Associate Professor/Professor of Anthropology and Associate Curator/Curator and Director of the...

Associate Professor/Professor of Anthropology and Associate Curator/Curator and Director of the Penn Cultural Heritage Center at the Penn Museum

Location:
Philadelphia, PA
Open Date:
Aug 25, 2026
Description:
The Department of Anthropology and the Penn Museum at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) invite applications for a tenured faculty position and Curator/Director of the Penn Cultural Heritage Center (PennCHC) beginning in the 2027–28 academic year. We seek to appoint an associate or full Professor. The successful candidate should have expertise in archaeology and cultural heritage. Candidates should have a record of bringing together academics with non-academic stakeholders as well as organizing and managing cultural heritage initiatives. While the area of specialization is open, we are particularly interested in candidates with active research in the Americas and/or Africa who situate their research within global heritage scholarship.

 

The Department of Anthropology is housed within the School of Arts & Sciences, which is comprised of 28 academic departments, the College of Arts and Sciences, the Graduate Division, and the College of Liberal and Professional Studies. We promote and encourage curiosity, intellectual engagement, and discovery among all our students and faculty. The Department offers an undergraduate major that provides students with an understanding of the modern discipline of anthropology and a Ph.D. program that trains students across the subdisciplines of anthropology.

 

Within the Department, the candidate’s research should articulate with existing departmental faculty expertise in archaeology, while also contributing to departmental goals of innovative and collaborative research that crosses sub-disciplinary lines. Teaching responsibilities will include both undergraduate and graduate courses in the area of research specialization. Faculty-curators have their teaching load reduced from four to two courses per year. The candidate will also participate in the mentorship of undergraduate and graduate students working in these areas.

 

In the Penn Museum, the candidate will serve as associate curator/curator in the Curatorial Section closest to their research specialization, and in the position of Director of the PennCHC. As curator, the candidate will participate in exhibition, research, education, and outreach activities related to the collections within the Section. As head of the PennCHC, the Director will lead or oversee a growing portfolio of global cultural heritage projects with PennCHC principal investigators, including a national survey of museum collecting practices, convening initiatives, and cultural rights programming funded through an IMLS National Leadership Grant through 2028. Additionally, the Director will seek opportunities to collaborate closely with colleagues who run other cultural heritage research endeavors across the Penn Museum and Penn, and to work with them to position the PennCHC as a research and convening center for discussion of heritage-related activities. The Director will create and implement a new, ambitious strategic plan for the Center, in consultation with Penn CHC’s Director of Research and Programs and the Museum’s Williams Director and Executive Team, that will centralize and build greater capacity for all of these cultural heritage endeavors at the Penn Museum and the University of Pennsylvania.

Qualifications:
Qualifications include:

·       Expertise in anthropological archaeology and cultural heritage.

·       Experience organizing and managing cultural heritage initiatives.

·       Successful track record of significant scholarship as evidenced by:

o   Research/publication record

o   External funding record

o   Teaching at both the graduate and undergraduate levels and mentoring and supporting a diverse student body

o   The direction of graduate/undergraduate research for students from a wide range of backgrounds

·       Candidates are expected to have PhD in anthropology or a related discipline

Application Instructions:
·       Please provide the following application materials to apply.interfolio.com/192265 :

o   CV

o   Letter of Application

·       Review of applications will begin on November 1, 2026.

·       Please contact Colleen Lawson (lawsonco@sas.upenn.edu, (215) 898-7443) with questions regarding the application process

 

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement:

The University of Pennsylvania is an equal opportunity employer. Candidates are considered for employment without regard to race, color, sex, sexual orientation, religion, creed, national origin (including shared ancestry or ethnic characteristics), citizenship status, age, disability, veteran status or any class protected under applicable federal, state, or local law.