Faculty Job Openings

Dept. of Romance Languages, Wake Forest University

When we have openings in our department, we advertise in the MLA (Modern Language Association) job list. Many job seekers subscribe to that information service (http://www.mla.org/main_jil.htm), but we also list positions here and offer fuller information on our expectations for applications and subsequent interviews.

Current open positions:

• Tenure-track Assistant Professor of Spanish. Beginning July 2013. Two-year appointment renewable. Five courses per year, including Spanish language courses. Ph.D. in hand by time of appointment. Preference will be given to candidates with a strong interdisciplinary background in discourse analysis (e.g., political, economic, legal), cultural studies, digital humanities, and/or research on cultural institutions. Applicants must have a firm commitment to undergraduate teaching and submit evidence of same, including course evaluations. For a complete description of job requirements and credentials go to: http://www.wfu.edu/romancelanguages/jobs.html. Send letter of application, dossier and statement of teaching philosophy, course evaluations, and a sample syllabus of an advanced undergraduate course by November 30 to Byron Wells, Chair. AA/EOE

• Tenure-track Assistant Professor of Spanish and Linguistics.  Beginning July 2013. Two-year appointment renewable. Five courses per year, including language courses.  
  Field of specialization should include both Hispanic and general linguistics. Applicants must have a firm commitment to undergraduate teaching and submit evidence of same, including course evaluations. For a complete description of job requirements and credentials go to: http://www.wfu.edu/romancelanguages/jobs.html and click on "Faculty Job Openings.” Send letter of application, dossier and statement of teaching philosophy, course evaluations, and a sample syllabus of an advanced undergraduate course in Hispanic linguistics by November 16 to Byron Wells, Chair. AA/EOE

• Tenure-track Assistant Professor of Arabic. Beginning July 2013. Two-year appointment renewable. Five courses per year. Ph.D. in hand by time of appointment preferred. Field of specialization is open. Applicants must have a firm commitment to undergraduate teaching and submit evidence of same, including course evaluations. Submit letter of application, dossier, statement of teaching philosophy, course evaluations, a sample syllabus of an advanced undergraduate course and three letters of recommendation by March 1 to Cynthia Hall, ( hallca@wfu.edu) Administrative Coordinator, Department of Romance Languages, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC 27109.

• Lecturer of Spanish, July, 2013. Two-year appointment with possibility of renewal.  Six courses per year.  M.A. minimum, native or near-native fluency. Applicants must have a strong commitment to undergraduate teaching and submit evidence of same, including course evaluations. Proficiency in use of technology is expected of faculty at Wake Forest. For a complete description of job requirements and credentials go to: http://www.wfu.edu/romancelanguages/jobs.html and click on "Faculty Job Openings.” Send letter of application, dossier and statement of teaching philosophy by November 1, to Byron Wells, Chair. AA/EOE

• Lecturer of French, July, 2013. Two-year appointment with possibility of renewal.  Six courses per year.  M.A. minimum, native or near-native fluency. Applicants must have a strong commitment to undergraduate teaching and submit evidence of same, including course evaluations. Proficiency in use of technology is expected of faculty at Wake Forest. For a complete description of job requirements and credentials go to: http://www.wfu.edu/romancelanguages/jobs.html and click on "Faculty Job Openings.” Send letter of application, dossier and statement of teaching philosophy by November 1 to Byron Wells, Chair. AA/EOE

• Visiting Instructor of Italian, July 2013. One year appointment, six course.  M.A. minimum, native or near-native fluency. Applicants must have a strong commitment to undergraduate teaching and submit evidence of same, including course evaluations. Proficiency in use of technology is expected of faculty at Wake Forest. Submit letter of application, dossier, statement of teaching philosophy and three letters of recommendation by March 1 to Cynthia Hall, (hallca@wfu.edu) Administrative Coordinator, Department of Romance Languages, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC 27109

---

For all our teaching positions

Credentials:

For all our teaching positions, the following prerequisites apply:

The ad (job listing) specifies the further documentation needed to evaluate an application, and may include the following components. These documents should be submitted in the traditional way, on paper by mail. Email and phone calls are satisfactory for short inquiries, but proper paper versions are needed for accurate filing and record-keeping of each applicant’s materials. Wake Forest is an AA/EOE employer.

1. Application letter, a formal letter addressed to the chair of the department, that indicates the position that is being applied for, and summarizes interest and qualifications for it. This letter, as well as the remaining documentation, is then passed on to the search committee for evaluation.

2. Dossier, which includes at least the following:

a. Curriculum vitae, or CV (more complete than just a brief résumé) indicating personal information (name, address, contact information), education and professional development, honors (awards, grants), professional memberships, previous academic appointments, relevant background experiences and service capacities, research (publications and presentations), special classes or materials that have been developed...

b. A photocopy of the transcript (of courses, grades, degree) from last university attended.

c. Recommendation letters. Unless these are part of a placement file (explained below under “General advice to candidates”), recommendation letters should be mailed separately by the recommenders themselves (preferably on their institution’s stationery), not by the applicant and never by email. We prefer at least three recommendations, but accept up to five.

d. A statement of the applicant's Teaching Philosophy (1-2 pages).

3. Teaching materials: including the following:

Course evaluations: student evaluations of teachers are important to us. If possible, send statistically digested summaries for whole classes; loose-leaf copies of selected students’ responses are not as useful.

Sample proposal with syllabus: a proposal of a course (specifying goals, materials, evaluation, and general semester plan) that might be relevant to our department’s curriculum. The purpose is to give us an idea of how the candidate conceives and puts together a course. This should be for an advanced-level topic of special interest to the candidate (and in the case of tenure-track applicants, it should be in his/her field of specialization); the syllabi for lower-level general language courses have already been developed by the department. For sample syllabi, see postings at individual faculty members’ web pages (linked to the department’s main web page).

Interview and visit

The campus interview is arranged by the search committee and office administrator in conjunction with the invited candidate. It includes the following events.

• opportunities to meet members of the department and see the campus and its facilities;
• interviews with the dean, the departmental chair, and other key personnel;
• teaching one of our classes (materials for the lesson will be sent to the candidate beforehand, generally by fax), observed by selected departmental members and a representative of the dean’s office;
• in the case of a tenure-track position, a presentation on a topic in the candidate’s research area that is suitable to a general audience of faculty in literature and language, about 30-40 minutes (with subsequent time for question-and-answer). This talk should be in English since not everyone in the audience may be proficient in the candidate’s other language(s).

Some general advice to applicants

1. You are responsible for making sure that all parts of your dossier arrive for timely evaluation. Instead of sending each set of credentials separately yourself, consider filing your CV, transcript, recommendation letters, and course evaluations with a career placement center (or placement bureau), which you authorize to send a copy of the whole packet to each institution to which you apply.

2. It is to your advantage to inform yourself about any department and college to which you have applied, particularly as preparation for an interview. This department’s web page gives links to programs, faculty, and courses for more information.

3. After returning home from an interview, you may make follow-up inquiries; but if you have special considerations requiring private negotiation, it is best to bring those up during your interviews with the dean and chair.

For more information:

MLA job website: advice about applications and interviews: click on “Guidelines for Job Seekers.” (Unlike the actual job listing, this part of the MLA job service is free.)

New instructors: information for getting ready for classes here.

Wake Forest University , Winston-Salem , and Forsyth County: for our university, city, and county.