Pathways to the Professoriate (Mancosh Fellowship)

Pathways to the Professoriate Postdoctoral Fellowship Program

As part of a continuing commitment to build a culturally diverse intellectual community the School of Communication at Northwestern is pleased to announce the 2024-2025 call for applications for the Pathways to the Professoriate Postdoctoral Fellowship Program, made possible by the Office of the Provost and SoC through the David Mancosh Pathways to the Professoriate Postdoctoral Fellowship Fund. The program aims to recruit and retain exceptional early-career scholars in the communication arts and sciences whose research demonstrates a sustained commitment to building an inclusive and diverse intellectual community and who come from historically underrepresented backgrounds. The program's overall goal is to transition fellows to tenure-track faculty members after two years.

Field(s):
Theatre -History/Literature/Criticism
The Department of Theatre at Northwestern University is searching for a Mancosh Postdoctoral Fellow. We welcome applications from a theatre and/or dance and/or performance historian with expertise in areas including, but not limited to, the following: race/coloniality, gender and queer theory, disability studies, global feminisms, digital cultures, class/caste interrelations, transnational/intercultural performance. We are especially interested in scholarly and creative research practice within African/African diasporic, SWANA/MENA, and/or Latin(x) American dance, theatre and performance practices but are certainly open to a geographical scope beyond and around these borders as well.

Preferred Start Date: September 1, 2025

Eligibility:
o Applicants must have completed their doctoral degree or terminal degree in their field within the past five (5) academic years [not before 2019] and no later than September 1, 2025. *
o The primary criterion for selection is applicants whose scholarship or creative work will contribute to a diverse and inclusive intellectual community while being competitive for a potential tenure track appointment in the School of Communication.
o An important secondary criterion is the support of the proposed department to host the fellow.
o Applicants will be expected to teach one (1) academic course in their area of expertise each year of the fellowship program.

*If a selected applicant has held a tenure-track appointment(s) at other institutions prior to joining this program, we will consider this service when determining the length of the applicant's probationary period ("tenure clock") upon transition to a tenure-eligible position at Northwestern, following the successful completion of this program.

Award Details:
o $75,000 per calendar year, plus health benefits
o $5,000 per year research funds for research expenses, including travel
o $5,000 in moving expenses
o Office space and computer
o Departmental mentoring and workshops
o Offer of a tenure-track position at the end of the fellowship, subject to satisfactory performance

Application:
Applications will only be accepted via our online recruiting system. For full consideration, please be sure to include the following materials in your application:
1. Cover letter addressed to Mancosh Pathways Postdoctoral Fellowship Committee
2. Curriculum vitae
3. A statement of research plans (1-3 pages)
4. A Contribution to Diversity Statement articulating how your scholarship or creative work will contribute to a diverse and inclusive intellectual community.
5. Writing samples (e.g., publications, dissertation chapters, no more than 25 pages)
6. Three (3) contacts for letters of recommendation, including the applicant's dissertation or thesis advisor

Email your questions regarding the program to soc-facultyaffairs@northwestern.edu.

Closing Date: November 11, 2024; For full consideration, applications should be submitted by the deadline, but review of applications will continue until the position is filled.

The School:
At Northwestern's School of Communication, we engage in serious play - in our collaborations, our research and our deep scholarship that creates real impact in the real world. Our approach is rooted in providing a playground for serious ideas, experimentation, and exploration. The School of Communication has five departments and offers a suite of interdisciplinary undergraduate, professional, and graduate programs. The departments span the communication arts and sciences including the Department of Radio-Television-Film, the Roxelyn and Richard Pepper Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, the Department of Communication Studies, the Department of Performance Studies, and the Department of Theatre (which includes music theatre and dance). The faculty of over 180 includes 102 tenure-track faculty. The school offers instruction to roughly 1000 undergraduate majors and 650 graduate and professional students. Founded over 135 years ago, the School has been a leader in developing communication disciplines and professions and continues to be a center of excellence in the communication arts and sciences. Our current Dean is E. Patrick Johnson.

The University:
Northwestern University is one of the nation's largest private research universities. Located on the shore of Lake Michigan, the main campus is in Evanston and the medical and law campus is 12 miles south in downtown Chicago. There is continuing expansion of University facilities and programs, particularly in the sciences and medicine. Diverse cultural, social, and recreational activities abound on and near each campus.

The Northwestern campus sits on the traditional homelands of the people of the Council of Three Fires, the Ojibwe, Potawatomi, and Odawa as well as the Menominee, Miami and Ho-Chunk nations. We acknowledge and honor the original people of the land upon which Northwestern University stands, and the Native people who remain on this land today.
Northwestern University is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer and does not discriminate against qualified individuals on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, parental status, marital status, age, disability, citizenship status, veteran status, genetic information, or any other protected class. Individuals from all diverse backgrounds are encouraged to apply. Hiring is contingent upon eligibility to work in the United States. For more information, please visit the University's Policy on Institutional Equity.

Please read ALL instructions and make preparations before proceeding to the application page:

• Applications will only be accepted via online submission (see link below).
• Please prepare all documents in advance as Adobe PDF files, and please be sure all information is entered correctly and accurately (especially names and email addresses), as there will be no opportunity for online revision after your application has been submitted.
• Please also prepare a list of names and email addresses for your external academic references; your references will be contacted directly by the online system and invited to upload their letters on your behalf.
• All required fields in the application form are marked with an asterisk and must be filled before clicking the "Submit" button.
• Be aware that incomplete applications cannot be saved.

Applications accepted here: Apply for Job