Position Available
Fairfield University, Fairfield CT
Assistant Professor, Digital Journalism
Note: informational interviews will be conducted at the Job Placement area at the AEJMC convention in Chicago. Please contact Dr. James Simon before the convention (jsimon@mail.fairfield.edu) to arrange a time slot. To reach him during the convention, please call his cell phone at (203) 257-7047 or leave a note at the Job Placement area.
The Department of English seeks a tenure-track assistant professor to join its journalism program in Fall 2009; Ph.D. must be in hand by August 2009. Candidates should have significant experience with digital storytelling and web-based journalism in a professional or academic setting. Secondary interests in professional writing, technical editing, and advising college media are welcome, as is interest in connecting with any of our 19 interdisciplinary programs such as Asian Studies, Black Studies: The African Diaspora, and Latin American & Caribbean Studies. Teaching load is 3/3. The successful candidate will teach introductory and advanced reporting courses, design and teach specialized digital writing and editing courses, and teach in the first-year core sequence. A demonstrated commitment to undergraduate teaching, advanced technological skills, and a promising research agenda are expected.
Review of applications will begin on a rolling basis September 15, 2008. To apply, please send a letter of application, CV, confidential letters from three references, evidence of teaching effectiveness, and sample publications (including both academic and professional work) to Dr. James Simon, Chair, Department of English, Fairfield University, Fairfield CT 06824. Informational interviews will be conducted at AEJMC.
Fairfield University, a Jesuit institution, is consistently ranked among the top three comprehensive universities in the North by the U.S.News & World Report. Its faculty, administration, and student body value intellectual and religious pluralism. The University is located in southwestern Connecticut near the Long Island Sound, about 50 miles from New York City and 25 miles from New Haven. Fairfield University is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer. Women, minorities, and persons with disabilities are strongly encouraged to apply.
Seeking candidates:
Assistant Professor, Digital Journalism
Preparing students for the interactive, digital journalism world
In this era of media convergence, our journalism students must be able to tell stories by taking advantage of the web's immediacy and accessibility and its potential for a multimedia approach. All our students should be able to interpret and utilize digital news and information.
Students are faced by a seemingly simple question: "How can I best tell this story?" We need your help in teaching our students how to evaluate and present a news story, whether with traditional text or streaming video, a special Flash presentation or slideshow, a podcast or blog, forums and polls, and with interactivity. Students should be able to acquire databases and present them in an easily searchable/usable form on the Web. They need to learn how to take the best of the print and broadcast traditions and use them to create an immersive, interactive experience for readers and viewers. In doing all of this, they need to apply the traditional values of journalism - critical thinking that distills information for a broad audience with accuracy and fairness - to what they produce in the 24/7 interactive, online world.
Candidates should have at least one year of experience in teaching courses related to online journalism, such as "Writing and Reporting for the Web," plus two years of professional journalism or online writing experience.
While we welcome candidates familiar with such software applications as Flash, Dreamweaver, Illustrator, and Final Cut Pro, our primary emphasis is on journalism, reporting, and storytelling in a multi-media format rather than on the latest software and hardware.
We ask applicants to familiarize themselves with Fairfield's journalism program (http://www.fairfield.edu/eng_journoverview.html). They should be able to critique it and offer suggestions for improvement, tied to their joining the faculty.
At Fairfield, journalism is housed in the Department of English and within the College of Arts and Sciences. Students take specific courses such as news writing, broadcast writing, political and government reporting, and many related areas. But instead of focusing solely on a set of technical skills that may soon become outdated, students also take broad coursework in politics, history and many other areas in our core so they can learn a body of knowledge and do a better job of communicating it to an audience. They develop critical thinking skills needed to cope with the inevitable changes in the journalism world. Simply put, students don't just learn how to write and broadcast; they also learn what to write and broadcast about. Students learn to use journalism tools. But first they need to have something to say. While most students major in English/Journalism, others minor in English/Journalism while pursuing work in such related fields as communication, politics, and radio/TV/film.
The journalism program encourages classroom work, application of skills through the campus media and internships, and reflection. Students often bounce back and forth between initial courses and involvement in campus media, more courses and leadership in the campus media, then capstone experiences like internships. Many students have 4+ applied experiences in journalism by graduation day.
Approximately 100 students at Fairfield are involved with journalism, whether in the classroom, at the school newspaper, radio station and television station. While many students take their skills in writing and packaging information and use them in successful careers in the mass media, others use journalism as a means to an end. They use journalism to sharpen their critical thinking skills - the ability to analyze, synthesize information, evaluate, take a stand, reflect - and embark on careers in marketing, law, and teaching.
