Director of Pan-African Studies at Clemson University in Clemson, South Carolina

Job Description:

Clemson University: College of Architecture, Arts and Humanities
Director of Pan-African Studies

Location: Clemson, SC

The College of Architecture, Arts and Humanities (CAAH) at Clemson University seeks nominations and applications from accomplished scholars for the position of Director of Pan-African Studies. Rank open. Applicants should have a demonstrable commitment to interdisciplinarity, with a PhD in a field relevant to African American or Africana studies, diaspora, migration, and/or Black studies, and tenurable in a department currently housed in the College.

The program in Pan-African Studies is currently undergoing a name change. The new director will play a central role in the reconceptualization of the curriculum and program expansion. The program has enormous potential as an academic hub, as a research leader, and as a focal point for exchange and dialogue on historical and contemporary issues of race at Clemson and beyond. The successful candidate will be an individual with vision, a demonstrated capacity for leadership, and with the energy to mobilize Clemson's human and material resources. The director is expected to collaborate with faculty, staff, students, and community partners engaged in the on-going process of reevaluating the history of Black life at Clemson and bringing that story to our local and global communities. This position requires program advocacy and active engagement with students, and the director will be expected to organize campus and community events to increase awareness and program visibility. The College offers three PhD programs, and the new director will be encouraged to contribute to them as appropriate. In addition to program building, coordination and academic advising, the new director will maintain an active career in research and scholarship and be expected to teach, teaching loads adjusted depending on other activities. The successful candidate must be able to demonstrate proficiency in budgeting, personnel management, external support/fundraising and program development.

Clemson is a land-grant university, founded in 1889. Prior to its founding, the lands on which the university sits were a functioning plantation for generations. The old plantation home known as Fort Hill still stands on campus and is used as an educational tool. In addition to having the history of enslavement near, Clemson is home to a history of the displacement of the Cherokee, Black convict labor, a stop on the Black belt for many musical groups, and an unmarked and in-the-process-of-being recovered African American burial ground. There is work underway to ensure students/staff/faculty and community members learn this history and learn from it.

Allied disciplines within CAAH offer degrees in Architecture, City Planning and Real Estate Development, Construction Science and Management, Visual and Performing Arts, English, Geography, History, Languages, Philosophy, and Religion. The cross-disciplinary nature of the College enriches all the programs and is exemplified by the interdisciplinary PhD programs.

Clemson University (Carnegie Mellon VHR-R1 classification) is a public university with a student population of around 24,000, is geographically situated in Clemson near the northwestern corner of South Carolina in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. It is close to Greenville, South Carolina and sits along the I-85 corridor halfway between Atlanta, Georgia to the southwest and Charlotte, North Carolina, to the northeast.

QUALIFICATIONS

Applicants should have a demonstrable commitment to interdisciplinarity, with a PhD in a field relevant to African American or Africana studies, diaspora, migration, and/or Black studies, and tenurable in a department currently housed in the College.

APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS

Candidates should provide a CV, a letter of application, which should include a discussion of leadership philosophy and experience engaging with issues of diversity, inclusion and/or social justice, a sample of scholarship, and a list of at least three (3) references to the search committee by uploading the documents to Interfolio (http://apply.interfolio.com/84613).

Applications received before April 5, 2021 will receive careful consideration.

Inquiries may be directed to the Search Committee Chair.

James M. Burns
Clemson University | CAAH | Associate Dean and Professor of History
865-656-0376 | burnsj@clemson.edu

Clemson University is an AA/EEO employer and does not discriminate against any person or group on the basis of age, color, disability, gender, pregnancy, national origin, race, religion, sexual orientation, veteran status or genetic information. Clemson University is building a culturally diverse faculty and staff committed to working in a multicultural environment and encourages applications from minorities and women.Applicants should have a demonstrable commitment to interdisciplinarity, with a PhD in a field relevant to African American or Africana studies, diaspora, migration, and/or Black studies, and tenurable in a department currently housed in the College.

PI131358459 Apply Now