Assistant Professor of Children’s and Young Adult Literature at California State University, Los Angeles

Assistant Professor of Children’s and Young Adult Literature
Starting Date: Fall, 2019

Minimum Qualifications:

1) An earned doctorate (Ph.D.) in English or closely related discipline from an accredited institution (or equivalent) is required; however, applicants nearing completion of the doctorate (ABD) may be considered. For appointment, the doctorate must be completed by the date of appointment (8/19/2019).
2) Evidence of successful teaching at the undergraduate level.
3) Evidence of scholarly activity in the field of Children’s and/or Young Adult Literature.

Preferred Qualifications:

1) Evidence of teaching expertise in Children’s and Young Adult literature
2) Evidence of research in Children’s and Young Adult literature that spans multiple periods and productively intersects with one or more of the following: print culture; genders and sexualities studies; critical studies of race and ethnicity; environmental criticism; and/or English Education.

Duties:

The primary professional responsibilities of instructional faculty members are: teaching, research, scholarship and/or creative activity, and service to the University, profession and to the community. These responsibilities generally include: advising students, participation in campus and system-wide committees, maintaining office hours, working collaboratively and productively with colleagues, and participation in traditional academic functions.

The successful candidate will teach lower-division, upper-division, and graduate courses in the department and will design new courses in their area of expertise.

The successful candidate will be committed to the academic success of all of our students and to an environment that acknowledges, encourages, and celebrates diversity and differences. To this end, the successful candidate will work effectively, respectfully, and collaboratively in diverse, multicultural, and inclusive settings. In addition, the successful candidate will be ready to join faculty, staff, students, and administrators in our University’s shared commitment to the principles of engagement, service, and the public good.

Salary:

Initial salary is commensurate with qualifications and experience.

The University:

California State University, Los Angeles (Cal State LA) is the premier comprehensive public university in the heart of Los Angeles. Cal State LA is ranked number one in the United States for the upward mobility of its students. The University is dedicated to engagement, service, and the public good, offering nationally recognized programs in science, the arts, business, criminal justice, engineering, nursing, education, and the humanities. Founded in 1947, Cal State LA serves more than 28,000 students and more than 240,000 distinguished alumni. A majority of the University’s alumni live in the Los Angeles region, enriching their communities and contributing to the vitality of the local economy. Cal State LA is focused on developing a new bioscience entrepreneurial ecosystem in the Los Angeles and San Gabriel Valley regions through partnerships with local business. To provide increased educational opportunities, Cal State LA recently opened a campus in downtown Los Angeles that offers graduate and undergraduate programs, as well as professional development and certificate programs. The university is home to the critically acclaimed Luckman Fine Arts Complex, Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs, Hertzberg-Davis Forensic Science Center, Hydrogen Research and Fueling Facility, Billie Jean King Sports Complex and the TV, Film and Media Center.

The College:

The College of Arts & Letters at California State University, Los Angeles, is an engaged, diverse, and creative community committed to nurturing the next generation of humanists and artists and to providing a distinctive liberal arts education to all Cal State LA students.

The College is home to nationally acclaimed undergraduate and graduate programs in the humanities and the visual, media, and performing arts, delivered by an award-winning faculty committed to helping students reach their full potential academically, professionally, creatively, and personally. Our nine departments (Art, Communication Studies, English, Liberal Studies, Modern Languages and Literatures, Music, Philosophy, Television, Film & Media Studies, and Theatre and Dance) include programs that lead to Bachelor and Masters of Arts degrees, Bachelor and Masters of Music degrees, and Masters of Arts and Masters of Fine Arts degrees.

Located in one of the most vibrant and creative cosmopolitan centers of the world, our students have access to renowned venues and a rich variety of scholars, artists, and performers from a host of fields and professions. Our campus boasts one of the most diverse student populations in the country, a fact that helps us to prepare Arts & Letters graduates for successful careers in today’s multicultural environment and global economy.

The Department:

The English Department at California State University, Los Angeles, cultivates students’ imaginations and critical skills through the intensive study of literature and language. Offering programs leading to the Bachelor of Arts and the Master of Arts degrees, the department provides courses that build on the traditional study of British and American literary history while encouraging students to further explore literary theory and criticism, world literatures and transnational critical paradigms, children’s literature, creative writing, rhetoric and composition, interdisciplinary cultural analysis, and the history and structure of the English language. Drawing on the richness of L.A.’s geographical and cultural context, the department equips students to see the study of literature and language as both personally enriching and publicly meaningful within their own communities. Those communities may be defined through the department’s direct engagement with the neighborhoods of East L.A. and the San Gabriel Valley or regarded as a global terrain, in which Oxford connects to Oaxaca and where ideas resonate from ancient Greece and Rome to the contemporary Pacific Rim.

Required Documentation:

Please submit the following to the Search Committee Chair at the email address below:
1) A cover letter specifically addressing minimum and preferred qualifications.
2) A curriculum vitae.
3) A list of three professional references.
4) A narrative statement describing your commitment to working effectively with faculty, staff, and students in a multicultural/multiethnic urban campus environment with a substantial population of first-generation students.
5) A University Application for Employment Form

Finalists will be asked to submit
1) Three current letters of recommendation
2) Official transcripts
3) A critical writing sample of app. 15 pages

Employment is contingent upon proof of eligibility to work in the United States.

Application:

Review of applications will begin November 15, 2018, and will continue until the position is filled.

Please address questions to English Department Chair:

Dr. Linda Greenberg
California State University, Los Angeles
Department of English, E&T A604
5151 State University Drive
Los Angeles, CA 90032
Phone: 323-343-4140
E-mail: linda.greenberg@calstatela.edu

Please submit application materials to Department Coordinator Stephanie Lai at Slai8@calstatela.edu. Please type “Children’s/YA Literature Application” in the subject line.