The Department of English at Arizona State University seeks an experienced writing program administrator and accomplished scholar-teacher with an established record of outstanding scholarship and professional contributions to any area of writing studies to serve as the Director of Writing Programs on Tempe Campus. This is a full-time, tenure-eligible full-professor position.

About the Department of English

The Department of English's motto—"Start here, go anywhere"—captures the unique value of our undergraduate and graduate English degrees, ones that can serve students in any art form, any discipline, and any profession. In fact, our degrees can take students anywhere they wish to travel. The Department of English faculty is internationally renowned for innovative research and teaching and explores the pan-world expression of the English language and its literature, which span the global yet connect directly to the local. The skills of critical thinking, reading comprehension, and analytic expression cultivated in the degrees are transferable into any endeavor. In particular, such skills provide the foundation for creative problem-solving and cultivate individual and collective expression. The department takes as its purview not just historically positioned work, whether linguistic or textual, but includes all forms of expression and all modes of new media, whether analogical or digital. We emphasize writing—academic, creative, personal, public, and workplace—that explores difference reflectively and functionally. Our goal is to educate citizens who can think, read, write, and act in robust and significant ways to meet new challenges.

About The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences is the academic heart of Arizona State University, committed to improving communities on a local, national and global scale. We support the professional development and growth of our faculty and staff in their cutting-edge research to advance these aims. Within The College, our faculty engage with a large and curious student body, guiding them as they grow into socially aware, critical thinkers and writers able to succeed in a wide range of careers and to address the challenges of the twenty-first century. Advancing the success of our students remains our top priority. To learn more about The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, please visit https://thecollege.asu.edu.

About Arizona State University

ASU exemplifies a new prototype for the American public research university. As articulated in the ASU Charter, ASU is a comprehensive public research university, measured not by whom it excludes, but by whom it includes and how they succeed; advancing research and discovery of public value; and assuming fundamental responsibility for the economic, social, cultural and overall health of the communities it serves.

Essential Functions of the Job

• Provides leadership and direction for programs in first-year composition, 200-level general studies writing, and 300-level professional and business writing for students in academic programs offered by the ASU Tempe campus.
• Oversees curriculum development and assessment for the Writing Programs.
• Oversees recruitment, professional development, and evaluation of the Writing Programs faculty.
• Directs and conducts research on Writing Programs.
• Represents interests of the Writing Programs’ teachers and students to university administrators and the university community as a whole.

Required Qualifications

• Ph.D. in writing studies or a closely related field
• Evidence of excellence in administering a writing program
• Evidence of a compelling record of ongoing, high-quality scholarship in any area of writing studies appropriate to rank
• Evidence of excellence in developing and teaching graduate and undergraduate courses in writing studies

Desired Qualifications

• Evidence of potential to represent the Writing Programs prominently at national conferences and in national conversations about college writing programs
• Evidence of potential to publish research and scholarship on Writing Programs
• Demonstrated commitment to working with faculty, staff, students and communities to advance the principles of the ASU Charter

Application Instructions:

To apply, please submit the following electronic application materials:

1. a cover letter (addressed to Professor Paul Kei Matsuda, Search Committee Chair) outlining a research program, a teaching philosophy, and an administrative philosophy as well as evidence of excellence in administering a writing program;
2. a curriculum vitae;
3. a sample of relevant academic writing; and
4. three (3) confidential letters of recommendation.

No paper applications, faxes or emails will be accepted.

Applicant’s last name should appear in each uploaded file name. Questions about the position should be directed to the search committee chair at pmatsuda@asu.edu. The application deadline is October 24, 2024, if not filled, applications review will continue every week thereafter until search is closed.