Film & Digital Media: Assistant Professor, Black Media Practices (initial review Nov 1, 2023)

University of California Santa Cruz Santa Cruz, CA Full-time Education

Posted on April 23, 2024

Apply Now

Film & Digital Media: Assistant Professor, Black Media Practices (initial review Nov. 1, 2023)

Position overview
Position title: Assistant Professor (tenure-track), Black Media Practices
Salary range: The salary range for this position is $83,100-$115,000 academic year (nine-month basis). The posted UC salary scales set the minimum pay determined by rank and/or step at appointment. “Off-scale salaries” and other components of pay, i.e., a salary that is higher than the published system-wide salary at the designated rank and step, are offered when necessary to meet competitive conditions. See salary scales titled (FACULTY--LADDER RANKS--PROFESSOR SERIES)

Percent time: Full-time, 100%

Anticipated start: July 1, 2024, with the academic year beginning in September 2024. Degree requirements must be met by June 30, 2024 for employment effective July 1, 2024.

Application Window

Open date: August 31, 2023

Most recent review date: Wednesday, Nov 1, 2023 at 11:59pm (Pacific Time)
Applications received after this date will be reviewed by the search committee if the position has not yet been filled.

Final date: Sunday, Jun 30, 2024 at 11:59pm (Pacific Time)
Applications will continue to be accepted until this date, but those received after the review date will only be considered if the position has not yet been filled.

Position Description

The Film & Digital Media Department at the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC) seeks a practitioner/theorist (Assistant Professor, tenure-track) with expertise in Black American/African Diasporic media practices. Mediamakers will be engaged not only with Black media practices and their long histories, but also with the dynamic critical and theoretical discourses and activisms that those practices have generated. Theorist-practitioners might emphasize ethical, social and cultural considerations of knowledge, liberation and decolonization theories, methods and practices. We welcome applications from individuals whose creative work and research continues and foregrounds the strong legacies and innovations of Black cinema, media, and oppositional storytelling and whose work contributes to the representation of Black lives and experiences. This position is supported by our departmental and divisional commitment to an ongoing process of developing structures and practices for centering social justice in teaching and research. In keeping with our department’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, as described in our DEI statement, we are particularly eager to hear from scholars who focus on under/misrepresented or systematically excluded communities.

We have a particular interest in candidates who view creative activity as a platform for producing new knowledge, and who adeptly merge theory and practice, demonstrating this hybrid approach to our students. We welcome candidates whose experiences with Black American/African communities and/or community organizations shape their teaching methods, research or creative work, and community service. We are committed to pathbreaking pedagogical and practical approaches to media production and theory as an opportunity to strengthen the breadth of both critical research and production methods and perspectives taught and supported in the department at the undergraduate, graduate and faculty levels. Strong consideration will be given to those who exhibit a commendable track record in creative work, research, teaching, and an eagerness to participate in the continual development, diversification, and decolonization of our department's program. Candidates should place a high importance on their own creative or scholarly work, commit to a program of research or creative production, and contribute to our broad curriculum.

The ideal candidate should demonstrate an engagement with Black media practices, focusing on the lived experiences of marginalized communities. Candidates should be capable of teaching both production and critical studies courses, with a goal to challenge and decolonize conventional approaches to cinema and media cultures, whether in non-fiction/documentary or fiction genres. Additionally, the candidate should aim to nurture and promote underrepresented practices, theories, and perspectives within the classroom environment.

Areas of interest may encompass Black media studies, Black digital media, media related to African American, Black, Caribbean, or Afro-Latinx cultures, as well as Black cybercultures and Afrofuturism. Additionally, we appreciate potential colleagues who offer an intersectional perspective on Black experiences, focusing on aspects such as gender, sexuality, and (dis)ability. We welcome those with experience in global Black media studies, and those involved with found footage, archival practices, or the histories of Black film or media. Candidates who specialize in social media, digital media, and documentary studies centered on Black experiences would also greatly enhance our faculty and intellectual community.

We seek a colleague who can enhance and expand our department's ongoing justice-based theoretical and practical work and boost our collaborations across various departments and divisions. Potential collaborators could include departments such as Critical Race and Ethnic Studies, History of Consciousness, Art, Feminist Studies, Psychology, and the Digital Arts and New Media MFA Program. Moreover, collaboration with centers such as the Blum Center on Poverty, Social Enterprise and Participatory Governance, the Center for Cultural Studies, the Center for the Middle East and North Africa, Center for Creative Ecologies, Center for Documentary Arts and Research, and/or the Science and Justice Research Center could be possible. The successful candidate will invigorate and diversify the undergraduate experience, while also strengthening, expanding, and diversifying our Social Documentation MFA program and our critical practice PhD program.

Our campus follows a schedule of three 11-week quarters per academic year. According to the department's workload policy, faculty members are expected to deliver the equivalent of four five-unit courses each year. Further responsibilities encompass advising and mentoring undergraduate and graduate students, engaging in faculty governance at both departmental and campus levels, and actively partaking in administrative service for the department, the affiliated college, and the university as a whole. A strong ability to contribute significantly to graduate education and mentor graduate students is highly desirable.

The Film & Digital Media Department at UC Santa Cruz offers an undergraduate major that currently enrolls 700 students, a two-year MFA program in Social Documentation that averages eight students per cohort, and a PhD program with approximately thirty students. Our curriculum reflects an understanding that intellectual and creative work are related forms of production and inquiry that challenge the traditionally conceived borders between creative and critical practice. The Arts Division, of which Film & Digital Media is a part, supports faculty research through the Arts Research Institute; the campus supports research and teaching with grants awarded by the Committee on Research, the Committee on Teaching, and other groups.

