Postdoctoral Fellow-->Assistant Professor in Medical Humanities

Haverford College seeks an ACLS/PPI Postdoctoral Fellow in Medical Humanities for a two-year period leading to a tenure track position in the Program in Health Studies. The fellowship is supported by an ACLS initiative designed to increase representation of historically underrepresented faculty in the academy. The fellow initially will be based in the Hurford Center for the Arts and Humanities, where they will be able to focus on research and writing while teaching a reduced load of elective courses during the first two years.

The successful candidate will have an active scholarly agenda in the medical and health humanities, broadly defined. Disciplinary background, methodological orientation, and geographic emphasis are open. Areas of specialization might include but are not limited to: literature and medicine in comparative perspective; history of medicine and public health; visual and cultural studies of medicine; religion, ritual practice, and healing traditions, and ethnography of illness and bodily experience. Scholars whose work attends to the links between social structures, cultural production, and lived experience, and who situate textual, visual, and experiential inquiry in conversations about racial capitalism, colonialism and empire, social stratification and inequality, the production of authoritative knowledge and expertise, and/or gendered social systems are encouraged to apply.

Candidates are expected to hold an earned doctorate in a humanities field, a humanistic social science, or a relevant interdisciplinary area, or be on track to complete the PhD by September 1, 2020. The successful candidate will share Haverford’s commitment to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion in higher education and will have a demonstrated interest in working with students who have historically been underrepresented in higher education generally and in the humanities specifically. The College is especially interested in candidates who can offer courses that advance students’ understanding of how the intersectionality of race, class, and gender shapes patterns of health and disease, access to care, and the lived experience of illness. Candidates engaged in public scholarship or who have experience facilitating problem-based and experiential learning are encouraged to highlight these elements in their application.

Haverford is a small liberal arts college located four miles outside Philadelphia. Haverford offers a pre-tenure sabbatical, generous funding for research and conference travel, as well as class sizes that support close student-faculty interactions. Haverford is part of a Tri-College consortium with neighboring Swarthmore College and Bryn Mawr College and has an established relationship with nearby University of Pennsylvania through the Quaker Consortium. Faculty have opportunities to engage with these communities through collaborations as well as shared resources and events. 

Candidates are asked to submit the following materials via Interfolio [https://apply.interfolio.com/68488]: 

• A cover letter describing their research agenda and contribution, scholarly aims for the postdoctoral fellowship period, teaching interests and competencies, participation in scholarly and professional networks, and experience working with underrepresented and first-generation students
• Curriculum vitae
• Names and contact information for three references
• Paragraph-length descriptions of three medical humanities electives the candidate could offer (1 page total)
• Writing sample such as a published article, manuscript in preparation, or dissertation chapter

For full consideration, applications must be received by 11:59pm (UTC-4) on Friday, November 1, 2019. Questions about the application process should be directed to hc-medhumsearch@haverford.edu. For technical questions, please contact Interfolio directly at (877) 997-8807 or help@interfolio.com.

Haverford College is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer that does not discriminate on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, age, marital status, disability or veteran status. Haverford has a longstanding commitment to diversity rooted in values of inclusion and social justice, a commitment reflected in the curriculum, classrooms, and communal composition of the College. Haverford welcomes applications from candidates who share these values and who will foster their contribution to the College’s mission.