Assistant, Associate, or Full Professor of Democracy and Technology – Northeastern University

About the Opportunity

The College of Social Sciences and Humanities and its nine tenure units are the home of the Experiential Liberal Arts. Through its research, teaching, and engagement missions, the college collaborates across the university, the Northeastern network, and partners around the globe.  We are strongly committed to fostering excellence through diversity and enthusiastically welcome nominations and applications from members of groups underrepresented in academia. Successful faculty in the College of Social Sciences and Humanities will be dynamic and innovative scholars with a record of research and teaching excellence and a commitment to improved equity, diversity, and inclusion. Strong candidates for this position will have the expertise, knowledge, and skills to build their research, pedagogy, and curriculum in ways that reflect and enhance this commitment.

Northeastern University’s College of Social Sciences and Humanities seeks to fill two open-rank faculty positions at the tenure-track Assistant or Tenured Associate or Full Professor levels at the intersection of Democracy and Technology, with a focus on democratic practice, resilience, and participation, including at the grassroots level.  One of the positions will be a joint appointment with the Khoury College of Computer Sciences. The successful candidate for this position will have expertise or knowledge of data-driven computational systems. The second position will be in democracy and technology policy, politics, and governance broadly construed. Academic rank at the Associate Professor and Full Professor levels will be commensurate with experience and qualifications reflecting a record of demonstrated teaching and scholarly excellence.

Democratic systems – indeed, the very notion of democratic self-governance – face considerable challenges, many of them exacerbated and accelerated by technologies, including but not limited to information technologies, surveillance technologies, and AI. Individually, and in combination, such technologies in some cases have bolstered authoritarian regimes while leaving democratic political institutions and processes struggling to adapt. However, in other contexts they are essential contributors to democratic organization, participation, and institutional effectiveness. Successful candidates will both understand these challenges and think about paths forward in enabling democratic participation, governance, and efficacy.

We welcome applicants from political science, public policy, international affairs, computational social science, digital humanities, or related fields. Successful candidates will have demonstrated expertise in the intersection of technology and democracy, a robust research agenda, significant experience or commitment to teaching and a dedication to education innovation, and the desire and capacity to support the interdisciplinary mission of the college, university, and the experiential liberal arts. Candidates should have a demonstrated commitment to fostering diverse and inclusive environments.

Applicants will be considered as part of a single pool for both positions.

Responsibilities:

The College of Social Sciences and Humanities seeks individuals conducting cross-cutting research in technology and democracy. Faculty members at Northeastern teach courses at the undergraduate and graduate level; supervise students in their areas of research; develop independent and participate in collaborative research programs that (where appropriate) can attract external funding; and participate in service to the department, university, and discipline(s) as appropriate to rank.

Qualifications:

• Ph.D. in political science, public policy, international affairs, computational social science, digital humanities, information science or related fields related field in hand by the appointment start date is required.
• Evidence of interdisciplinary expertise and capacity for collaboration across disciplines
• Commitment to enhancing diversity, equity, and inclusion
• A record in teaching, research, scholarship, and service, for level of appointment at higher rank of Associate or Full Professor
• Commitment to faculty development and mentoring, if a senior candidate
• Commitment to engaged and impactful research and innovation
• Commitment to the continued development of Northeastern University’s signature experiential learning model

Documents to Submit: 

Applicants should submit a cover letter that addresses the applicant’s interest in and qualifications for the position, curriculum vitae, a research statement, a diversity statement, and the names and contact information for at least three individuals who can provide a letter of recommendation.

In the diversity statement, please describe how you can support Northeastern’s commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. Describe how your teaching, service, research, and/or leadership (as applicable) has supported the success of students and/or colleagues; and/or describe the impact others have had on you as relating to diversity, equity and inclusion.

Additional documents, such as a writing sample, evidence of teaching effectiveness, or sample syllabi may be requested at a later time.

The application deadline for this position is November 1st, 2023.

Apply here.

Questions should be addressed to Prof. Christopher Bosso, search committee chair, at c.bosso@northeastern.edu.

Position Type

Academic

Additional Information

Northeastern University considers factors such as candidate work experience, education and skills when extending an offer.

Northeastern University is an equal opportunity employer, seeking to recruit and support a broadly diverse community of faculty and staff.  Northeastern values and celebrates diversity in all its forms and strives to foster an inclusive culture built on respect that affirms inter-group relations and builds cohesion.

All qualified applicants are encouraged to apply and will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, age, sex, sexual orientation, disability status, or any other  characteristic protected by applicable law.

To learn more about Northeastern University’s commitment and support of diversity and inclusion, please see www.northeastern.edu/diversity.