and System Office constraints, will take place the year subsequent to completion of the degree.

Post-doctoral:
Two or Three year term

Course Release:
Teach 36 credit hours (12 credit hours of release, not all to be taken in one semester) over the first two years of the fellowship.
UNC Asheville is committed to equality and diversity of experiences for our students, applicants, or employees. Qualified individuals are encouraged to apply regardless of socio-economic status, gender expression, gender and sexual identity, culture, or ideological beliefs. UNC Asheville is an Equal Employment Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer and will not discriminate against applicants or employees on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, political affiliation, protected veteran status, genetic information, or any other legally protected status with respect to all terms, conditions, and privileges of university-sponsored activities, employment, and the use of university facilities.


Qualifications:

Applicants must have recently earned a Ph.D. in Mass Communication or be a Ph.D. candidate nearing the completion of their degree.

Months per Year:

9 months

Division:

Academic Affairs

Department:

Mass Communication

Special Instructions Summary:

Please note that any documents submitted to Human Resources or the hiring departments become property of UNC Asheville and will not be returned.

Applications for this position should be submitted electronically at https://jobs.unca.edu. The applicant will enter information into the application system which will automatically request three letters of reference to be sent separately and confidentially that speaks to the candidate’s writing and interpersonal skills and ability to teach and mentor undergraduate students. Please, do not submit reference letters directly to the search chair.

Review of applications will begin immediately and continue until the position is filled.

Inquiries only may be directed to Sonya DiPalma, Search Committee Chair, at sdipalma@unca.edu.Please do not submit any materials to this email address. All application materials, including letters submitted separately by references or portfolio services, must be uploaded via the application portal.

Posting date:

09/13/2022

Open Until Filled:

Yes

Anticipated Start Date:

08/01/2023

Organization

The University of North Carolina Asheville offers a singular experience for original minds.

We’re the original and only liberal arts campus in the University of North Carolina system. We break down conventions, overcome obstacles, expand horizons. We dare to connect curiosity and critical thinking, courage and challenge, imagination and impact, opportunity and responsibility. When the world looks down, we look up.

We’re a public resource that draws on a deep history to make a profound impact—on our students and on the world. We founded the National Conference on Undergraduate Research. Our STEAM Studio helped to produce the largest public art installation ever shown in Times Square. We offer majors and concentrations that re-tool the liberal arts and sciences for new challenges and new opportunities. We live in one of America’s great small cities, a mountain town with wit and grit, with an artist’s eye and an explorer’s heart.

We are the originals. We’re rooted in the Land of the Sky, at the intersection of what’s known and what’s possible. This is an education that’s affordable, adaptive, and endlessly relevant. This is an experience where every path leads to a new vista, where there’s room for every voice, and where the future is a frontier—vast and bright and close enough to touch.

UNC Asheville’s national reputation for empowering human potential is rooted in its unique student-centric public liberal arts and sciences mission. UNC Asheville thrives on close-knit connections among students and their faculty and staff mentors. The University’s 3,300 students are innovative, ethical, creative and resilient leaders who seek to understand complex global challenges and find creative, sustainable solutions that benefit our communities and the world. More than 65 percent of UNC Asheville students conduct applied research alongside faculty experts. UNC Asheville consistently ranks as a national top 10 Public Liberal Arts and Sciences University by U.S. News & World Report, and on its list of Most Innovative Schools. UNC Asheville regularly earns several national top 20 rankings in The Princeton Review’s “The Best 386 Colleges,” including Best Quality of Life, Town-Gown Relations, and UNC Asheville has ranked in the top two nationally for the “Best Schools for Making an Impact,” in The Princeton Review’s “Colleges that Pay You Back.”

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