Openings

As part of its intentional commitment to amplifying the intellectual leadership of BIPOC artists, writers, and scholars of the global majority, the College of Arts & Letters at Michigan State University announces a new postdoctoral or post-MFA fellows program in the Arts & Humanities. The goal of the program is to create a cohort of early career scholars who will contribute to and benefit from a diverse, vibrant, and inclusive intellectual community in the College. In the College of Arts & Letters, the postdoctoral/post-MFA fellows program offers full-time Research Associate positions who will pursue research and/or creative activities, teach a 1-1 course load, and engage in the intellectual life of the department. They are supported by a network of mentors who help them embark on an academic career and chart their pathway to intellectual leadership by way of sharing knowledge, expanding opportunities, and mentorship and stewardship. Successful candidates will also participate in College-cohort programming organized by a Mentoring Team that includes presenting in an inter-departmental colloquium series and opportunities for faculty development. The College understands the term BIPOC as Black, Indigenous, People of Color, and the global majority to be broadly inclusive of people who are Asian, Black, Latinx, Indigenous, multi- heritage, or have been racialized as “ethnic minorities.”  

To be eligible, applicants must have completed their PhD, MFA, or equivalent during or after the 2018-2019 academic year and prior to the start date. The 2- year fixed-term Research Associate positions will begin on August 16, 2023. Appointments will be made to applicants who show promise for tenure-track positions in Michigan State University’s College of Arts & Letters in accordance with MSU academic hiring process. Each appointment is for a minimum of 9 months, renewable for an additional year, contingent upon a demonstration of meeting the performance expectation in research and teaching, with an emphasis on demonstrated research productivity. Transitioning into a tenure-track faculty position at Michigan State University will require a series of structured, merit-based evaluations, which will include substantial peer input. MSU’s academic hiring process will be followed in appointing the candidates that advance into the tenure-track. 

The Post-Doc and/or Post-MFA two-year appointment in African American & African Studies (AAAS) will build and expand on the department’s specializations in Black Feminisms, Black Gender Studies, and Black Sexuality Studies via an integrated interdisciplinary approach to research and/or creative activities, teaching, service, and community engagement through artist-scholarship. AAAS faculty walk the talk of an integrated interdisciplinary approach to their scholarship as evidenced by the range of formal disciplinary trainings across existing faculty and the even wider range of approaches used to impact and innovate specialized academic conversations, inform, and shift public thought and opinion, and create wholly new communities from which to create and share knowledge. Such work requires disrupting traditional criteria of scholarly excellence so that discrete boundaries between research, creative work, teaching, and engagement become moot; in favor of educational productions experiences-performances that integrate the whole of Black life and living. Likewise, the concept of artist-scholarship is indicated as “postdoctoral and/or post-MFA” to acknowledge art-making and creativity as foundational to Black Studies, whereas faculty in AAAS are not made to choose one form over another for the sake of institutional legibility. We understand the invaluableness of being whole and making whole, defined for the purpose of this position & AAAS as being of weight and wellness (Bambara, 1980), found in ceremony and our capacious “yet-to come notions of connectedness and relationality” (King 2019, 203) characteristic of Black Studies. Artist-scholars are mindful to resist hegemonic cultures of conformity and surveillance that produce cartographic binaries and hierarchies of value that mobilize knowledge to further perpetuate inequality and marginalization (Alexander & Mohanty 2010). An integrated interdisciplinary approach to research and/or creative activities, teaching, service, and community engagement through artist-scholarship is one way our scholarly interests in AAAS are distinct and contribute to the transformation we want to see in forthcoming COVID 19 endemic higher education.

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.

Minimum Requirements

All applicants should have the following: 

• Ph.D., M.F.A. or D.F.A. Granted during or after 2018/2019. 

Desired Qualifications

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:

• Research and/or creative work centered in Black Feminisms, Genders, and Sexualities Studies that is public facing & connected to community.
• Interest in AAAS new build collaboration. 
• Doctorate or MFA in a field related to Black Studies. 
• Interdisciplinary and integrated research, creative work, teaching, and public engagement practices that are leading-edge in the doing of Black Studies.

Required Application Materials

Qualified applicants should submit  

1. A letter expressing interest in the position and describing qualifications and experience 
2. A current curriculum vitae 
3. A writing sample taken from current or past research, or that engages the public in knowledge sharing
4. A 1-page summary of the candidate’s philosophy of diversity, equity, and inclusion as it pertains their 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. 
5. The names of three references and their contact information 

Together-we-will Statement

Special Instructions

Review of applications will begin Wednesday, February 7, 2023 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 835897. 

For more information, contact Chamara Jewel Kwakye, Chair of the Search Committee at chamara@msu.edu.  

Persons with disabilities have the right to request and receive reasonable accommodation.

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.

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. 

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

Desired Qualifications

• A PhD in African American Studies, Education, Student Affairs and/or related field.
• Production of communications (i.e. print, social, electronic media) to advertise and catalog course offerings each semester.
• At least three years working in student affairs, public engagement, community outreach, residential life, academic advising or a related field.
• Teaching interest in Black Feminisms, Black Genders, Black Sexualities, Black Girlhood Studies, Black Culture and Institutions and/or Black Speculative Ecologies.

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.  

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).