Tenure-Track Position: Assistant Professor of French (Francophone Studies, Black Africa/Black Diaspora), Univ. of Pittsburgh

Assistant Professor of French (Black African Studies)

Department of French and Italian, University of Pittsburgh

The Department of French and Italian at the University of Pittsburgh invites applications for a tenure-stream assistant professor with a specialization in Francophone sub-Saharan Africa and / or the Black diaspora, including France and Europe. The teaching load is four courses per year at the graduate and undergraduate level. Pending budgetary approval, the position will begin in fall 2022. 

We seek a colleague whose teaching and scholarship contribute to one (or more) of our department’s four curricular and research networks: film and media; nation/transnation; gender and sexuality; environment (https://www.frenchanditalian.pitt.edu/graduate/research-networks). The ideal candidate would contribute to interdisciplinary initiatives on anti-Black and systemic racism with a focus on theoretical approaches to race and/or the cross-cultural histories that inform these critical approaches. Applicants may work on any time period, across periods, or in multiple periods, and they may work in national, transnational, or global contexts.

The Department of French and Italian at the University of Pittsburgh is a vibrant community of students and scholars hosting a French major, a PhD in French, and a PhD in Film and Media Studies with a Concentration in French. The French program has a long history of teaching, research, and programming focused on the francophone world, including the African diaspora in Europe and the Americas. Our efforts complement and are complemented by those in Africana Studies; African Studies; Global Studies Center; the English Department’s focal area on “Race, Poetics, Empire”; World History Center; Center for Latin American Studies; and Urban Studies.

The Department's dual focus on French and Italian offers exciting opportunities for innovative and collaborative research and teaching across and beyond its programs as well as for engagement with many interdisciplinary departments and centers, such as Medieval and Renaissance Studies; Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies; Cultural Studies; Film and Media Studies; the Early Modern Worlds Initiative; the European Studies Center; and a robust Humanities Center.

Applicants must have an active research profile, demonstrated interest and proven proficiency in teaching, native or near-native fluency in French and English, the ability to mentor undergraduate and graduate students in curricular and experiential contexts, and PhD in hand at the time of appointment. PhD may be in any field. We especially welcome applications from candidates of underrepresented groups, whose backgrounds, experience, and approaches contribute to our aims for diversity, equity, and inclusion.

For the first round of consideration, please send a cover letter, a curriculum vitae, and a diversity statement to Prof. Todd Reeser, Chair, Department of French and Italian, on-line by October 15, 2021. The diversity statement should address your contributions to diversity through research, service and/or community engagement. Applicants should share how their past, planned, or potential contributions or experiences relating to diversity, equity, and inclusion will advance the University of Pittsburgh’s commitment to inclusive excellence.

Applicants who advance to the second round of consideration will be invited to submit additional documents by November 5, 2021. These will include: an article-length writing sample, graduate transcript(s), a teaching dossier (containing a statement of teaching philosophy, two or more sample syllabi, two or three packets of student evaluations with student comments, sample assignments, and any other teaching materials applicants wish to include), and contact information for three persons able to provide confidential professional letters of recommendation (we do not need the letters themselves at this time, but we do need the names of recommenders).

Please direct position questions to Prof. Reeser at reeser@pitt.edu.

The University of Pittsburgh is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer and values equality of opportunity, human dignity and diversity. EEO/AA/M/F/Vets/Disabled.

Talent Center at the University of Pittsburgh:

Job Description - Faculty.Professor.Assistant - Full-Time (21006364) (taleo.net)