UC Santa Cruz is a Hispanic-Serving Institution and an Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institution with a high proportion of first-in-family undergraduate students. In addition to encouraging participation in robust departmental, divisional, and campus mentoring, the campus offers a Faculty Community Networking Program that provides support for African-American/Black/Caribbean, Asian-American/Pacific Islander, Latinx/Chicanx, and Indigenous faculty, as well as groups for women in STEM, faculty with disabilities, and academic mothers.

University of California Santa Cruz is located on the unceded territory of the Awaswas-speaking Uypi Tribe. The Amah Mutsun Tribal Band, comprised of the descendants of Indigenous people taken to missions Santa Cruz and San Juan Bautista during Spanish colonization of the Central Coast, is today working hard to restore traditional stewardship practices on these lands and heal from historical trauma.

The chosen candidate will be expected to sign a statement representing that they are not the subject of any ongoing investigation or disciplinary proceeding at their current academic institution or place of employment, nor have they in the past ten years been formally disciplined at any academic institution/place of employment. In the event the candidate cannot make this representation, they will be expected to disclose in writing to the hiring Dean the circumstances surrounding any formal discipline that they have received, as well as any current or ongoing investigation or disciplinary process of which they are the subject. (Note that discipline includes a negotiated settlement agreement to resolve a matter related to substantiated misconduct.)

Film & Digital Media Department: https://film.ucsc.edu/

Qualifications

Basic qualifications (required at time of application)
Candidates should have a PhD, MFA, or an equivalent international degree, or at least six years of proven creative work and/or scholarship relevant to the fields outlined above. Evidence of this might include participation in film and new media festivals, symposia and conferences, community-based media production and practice, publication and scholarship, exhibitions in community venues, museums, galleries, television, or other media platforms. We anticipate that the candidate will meet the degree requirement by June 30, 2024.

Application Requirements

Document requirements

Curriculum Vitae - Your most recently updated C.V.
Cover Letter - Letter of application that briefly summarizes your qualifications and interest in the position.
Teaching Statement**
Statement of Creative Practice and Research**
Statement of Contributions to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion** - Statement on your contributions to diversity, equity, and inclusion, including information about your understanding of these topics, your record of activities to date, and your specific plans and goals for advancing equity and inclusion if hired at UC Santa Cruz. Candidates are urged to review guidelines on statements (see https://apo.ucsc.edu/diversity.html) before preparing their application.

** Initial screening of applicants will be based only on the statement of creative practice and research, teaching statement, and the statement on contributions to diversity, equity, and inclusion. We welcome candidates who understand the barriers facing historically oppressed groups in higher education, and who have engaged in teaching, research, professional and/or public service contributions that promote equity, justice, and antiracist, decolonial practice. We are looking for candidates that demonstrate effective strategies that support the recruitment and success of underrepresented scholars and students, which may take a variety of forms. The rubric that we will use to evaluate the statement of contributions to diversity, equity and inclusion is available here: https://apo.ucsc.edu/diversity.html. This recruitment is supported by the UC Office of the President’s Advancing Faculty Diversity program and includes enhanced funding for faculty projects that contribute to diversity and to creating an inclusive climate.
Scholarly Writing and/or Creative Work (1 of 2 required)
Scholarly Writing and/or Creative Work (2 of 2 required)
Scholarly Writing and/or Creative Work (1 of 2 optional) (Optional)
Scholarly Writing and/or Creative Work (2 of 2 optional) (Optional)

Reference requirements

3 letters of reference required

Applications must include confidential letters of recommendation*. A minimum of 3 are required and a maximum of 3 will be accepted. Please note that your references, or dossier service, will submit their confidential letters directly to the UC Recruit System.

*All letters will be treated as confidential per University of California policy and California state law. For any reference letter provided via a third party (i.e., dossier service, career center), direct the author to UCSC’s confidentiality statement at http://apo.ucsc.edu/confstm.htm.
Apply link: https://recruit.ucsc.edu/JPF01608

Help contact: fdmrecruitment@ucsc.edu

About UC Santa Cruz

The University of California is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age, or protected veteran status. UC Santa Cruz is committed to excellence through diversity and strives to establish a climate that welcomes, celebrates, and promotes respect for the contributions of all students and employees. Inquiries regarding the University’s equal employment opportunity policies may be directed to the Office for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at the University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064 or by phone at (831) 459-2686.

Under Federal law, the University of California may employ only individuals who are legally able to work in the United States as established by providing documents as specified in the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. Certain UCSC positions funded by federal contracts or sub-contracts require the selected candidate to pass an E-Verify check (see https://www.uscis.gov/e-verify). The university sponsors employment-based visas for nonresidents who are offered academic appointments at UC Santa Cruz (see https://apo.ucsc.edu/policy/capm/102.530.html).

UCSC is a smoke & tobacco-free campus.

If you need accommodation due to a disability, please contact Disability Management Services at roberts@ucsc.edu (831) 459-4602.

UCSC is committed to addressing the spousal and partner employment needs of our candidates and employees. As part of this commitment, our institution is a member of the Northern California Higher Education Recruitment Consortium (NorCal HERC). Visit the NorCal HERC website at https://www.hercjobs.org/regions/higher-ed-careers-northern-california/ to search for open positions within a commutable distance of our institution.

The University of California offers a competitive benefits package and a number of programs to support employee work/life balance. For information about employee benefits please visit https://ucnet.universityofcalifornia.edu/compensation-and-benefits/index.html

As a University employee, you will be required to comply with all applicable University policies and/or collective bargaining agreements, as may be amended from time to time. Federal, state, or local government directives may impose additional requirements.

VISIT UC Santa Cruz: https://www.ucsc.edu

Job location

Santa Cruz, California

To apply, visit https://recruit.ucsc.edu/JPF01608

Apply Now