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09/25/2023

Assistant Professor in Interpersonal Communication Position Opening at University of Alabama

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR IN INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION 

UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA

The Department of Communication Studies, housed in the College of Communication & Information Sciences, at The University of Alabama, invites applications for a nine-month tenure-track Assistant Professor specializing in interpersonal communication. The position has an anticipated start date of August 16, 2024.

The successful candidate for this position will be expected to engage in research and scholarship that makes important conceptual and practical contributions to interpersonal communication and shows promise for a robust research program and trajectory. Possible areas of research focus include, but are not limited to, applications and intersections with mediated communication, family communication, relationship studies, and/or health communication. Candidates should complement our departmental strengths with expertise in any paradigmatic approaches. Competitive candidates will demonstrate an aptitude for social scientific methodology.

The Department of Communications Studies is home to leading researchers and award-winning educators that study coping and support, Deaf culture, matrifocal Black families, and mediated disconnection. Excellence in research and teaching, as well as publication trajectory commensurate with departments in a major research university is required. A record of or potential for securing extramural funding, as well as a commitment to collaborative, interdisciplinary research, is desired. Applicants must display an ability to be an active and involved member of the faculty in Communication Studies. The successful hire will typically teach two courses each semester (2/2), which may include undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral courses. The typical distribution of effort is 40% Research, 40% Teaching, 20% Service.

Qualifications

  • Earned doctorate in a communication or related fields completed by the appointment start date. Doctoral candidates (ABDs) at the time of application will be considered for hire.
  • Desire for collaborating and publishing interpersonal communication research that aligns with and advances the department profile within the discipline and interdisciplinary sphere.
  • Potential for and interest in participating and leading collaborative research and/or grant teams that include but not are limited to faculty and students in the Department of Communication Studies, College of Communication & Information Sciences, and university institutes and initiatives (Life Research, Transportation, Water, and Cyber).
  • Record of instructional effectiveness, including experience or ability to teach communication courses, research methods, and/or other communication-related courses.
  • Demonstrated commitment to fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion in research, teaching, or service initiatives that involves diverse populations and addresses the social impact of interpersonal and relational communication in people's lives.

Application Process

To apply, provide the following:

  1. Curriculum vitae
  2. Cover letter (up to three pages) highlighting how your research, teaching, service, and leadership prepares you to contribute as a faculty member, explaining how your research complements and/or extends existing departmental strengths, and evidencing how your instructional experiences and effectiveness can contribute to the departmental and college curriculum.
  3. One page research statement highlighting past, present, and future research trajectory.
  4. Names and contact information for three references.

Materials can be submitted online at https://facultyjobs.ua.edu. Salary and benefits are competitive and commensurate with experience. Priority will be given to applications received on or before October 20, 2023. Inquiries can be directed to search committee chair, Dr. Leah LeFebvre (lelefebvre@ua.edu).

The Department of Communication Studies and College of Communication & Information Sciences is committed to providing an inclusive, equitable and diverse place of learning and employment. The University of Alabama is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. We encourage members of marginalized and underrepresented communities (e.g., ethnic, gender, racial, and sexual identities) to apply.

About the Department

The Department of Communication Studies emphasizes a broad understanding of the power of communication by studying theory and practice in the areas of communication and culture, interpersonal communication, organizational leadership, and rhetoric and political discourse. The department is a collaborative environment that values the communication discipline’s rich heritage of methodological diversity. The department consists of about twenty-four full-time faculty members dedicated to furthering the education of nearly 1,000 undergraduate majors and minors. The on-campus M.A. program has roughly twenty students, and assistantships are available. The department is home to a thriving online M.A. degree with over a hundred students, a renowned forensics program, and a cutting-edge Speaking Studio. For more information, visit our website at https://comstudies.ua.edu.

About the College of Communication & Information Sciences

The Department of Communication Studies resides in the College of Communication & Information Sciences, which includes the departments of Advertising and Public Relations, Journalism and Creative Media, and the School of Library and Information Studies. The college has approximately 100 full-time faculty members serving over 3,000 students across bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degree programs, including approximately 80 students in the college-wide, multi-disciplinary Ph.D. program (https://cis.ua.edu/cis-doctoral-program/). The college’s Institute for Communication & Information Research (ICIR) is a premier research institute dedicated to addressing societal and cultural issues related to communication and information research. The ICIR collaborates with businesses, nonprofit organizations, government agencies, foundations, and other entities to produce high-impact research that informs and improves our evolving communication and information landscape. Housed within the Office for Research, Scholarship & Creative Activity are multiple collaborative lab spaces. The college also maintains the 40,000 square-foot Digital Media Center, which is home to the Center for Public Television, Alabama Public Radio, and WVUA 23, a full-power commercial television station serving a top-50 television market. The future Holle Center for Communication Arts, a hub for storytelling and social justice, will also be located in the Digital Media Center. The college strives to unite the theoretical and practical dimensions of communication and is a campus leader in the areas of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

About The University of Alabama

Located in Tuscaloosa, The University of Alabama is the state's flagship public university with a Carnegie classification of Very High Research Activity (R1) and offers a full course of academic programs and social life to its nearly 40,000 students. The university maintains several research institutes (https://research.ua.edu/institutes-centers/) that unite researchers from various disciplines. These include the Alabama Cyber Initiative, Alabama Life Research Institute, Alabama Transportation Institute, and Alabama Water Institute, among others. As the state's flagship university and a sea-grant and space-grant institution, The University of Alabama and its students, staff, and faculty address challenges at the cutting edge of scientific inquiry while also driving economic growth and serving the societal needs of the state, regional, national, and global community. The university is fully accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC).

About Tuscaloosa, Alabama

The city of Tuscaloosa has a diverse metropolitan population of more than 100,000 and offers an excellent quality of life and various multicultural resources and opportunities (https://diversity.ua.edu/2022-multicultural-resource-guide/). The walkable downtown offers many cultural and outdoor activities, a wide variety of local restaurants spanning a broad range of cuisines, monthly art walks, and a 7,470-seat outdoor amphitheater. In addition to its well-established record of athletic achievement, the campus and city are historical sites of many pivotal events in the Civil Rights Movement (https://visittuscaloosa.com/listing/tuscaloosa-civil-rights-trail/). Tuscaloosa offers an affordable cost of living, located an hour from Birmingham, and close driving distance to Smoky Mountains, the Gulf Coast beaches, and multiple urban centers (Atlanta, Nashville, and New Orleans).

This institution offers benefits to same-sex and to different sex domestic partners.

This institution offers trans-affirming benefits.

This institution offers benefits to spouses.

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