Humanities Lecturer Pool - Humanities

Department Summary

The Humanities Department at SJSU is a prominent center for creative, interdisciplinary study and research. It offers three undergraduate degree programs: the Liberal Studies Teacher Preparation B.A.; the Creative Arts B.A.; and the Humanities B.A., in which students pursue a concentration in American Studies, Liberal Arts, or Comparative Religious Studies. The Department is also home to two team-taught, multiple-semester General Education Programs: the lower-division American Cultures GE sequence and the Humanities Honors Program, which has both lower and upper-division Humanities Honors GE course sequences.

 

San José State University is a teaching-centered institution that is a national leader in graduating historically underserved students. SJSU has achieved both HSI (Hispanic Serving Institution) and AANAPISI (Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institution) status. Moreover, 40% of our student population are first-generation college students and 38% are Pell-qualified. As a result, we are ranked #1—as the most transformational university in the country.

 

Learn more about our department at our website. NB: The website is under revision, so what you will see is slightly out of date. The new website rolls out at the end of September, 2021.

 

Brief Description of Duties

Teach a range of courses in the Humanities, including lower- and upper-division courses. In addition, you will hold regular office hours for students, work cooperatively with other department faculty, staff, and department chair, as well as participate in required course grading and assessment activities, etc. 

 

“Reading the World” (HUM80) By studying the history, philosophy, and science of reading, we build a transdisciplinary, critical approach to the value of reading comparative, historical, and cross-cultural texts. Activities and writing assignments enable students to understand the logical construction of arguments to become reflexive participants in reading.

 

“Introduction to Digital Humanities” (HUM95) A seminar course that explores how digital technologies create new possibilities for knowledge making in the humanities. Students will engage in digital humanities research using a variety of multi-modal methods in order to explore how technologies can be harnessed to tell stories, connect information, raise awareness, and visualize complex ideas in interactive ways.

 

“Human Life: Let’s Think About It” (HUM101) Introduction to interdisciplinary comparative and creative studies. A range of methodologies will be explored through two contrasting subjects. Students learn and synthesize approaches - geography, history, literature, arts, and social science - to achieve a holistic understanding of the topics.

 

“Perspectives on the 20th Century: The West in a Global Context” (HUM128) Literature and the arts of selected world cultures contextualized in significant events and concepts of the twentieth century, such as two world wars, totalitarian systems, the revolt against colonial powers, modernity and postmodernity, and the global challenge to western hegemony.

 

Candidate must demonstrate awareness and experience understanding the needs of a student population of great diversity – in age, cultural background, ethnicity, primary language and academic preparation – through inclusive course materials, teaching strategies and advisement.

 

All Faculty should be organizing their classes within the Canvas Learning Management System (LMS), the official LMS provided for the SJSU community. All classes at SJSU, whether online or not, must be anchored in the Canvas platform to ensure faculty-student connection in a common space as all students are directed to log in to Canvas for online access to their classes. You will have access to this system prior to the semester start date.

 

Required Qualifications

  • ABD or Ph.D. in Humanities, Religious Studies, American Studies, Ethnic Studies, Women’s/Gender Studies, Art History, Literature, History, Digital Humanities, or a related discipline.
  • Strong college level teaching skills and experience required.
  • Awareness of and sensitivity to educational goals of serving a multicultural and diverse student population, which may have been gained through lived and embodied experience, cross-cultural study, training, teaching, and/or other comparable experience.  
  • For HUM95, Introduction to Digital Humanities, expertise in Digital Humanities is required.

 

Preferred Qualifications

  • Interest in and record of scholarly activity desirable.

 

Conditional Appointment

Please be advised that an appointment is contingent upon budget and enrollment considerations and subject to order of assignment provisions in the collective bargaining agreement between California State University and California Faculty Association. These provisions state the “Order of Work,” or the order in which available courses must be assigned to faculty, starting with tenure line faculty and ending with new lecturer appointees.

 

Salary Range - To commensurate with experience.     

 

Application Procedure

To apply, complete the SJSU Online Employment Application from this page: https://jobs.sjsu.edu/en-us/job/500336/humanities-lecturer-pool-humanities and attach the following documents:

  •  
  • Cover Letter
  • Statement of Teaching Philosophy (optional)
  • Statement of Expertise, including professional experience, and list of courses you are qualified to teach
  • List of References

 

The position advertised will remain open until filled. Interviews will follow. Qualified applicants not hired at this time will remain in this pool for future consideration.

 

The University

San José State University enrolls over 35,700 students, a significant percentage of whom are members of minority groups.  As such, this position is for scholars interested in a career at a national leader in graduating URM students. SJSU is currently ranked third nationally in increasing student upward mobility. The University is committed to increasing the diversity of its faculty so our disciplines, students, and the community can benefit from multiple ethnic and gender perspectives.

San José State University is California’s oldest institution of public higher learning. Located in downtown San José (Pop. 1,000,000) in the heart of Silicon Valley, SJSU is part of one of the most innovative regions in the world. As Silicon Valley’s public university, SJSU combines dynamic teaching, research, and university-industry experiences to prepare students to address the biggest problems facing society.  SJSU is a member of the 23-campus California State University (CSU) system.

 

Equal Employment Statement

San José State University is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer. We consider qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, age, gender, gender identity/expression, sexual orientation, genetic information, medical condition, marital status, veteran status, or disability. This policy applies to all San José State University students, faculty, and staff as well as University programs and activities. Reasonable accommodations are made for applicants with disabilities who self-disclose. Note that all San José State University employees are considered mandated reporters under the California Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act and are required to comply with the requirements set forth in CSU Executive Order 1083 as a condition of employment.

 

Additional Information

A background check (including a criminal records check) must be completed satisfactorily before any candidate can be offered a position with the CSU.  Failure to satisfactorily complete the background check may affect the application status of applicants or continued employment of current CSU employees who apply for the position.