UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

Tenure Track Junior Faculty

The Center for Afroamerican & African Studies (CAAS) seeks to hire a full time, tenure track, junior faculty member specializing in environmental and resource issues in sub-Saharan Africa with an expressed interest in sustainable development. As part of the “Environment, Information and Sustainable Development: The Asia-Africa Nexus” cluster hire being conducted by the Department of History (LSA), the School of Information, and the School of Natural Resources and Environment, this CAAS-specific hire would ideally be engaged in the broader issue of the relationship between Africa and Asia and the consequences for economic and social life in African nations. We seek a scholar, trained in the social sciences with an interest in understanding the intersections between trade, development and the environment. Relevant areas of research include, but are not limited to, (1) Climate change and natural disasters; (2) Energy; (3) Extracting and processing natural resources; (4) Environmental health and pollution; (5) neocolonialism and the effects of Asian national and corporate practices; (6) Environmental informatics, as well as the disposal of “technological waste”; (7) Strategies of making development sustainable; (8) Demography and population growth; (9) Urban planning; and (10) The relationship between human rights and environmental justice. Ideally, candidates would share an interest in formulating, testing and implementing solutions, particularly those involving the use of new information and communications technologies such as GIS mapping and ICT4D. We encourage applications from a variety of social science disciplines including geography, anthropology, sociology, development studies, economics and political science. The successful applicant must be committed to a cooperative interdisciplinary research agenda with three other members of the cluster hire. For more information on this on-going “cluster hire” please see our website.

This position is 100% within CAAS, with possible “dry appointments” in relevant departments in the social sciences, with the School of Information and with the School of Natural Resources. Candidates should be able and willing to teach four courses per year that range from larger undergraduate lecture courses to interdisciplinary seminars at the undergraduate and graduate level. Graduate courses are typically cross-listed with other departments and schools; the nature of these courses would be determined by the disciplinary focus of the new hire. This new hire would be expected to contribute to our core courses at the first and second year levels. S/he would also devise more specialized courses that contribute to the Africa focused curriculum in areas such as development and human security, human rights, environmental sustainability, climatological change and resources and development. 

To apply please send a letter of application, a CV, a statement of teaching philosophy and experience, evidence of teaching excellence, a statement of current and future research plans, and a three references to Chair, EISD Search Committee, Center for Afro-American & African Studies, University of Michigan, 4700 Haven Hall, 505 S. State Street, Ann Arbor, MI. 48104. Your letter must address your qualifications for and interest in participation in the research cluster. A review of applications will begin on November 1, 2009 with some initial interviews to be scheduled at the African Studies Association meeting in November. Women and minorities are encouraged to apply. The University of Michigan is supportive of the needs of dual career couples and is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer.