Professor (Health and Aging)

Job Description:

The Manning College of Nursing and Health Sciences (the Manning College) at the University of Massachusetts Boston (UMass Boston) seeks applications for a full-time tenured faculty position at the rank of Full Professor in the Department of Gerontology to begin on September 1, 2025. Applicants who currently hold the position of full professor or advanced associate professor with evidence for qualifications for promotion to full professor are welcome to apply. The Department seeks to increase the number of tenure-track faculty conducting research on aging among historically underrepresented and marginalized groups. Areas of specialization include a strong research focus on HEALTH AND AGING IN UNDERSERVED AND MARGINALIZED COMMUNITIES, including Black, Latinx, Indigenous, immigrant, and sexual and gender diverse populations.

Research expectations

The successful candidate is expected to have a history of securing substantial external funding and publishing in peer-reviewed journals. Research focus is open, with preference given to research expertise at the intersection of aging and health, including but not limited to cognitive aging and dementia, behavioral health, healthcare utilization, long-term services and supports, and health behaviors. The research portfolio should be related to social justice, disparities, and inequality. The person who fills this position will be a Fellow in the Gerontology Institute at UMass Boston and may also have an affiliation with the Center for Social and Demographic Research in Aging and the LeadingAge LTSS Center, both located within the Gerontology Institute.

Teaching obligations

The successful candidate should be prepared to teach courses in the Department of Gerontology's undergraduate, masters, or doctoral programs, or in partnering academic programs. The faculty member will be expected to participate in mentoring students by serving as an advisor, on doctoral dissertation, comprehensive examination, and research practicum committees, and including students in their research.

Applicants must have an earned doctoral degree in one of the following fields: gerontology, nursing, sociology, psychology, demography, economics, social work, public health, or an interdisciplinary program. Applicants with terminal degrees in other fields will also be considered.

UMass Boston is an urban public research university with a teaching soul, whose impact is both local and global. We are the third most diverse university in the country - more than 60% of our undergraduate students come from minoritized communities and groups and more than half of our students are the first in their families to attend a college or university. Thus, our students come to us from richly diverse life experiences and backgrounds; they bring to our classrooms and research settings the robust range of perspectives growing out of the socio-cultural, economic, and historical contexts in which they have lived, along with the challenges they encounter, engage, and strive to overcome. We invite applications from candidates who engage the diverse life experiences of our student body, who appreciate that students bring their holistic selves into the academic setting, and who recognize and articulate how their own life experiences and backgrounds have shaped their journeys, practices, and commitments as researchers, scholars, and educators.

Application instructions:

To apply, submit online here a letter of interest, curriculum vitae, and the names and contact information of at least three references. Finalists will be asked to submit written examples at the appropriate time. Inquiries regarding the position may be directed to Search Committee Chair, Professor Jeffrey Burr (jeffrey.burr@umb.edu). Review of applications begins 10/15/2024 and continues until the position is filled.

UMass Boston is committed to the full inclusion of all qualified individuals. As part of this commitment, we will ensure that persons with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodations for the hiring process. If reasonable accommodation is needed, please contact HRDirect@umb.edu or 617-287-5150.