Recruit

The Department of Global Arts, Media, and Writing Studies at the University of California, Merced invites applications for a tenure-track Assistant Professor and a tenured Full Professor of Communication and Media with an anticipated start date of July 1, 2025. Successful candidates will have an undergraduate affiliation with Global Arts, Media, and Writing Studies, and graduate group affiliation with one or more disciplines (e.g. Interdisciplinary Humanities, Public Health, etc.). They will develop and teach graduate courses aligned with that discipline in addition to their undergraduate teaching duties.

The Department of Global Arts, Media, and Writing Studies specializes in wide-ranging interdisciplinary research on human expressive culture. We emphasize synergies between writing, media, and arts in their historical, sociocultural, and political contexts. This department focuses especially on how written, aural, and visual technologies and products shape communications, and how creativity and knowledge are produced and managed. We embody the value of the arts in human social life in historical and contemporary contexts. The next stage in our growth includes the development and implementation of an undergraduate program in Communication and Media to meet the needs of California’s undergraduate population. Our current search is therefore broad, and we seek colleagues with demonstrated excellence in research in any substantive area of Communication and Media with the skills to teach undergraduate and graduate courses in the same. We are specifically interested in scholars with expertise in one or more of the following areas: Mass Communication; Strategic Communication; Media Studies; Writing, Rhetoric, and Technical Communication; Media and Society; Emerging Media. Preferred candidates will blend media theory and practice in one or more mass media platforms (e.g. video and/or audio production, video games, immersive media, animation, emerging technologies, and AI).

The successful candidate will be expected to advance a program of research, teach and mentor undergraduate and graduate student researchers, and perform professional service to the department and institution appropriate to their career stage. The typical workload for 9-month academic year appointees in the Research Faculty series is 40% research, 40% teaching, and 20% service. Research series faculty typically teach 3 courses per academic year.

This degree program will be a collaborative venture with the existing Writing Studies and Global Arts Studies programs. We are particularly interested in hiring colleagues with research programs that intersect with the broader social justice aims of the department and of the university, exploring the various challenges addressed in/through intersectional approaches to race, class, ethnicity, gender, and other modes of social hierarchy. We also value the contributions of different media and traditions informed by diverse regional and cultural contexts.

These faculty positions, along with a new Assistant Teaching Professor, will cover a broad range of instructional needs for the new program, including communication methods, small group communication, interpersonal communication, media campaigns, writing for media, professional and technical writing, media production, and a capstone course for majors. The successful candidates will be affiliated with one or more Graduate Groups across campus and will develop and teach graduate courses aligned with those disciplines.

For questions about these positions, please contact Jayson Beaster-Jones (jbeaster-jones@ucmerced.edu) or Ken Yoshida (kyoshida@ucmerced.edu).

The University of California, Merced, is the newest of the University of California system’s 10 campuses. With over 9,000 undergraduate and graduate students (https://cie.ucmerced.edu/analytics-hub/student-statistics), UC Merced is committed to interdisciplinary excellence in research and teaching as well as to diversity, equity and inclusion. Ranked as one of the best public universities in the nation by U.S. News and World Report, UC Merced provides outstanding educational opportunities to highly qualified students from the heart of California, the nation, and abroad. The campus has special connections to nearby Yosemite National Park; is on the cutting edge of sustainability in construction and design; and supports the economic development of Central California. The Merced 2020 Project doubled the physical capacity of the campus, and enhanced academic distinction, student success, and research excellence (https://merced2020.ucmerced.edu/).

The University of California, Merced is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer advancing inclusive excellence. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age, protected veteran status, or other protected categories covered by the UC nondiscrimination policy.

Please refer to the University of California’s Affirmative Action Policy and the University of California’s Anti-Discrimination Policy.

As a University employee, you will be required to comply with all applicable University policies and/or collective bargaining agreements, as may be amended from time to time. Federal, state, or local government directives may impose additional requirements. This includes the University of California Policy on Vaccination Programs: https://policy.ucop.edu/doc/5000695/VaccinationProgramsPolicy.