JOB OPPORTUNITY
Job title: Assistant Professor of Housing/Transportation and Applied Methods (Occidental College)
Hiring institution: Occidental College
Location: Los Angeles, California | United States
Application deadline: 10/18/2024
The Urban and Environmental Policy Department at Occidental College invites applications for Assistant Professor in the field(s) of housing and/or transportation related to race, place, inequality, and urban policy. We are interested in candidates who are scholar teachers who understand urban and environmental problems as deeply linked with increased inequality and how these stresses exacerbate existing social, economic, and political divisions. Our ideal candidate will be committed teachers, able to teach undergraduate students how to analyze and utilize relevant data sets and generate community relevant research questions and policy approaches necessary to address existing inequities while simultaneously ensuring a long-term approach to the environmental and economic sustainability that has equity and democratic governance at its core. Full job description and application information is here.
We seek applications from candidates whose expertise, research, and teaching interests focus in the area of housing and/or transportation and use quantitative/mixed methods (for example, use of big data, AI, machine learning, and other methods) and/or spatial methods in applied and/or community engaged research. We seek candidates who demonstrate promise of successful scholarship and dedication to teaching excellence in the context of a global and inclusive liberal arts education. Successful candidates will possess the following qualifications:
1. Demonstrated experience and interest in teaching housing and/or transportation related to race, place, inequality, and urban policy
2. Ability to teach undergraduates quantitative/mixed methods and/or spatial methods in applied and/or community engaged research
3. Ability to teach several required courses: Urban Data Analysis (UEP 305) as well as Environment and Society (UEP 101) and the Senior Policy Seminar (UEP 410/UEP 411), as well as courses of your own design
4. A clear pedagogical approach and a demonstrated record of effective teaching and advising, particularly teaching and mentoring underrepresented and historically marginalized students
5. Demonstrated experience in applied and/or community-engaged/community-based learning and research
6. A clearly articulated research agenda and demonstrated potential for research and publication, particularly involving undergraduate researchers
7. An expressed interest and commitment to teaching in an urban liberal arts college in Los Angeles
Applicants are expected to hold the Ph.D. degree or terminal degree in their field. ABD candidates will be considered if close to completion. We are also open to considering non-traditional candidates with extensive professional and community experience with demonstrated research and teaching but who may not have a Ph.D. or other terminal degree
UEP Department
The Urban and Environmental Policy Department’s (UEP) mission is to provide an interdisciplinary academic program that is grounded in rigorous scholarship, community-based teaching, learning, and research, and a commitment to social justice. Our mission incorporates the following student learning outcomes: critical thinking; writing and speaking skills; recognition and capacity to engage in policy development; knowledge about diverse communities and institutions; and an ability to translate what the students learn into a path for future learning and career development.
The successful candidate would join a dynamic and growing interdisciplinary department in an urban liberal arts college located in Los Angeles. In addition to five full-time faculty members, the department includes affiliated faculty from other departments and practitioners who serve as adjunct faculty who teach a variety of applied courses. A description of our department and its existing courses are available on our website at: www.oxy.edu/uep The Department is affiliated with the Urban & Environmental Policy Institute (UEPI), an applied research center that supports faculty research and community-engagement efforts on campus, in Los Angeles, and nationally. Our new colleague will help us further the Department and College’s goals related to community-based learning and research and contribute to community-engaged efforts on and off-campus that are central to the College’s strategic plan, the Occidental Promise.
Our students are drawn to our department for its interdisciplinary and applied curriculum that offers opportunities for research, internships, and community-engaged learning. UEP students gain skills in analytic and critical thinking, writing, research, and community organizing that they successfully translate into graduate studies, jobs, and successful careers. Our students are routinely accepted into top graduate school programs in public policy, law, public health, social work, urban planning, and sustainability studies including UCLA, Columbia University, UC Berkeley, Harvard, NYU, and USC. The interdisciplinary major has also led some of our students to other graduate and career paths, including medical school and programs in theology.
We invite candidates from a range of disciplines such as urban planning, geography, applied economics and sociology, and public policy with interests in urban and environmental topics such as poverty, labor, immigration, and education, the built environment, and regional and/or community economic development. We seek candidates who bring experience and commitment to creative and applied methods, particularly quantitative and/or spatial approaches, in teaching and in research. Our ideal candidate will be an effective and engaged teacher scholar able to inspire and teach our students to understand and use quantitative as well as spatial methods to understand race, place, poverty, and inequality in the context of a global political economy and inform practical solutions at the community, local, state, national, and global levels. We seek candidates who will contribute to our socioeconomically, ethnically, culturally, and intellectually diverse academic environment through their teaching, research, and/or service.
In the first year, the new hire will teach four courses, with no committee or advising responsibilities. In subsequent years, their normal teaching load will be five courses per year. All faculty are eligible for a pre-tenure leave in the fourth year, pending favorable review, and a one-semester sabbatical every fourth year after tenure. Our faculty are also expected to contribute to and participate in the life and development of the department, advise students, serve on faculty governance committees, and participate in the broader college and disciplinary communities.
Candidates are expected to hold the Ph.D. degree or terminal degree in their field; ABD candidates will be considered if close to completion. We are also open to considering non-traditional candidates with extensive professional and community experience with demonstrated research and teaching but who may not have a Ph.D. or other terminal degree.
Application Deadline and Materials
Upload your application materials to Interfolio, http://apply.interfolio.com/151987
To be assured full consideration, your application materials must be submitted through Interfolio by 5:00 p.m. PDT, Friday, October 18, 2024. An application includes the following
- Cover Letter that describes how your education, experience, and skills are relevant to the qualifications and responsibilities listed above
- Curriculum Vitae
- Research Statement. Describe your current research and possible directions in the next five years. Please include your philosophy and experiences working with undergraduates in your research.
- Teaching Statement. Describe your teaching philosophy and pedagogy as well as your demonstrated commitment to and future plans for teaching and mentoring students in a liberal college context, particularly underrepresented and marginalized students. Explain how you might teach our required courses and share what other courses you might want to teach in the future.
- Commitment to Inclusive Excellence Statement
This statement provides your unique perspective on your past and present contributions to and future aspirations for promoting justice, equity, inclusion, and diversity in your professional career. This should include your demonstrated commitment to, past evidence of, and future plans for creating equitable opportunities for learning and mentoring especially for students from marginalized and minoritized groups. Please share how your research and/or service promotes justice, equity, inclusion, and diversity. The purpose of this statement is to help the department identify candidates who have professional experience, intellectual commitments, and/or willingness to engage in activities that could help the College contribute to its mission in these areas. - A sample of your scholarly work
- List of three references with relevant contact information. Please have these ready for the referents to submit should you move forward to this phase of the search. Do not submit these letters with your initial application. If you advance to the finalist phase, you will be asked to have each of your three references
Upon receipt of a complete application package, you will receive a preliminary questionnaire. Please complete this questionnaire by Monday, October 21 2024 to move forward in the search process.
Please direct all questions about the position to: Dr. Martha Matsuoka at matsuoka@oxy.edu or Beatrice Gonzales at beatrice@oxy.edu.
Additional Information
Occidental College is committed to academic excellence in a diverse community and strongly encourages applications from candidates committed to the College’s mission of equity, excellence, community, and service. US News has consistently ranked Occidental as one of the liberal arts colleges most committed to diversity. We rank near the top of very selective liberal arts colleges in terms of the proportion of students with Pell Grants.
Occidental is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not unlawfully discriminate against employees or applicants on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, breastfeeding or related medical condition, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, age, marital status, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, genetic characteristic or information, military and veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by state or federal law. Occidental is strongly committed to increasing the diversity of the campus community and the curriculum, and to fostering an inclusive, equitable, and just environment within which students, staff, administrators, and faculty thrive. Candidates who can contribute to this goal through their teaching, research, advising, and other activities are encouraged to identify their strengths and experiences in this area. Individuals advancing the College’s strategic equity and justice goals and those from groups whose underrepresentation in the American professoriate has been severe and longstanding are particularly encouraged to apply.
Salary is commensurate with experience and qualifications. Moving expense reimbursement (up to $5000, taxable according to current IRS regulations), start-up funds, and a one-course reduction of teaching load in the first year are provided. A comprehensive benefits package is available that includes: excellent health, dental, life, and retirement benefits; tuition benefits for the employee, spouse, domestic partner, and dependents; additional extras including use of gym facilities and the College Library. For a detailed description of benefits, please visit https://www.oxy.edu/offices-services/human-resources/benefits-information.
All qualified applicants will be considered for employment, including those with criminal histories, in a manner consistent with the requirements of applicable state and local laws, including the City of Los Angeles’ Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance.
Occidental College is committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodations to applicants with qualifying disabilities. If you need a reasonable accommodation because of a disability for any part of the application or employment process, please contact Human Resources (hr@oxy.edu).
