UC Riverside: Tomas Rivera Endowed Chair, Associate/Full

 

The University of California, Riverside seeks applicants at the Associate or Full Professor level for the Tomás Rivera Endowed Chair in Creative Writing and English with an emphasis on Chicano/Latino literature. The successful candidate shall hold the Tomás Rivera Endowed Chair, established in memory of the writer, poet, and academic leader who served as Chancellor of the University of California, Riverside. Applicants must present an outstanding record of creative activity and research in Chicana/o/x or Latina/o/x literature, one evidenced by national and international publications, presentations, and awards. Preference will be given to applicants with an active research agenda who have published with distinction in multiple genres. The successful candidate will be a senior joint appointment in the Department of Creative Writing with a secondary appointment in the Department of English, with teaching and service as assigned. The position will be effective July 1, 2018.

 

The initial appointment as Endowed Chair will be for five years, with the possibility of renewal. The Endowed Chair holder will receive funding from endowed sources to support research and conference development, as well as teaching activity. The Endowed Chair holder will also teach courses in fiction, poetry, and/or nonfiction, as well as courses in Chicana/o/x and Latina/o/x literature. Proven commitment to and enthusiasm for teaching diverse student populations at both the graduate and undergraduate levels are required, as are knowledge of current debates in Chicana/o/x and Latina/o/x cultural studies and creative arts.

 

The Endowed Chair holder should also have a background in community outreach and leadership for use in coordinating the annual Tomás Rivera Conference, an event that provides an international forum for thoughtful reflection on the contributions of Chicana/o/x and Latina/o/x artists in the worlds of literature, music, and art, as well as education, business, and medicine.

 

A terminal degree in the applicant's area of expertise is required. Salary will be commensurate with education and experience.

Applications must include a two-page cover letter that includes a research statement, an updated curriculum vitae, a statement addressing contributions to or potential for contributions to academic diversity, a minimum of one writing sample or article reprint, a statement of teaching philosophy, a sample of recent teaching evaluations, and the names and contact information for three references. Candidates may also submit a website, dossier, or media-player links with access to samples of their artistic work. Additional materials may be requested for candidates who are placed on the short list. Review of applications will begin February 26, 2018 and may continue until the position has been filled. Complete applications received by February 26 will receive full consideration. Advancement through the faculty ranks at the University of California is through a series of structured, merit-based evaluations, occurring every 2-3 years, each of which includes substantial peer input.

 

The Tomás Rivera Endowed Chair will join faculty recruited in the Greater Mexico/U.S. Latinx cluster hire. Drawing on Americo Paredes’ term, “Greater Mexico,” this cluster hire is focused on scholars, writers, and artists across many disciplines whose work attends to Mexico, Central America, and United States areas with significant populations of Chicano or Latino people.

 

The University of California, Riverside is implementing a major expansion of our faculty and investing in state-of-the-art research facilities to support their work. This expansion will build critical mass in 34 vital and emerging fields of scholarship, foster truly cross-disciplinary work, and further diversify the faculty at one of America’s most diverse research universities. We encourage applications from scholars committed to excellence and seeking to help define the research university for the next generation. For more information about our hiring initiative or to submit an application, please visit clusterhiring.ucr.edu or aprecruit.ucr.edu.

 

Established in 1954, UCR is a world-class research university with an exceptionally diverse undergraduate student body. The university's mission is explicitly linked to providing routes to educational success for underrepresented and first-generation college students. In 2016, we welcomed a cohort of 6,000 students, of which 62 percent were the first to attend college. With our fast-growing population of approximately 21,000 students, UCR is the most diverse undergraduate student body in the UC system, with 35 percent identifying as Chicano or Latino. A commitment to this mission is a preferred qualification.

 

UCR is located fifty miles east of Los Angeles in Riverside County, an area that is approaching or just exceeding 50 percent Latino. Nestled against the Box Springs Mountains, UCR is two-and-a-half hours north of the United States-Mexico border, and at the epicenter of a vibrant and dynamic Inland Empire transnational landscape. We seek scholars who can build on and complement UC-MEXUS and President Napolitano’s UC-Mexico Program, as well as existing UCR initiatives and centers such as: Latin American Studies, The Robert Presley Center for Crime and Justice Studies, The Blum Initiative on Global and Regional Poverty, The Center for Healthy Communities, The Center for Ideas and Society, and The California Center for Native Nations.