Assistant Professor (Race, Class, and Politics in Public Education)

Job Description:

The Department of Curriculum and Instruction (C&I) in the University of Massachusetts Boston's College of Education and Human Development (CEHD) seeks applicants for a tenure-track assistant professor in the Curriculum and Instruction department. to begin on September 1, 2025. Of particular interest are candidates with scholarly expertise in race, class, and politics in public education. Specifically, we seek collaborative and equity-minded candidates whose research contributes to our understanding of how race, class and politics impact curriculum and the educational outcomes of urban children from pre-k to 12. This includes expertise on how teachers learn about and navigate these issues in the urban classroom for students at all educational levels. Scholars with expertise in community engaged scholarship that leads to the creation of community focused curricula for understanding antiracist practices in PK-12 schools are preferred.

Faculty are responsible for teaching, research, and service that enhance CEHD's community-engaged, social justice mission. Responsibilities include: 1) teaching undergraduate and graduate courses across the Curriculum and Instruction department; 2) conducting research that is relevant to the field of public education; 3) advising undergraduate and graduate students and potentially serving on dissertation committees; and 4) contributing service to university, college, departmental, and program committees, to professional associations, and to local, national, and/or international communities. The College recognizes that the scholarly work of faculty often includes the integration of teaching, research, and service.

Candidates must have an earned doctorate in education or a related field (awarded prior to 9/1/2025); an established publication record or indication of significant promise in the area of research; a demonstrated capacity for conducting research; the ability to attract external funding; and teaching experience or demonstrated potential to teach at the university level. Candidates must also have experience teaching or working in education or development contexts from birth to 12 level in personnel preparation and/or field supervision, preferably in racially, multiculturally, linguistically, and socioeconomically diverse settings; Knowledge of and experience in basic qualitative and quantitative analysis is required.

The department and CEHD are especially interested in candidates who 1) take a critically conscious, equity-minded, and asset-based approach to advancing equity and racial justice in public education through their scholarship, teaching, and service and 2) are committed to preparing and training future educators who will work to transform education and social institutions by centering equity and disrupting systemic inequities.

Context:

The College of Education and Human Development (CEHD), ranked among the top 5 schools of education in New England and the #1 public school of education in the state of Massachusetts, is guided by our core values of social justice, community engagement and academic excellence:

• Social and racial justice and inclusion involve equity of access and success for all students, faculty, staff and community members especially those who have faced oppression as a result of race or ethnic background, national origin, immigration status, social class, gender, age, sexual orientation, disability, or religious affiliation.
• Community engagement is valuing and honoring the knowledge of people through reciprocal relationships between partners inside and outside of the university. Community engagement within CEHD includes local, state, regional, national, and global communities and addresses geographic, social, political, and organizational issues.
• Academic excellence applies diverse theories and evidence-based practices to produce transformational learning and positive human development.

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 reflect 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 the following materials online via PAGEUP: a cover letter describing teaching, research and service experience related to the above description; curriculum vitae; Given the university and CEHD context described above, please articulate how your approach to teaching, advising, and mentoring: 1) engages with the diverse life experiences of students, 2) reflects an appreciation for the ways in which students bring their holistic selves into the academic setting, and 3) reflects how your own life experiences and positionality shapes your practices and commitments as an instructor, mentor, researcher, and scholar; links to at least two samples of scholarship published or in press in academic venues such as peer-reviewed journals, academic books or chapters, conference proceedings, or scholarly artifacts in the form of reports, digital publications, blog posts, policy briefs, among other products; names and contact information for three academic references. Application review will begin on (October 15th) and continue until the position is filled.

For questions regarding this position please contact its search Co-Chairs Dr. Mona Abo-Zena (mona.abozena@umb.edu) or Dr. Patricia Paugh (patricia.paugh@umb.edu).