Associate Professor, Poetry

The English Department of the University of Maryland, College Park, invites applications for an associate professor in poetry who will enhance the diversity of its nationally ranked creative writing program, bring program administration experience, and a practice in digital poetics and new media studies. 

Diversity, inclusion, equity, and access drive the mission of the English Department, and we seek candidates whose creative work, teaching, and service have prepared them to contribute to and advance this mission. Within their applications, candidates are asked to summarize their leadership efforts and past or potential contributions to diversity, such as leadership in teaching, mentoring, research, or service towards building an equitable and diverse scholarly environment and/or increasing access or participation of individuals from historically underrepresented groups.

The successful candidate for this associate rank must have an M.F.A., M.A. (e.g. interactive media arts), M.S. (e.g. computational media), or Ph.D. in creative writing or a related field. Successful candidates will have a significant record of publications in nationally recognized venues and are expected to continue to publish actively; teach two courses per semester, including courses that contribute to the creative writing tracks within the undergraduate English major as well as the core curriculum of the M.F.A. in creative writing; direct graduate theses and undergraduate honors theses; and offer service to the Department, the College, and the University.  The ideal candidate will be someone whose practice in the art of poetry readies them to contribute to the exciting intersections between poetry and digital humanities, and the interdisciplinary arts initiatives on campus. Areas of potential scholarship, teaching, and practice include combinatorial poetry, installation poetry, AI-generated poetry, data poetry, poetry at the print-digital intersection, work that moves between digital and material cultures. We are especially interested in candidates whose broader interests support our partnerships with various campus, department, and other entities, such as the Maryland Institute of Technology (MITH) and the African American Digital Humanities (AAD-Hum) Initiative, which is a Mellon-funded program at Maryland committed to digital and experimental arts and humanities scholarship grounded in African American and Black diaspora studies. 

The University of Maryland is located in College Park, eight miles from the heart of Washington, DC, offering its faculty access to world-class library and archival facilities, an array of cultural institutions, and culturally and linguistically diverse communities.  The MFA Program in Creative Writing is staffed by a stellar faculty, active on the national and international literary scene, with strong ties to the greater D.C. literary arts community.  We are committed to diversity and the English department’s anti-racism initiative, and run a full-funded vibrant program grounded in mentoring of young writers.  MFA alumni are noted for their award-winning publications with independent and major presses, for continuing their graduate education at top-tier doctoral programs, and for starting their own nationally recognized journals and magazines.  

Application Instructions

For best consideration, please submit the following materials by October 12, 2021:

  • a letter of application
  • a curriculum vita
  • a 1-page creative/research statement
  • a 1-page teaching philosophy statement, and
  • a 1-page statement summarizing your leadership efforts and past or potential contributions to diversity and inclusion.

Candidates should be prepared to provide three letters of recommendation, which the committee will request at a more advanced stage of the search process.

Applications must be submitted using the following link:
https://ejobs.umd.edu/postings/86877

The University of Maryland, College Park, actively subscribes to a policy of equal employment opportunity, and will not discriminate against any employee or applicant because of race, age, sex, color, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, religion, ancestry or national origin, marital status, genetic information, political affiliation, and gender identity or expression. Minorities and women are encouraged to apply.

This search is contingent upon the availability of funds.


Similar searches: Full-time, 4-year college or university, Creative writing, English, Professor, Associate, Maryland