The search committee is chaired by James Simon, Ph.D., a veteran Associated Press reporter who heads the journalism program in English and serves as department chair.
Qualifications - This position requires:
- A Ph.D. in journalism, mass communication, communication, English, or related area;
- Ability to work with colleagues in interdisciplinary programs and related departments such as Communication and New Media.
- Experience with innovative uses of educational technology
We welcome energetic candidates who seek a smaller, teaching-oriented university where there is a healthy balance of teaching, mentoring students, publishing in peer-reviewed publications, and serving on department, college and university committees. We seek creative teaching that integrates technology. Fairfield prides itself on developing faculty members who combine rigorous scholarship and excellence in teaching. Our acclaimed Center for Academic Excellence provides support for professors in all such endeavors.
The English Department has strong literature and writing components and is one of the largest departments in the College of Arts and Sciences. It currently has 18 tenure-track faculty members teaching about 200 majors and 80 minors. The new hire would play a major role in curriculum development in journalism and in advising students. We are a growing department that is looking to add diverse colleagues who can help teach our majors and minors, enthusiastically teach first-year writing in the freshman core sequence, and reach out and connect to other parts of the university.
The candidate will be eligible to teach in the university's Honors Program, Ignatian Residential College, cluster courses, and a wide range of interdisciplinary programs such as Black Studies, Asian Studies, Applied Ethics, Program on the Environment, International Studies, Peace and Justice Studies, and Latin American and Caribbean Studies.
Background
Fairfield University is a Jesuit institution that prepares undergraduate, graduate, and continuing education students for leadership and service. Approximately 5,000 students from 35 states, 46 countries, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico are enrolled at the University's six schools. The University was founded in 1942 in the scenic shoreline community of Fairfield, Connecticut, about one hour from New York City and three hours from Boston. We have a foundation in the values of Jesuit learning and a dynamic blend of theoretical and applied learning. We work to ensure that a Fairfield education prepares students for life-long success measured by how deeply they challenge themselves and how they influence the world for the better.
U.S.News & World Report's "America's Best Colleges 2008" ranked Fairfield University as number two among universities with Master's programs in the North. In The Best 361 Colleges - 2007 Edition, Fairfield ranks as one of the colleges named a "Best Northeastern College by The Princeton Review." Fairfield University was recently listed as highly competitive in the 2007 edition of Barron's Profiles of American Colleges. Fairfield University was among the 2007 Peterson's 440 Colleges for Top Students. Thirty-nine Fairfield University students have been awarded Fulbright Fellowships since 1993. In 2006-07, Fairfield ranked #1 in producing the most U.S. Fulbright Fellows among universities that grant master's degrees, as reported by The Institute of International Education and The Chronicle of Higher Education.
The school has a commitment to social justice, consistent with its Jesuit roots, and has launched a promising program of service learning activities. It has worked hard to increase the diversity of its students, faculty and administrators, and administrators have repeatedly expressed a commitment to continue to do so. Many of the school's priorities stem from implementation of the President's strategic plan.
Faculty benefit from an administration commitment to set salary and benefits at the 95th percentile of comparable, Master's-degree granting schools.
The online/digital journalism professor will be part of a distinguished faculty of English Department writing instructors who teach students in a wide variety of writing settings.
The three Writing Sequences in the English Department provide a framework for students to use their department electives to deepen their skill and experience with Creative Writing, Journalism and Professional Writing.
The department has launched a low residency Master of Fine Arts degree in creative writing; the inaugural class of students arrives in December 2007.
The English Department has the largest internship program of any department in the University. Every semester, up to 35 students use their classroom skills in the field and reflect on the experience.
Students sharpen their writing, editing and teaching skills at The Writing Center, a place where writers write, writers talk about writing, and tutors respond to the writing of others.
The Connecticut Writing Project/Fairfield, an affiliate of the National Writing Project, is dedicated to improving students' writing abilities by strengthening the teaching and learning of writing, providing professional development programs for classroom teachers, and expanding the professional roles of teachers.
Dogwood, a nationally known literary magazine, gives students a chance to work as assistant editors, evaluating hundreds of manuscripts. The Mirror, an award-winning news organization, provides an avenue for students to sharpen their journalistic skills in preparing stories for a variety of mediums: online, traditional print, podcasts and broadcasts. The Department also sponsors Mezzo Cammin, an online journal of poetry. Students often take Individual Writing Project courses with faculty to work 1:1 in these settings.
For more information, please visit the English Department.
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