Faculty, Creative Writing

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If you are a current Austin Community College employee, please click this link to apply through your Workday account .

Austin Community College is a public two-year institution that serves a diverse population of approximately 41,000 credit students each Fall and Spring semester. We embrace our identity as a community college, as reflected in our mission statement. We promote student success and community development by providing affordable access, through traditional and distance learning modes, to higher education and workforce training, including appropriate applied baccalaureate degrees, in our service area.

As a community college committed to our mission, we seek to recruit and retain a workforce that:

• Reflects the diversity of our community
  
  
• Values intellectual curiosity and innovative teaching
  
  
• Is attracted by the college's mission to promote equitable access to educational opportunities
  
  
• Cares about student success and collaborates on strategies to facilitate success for under-represented populations
  
  
• Welcomes difference and models respectful interaction with others
  
  
• Engages with the community both within and outside of ACC
  
  

Commitment to Equity and Inclusion

ACC is committed to the ongoing systemic changes needed to ensure the increased recruitment, inclusion, retention, and completion of historically underserved and underrepresented populations. Through continual strategic community engagement and professional development of administrators, faculty, staff, and students, the college demonstrates its dedication to fostering a culture and climate for equitable outcomes.

ACC is proud to serve a diverse student body as an open-access and low-cost institution. Dedicated faculty members are excellent professors who help students achieve their educational goals and are sensitive to our students' diverse cultures and socio-economic backgrounds. In 2017 our faculty adopted a Statement of ACC Faculty Values. This Statement affirms that ACC's faculty members value collaboration, service, agency, scholarship, inclusion, and teaching, all of which attest to our commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion at the heart of our mission.

Job Posting Title:

Faculty, Creative Writing

Job Description Summary:

Responsible to prepare and deliver coursework in engaging, innovative, and discipline-appropriate ways. Provides academic leadership, management and overall coordination to the Creative Writing Department, serves as the budget authority for the department, represents the department on college councils, committees, and in college processes, as appropriate, uses collegial process to facilitate departmental decision making, and provided a collegewide instructional leadership environment conducive to student success.

Job Description:

The Creative Writing Department at Austin Community College (ACC) helps students of all backgrounds and ages discover the power and enjoyment of writing creatively. This position will serve as the Department Chair for Creative Writing and as a Faculty member. This Department Chair role will be evaluated and renewed after 3 years as Department Chair and/or as solely a Creative Writing Faculty member.

Our courses introduce writers to the knowledge and literary tools needed for writing poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, plays, and screenplays. The courses offered help students explore a subject area in greater depth within a seminar/workshop setting. Our faculty consist of practicing writers with advanced degrees and/or first-hand experience and publications in the subjects they teach. ACC offers an Associate of Arts Degree in Creative Writing in both face-to-face and online formats, giving students an opportunity to produce professional-level projects and also to transfer their skills to four-year universities.

Principal Responsibilities and Duties

• Prepare and teach courses in the field of Creative Writing to a diverse and multicultural student population based on the department's approved course learning outcomes, utilizing a variety of instructional strategies appropriate to the needs of community college students and the standards of the discipline.
  
  
• Participate actively in departmental responsibilities and departmental governance, including curriculum review and revision, program review, assessment of student learning outcomes at the course and program level, and other departmental activities.
  
  
• Evaluate student progress and provide clear, timely feedback reflecting program learning outcomes and departmental expectations.
  
  
• Serve as a mentor to students in the Creative Writing program.
  
  
• Provide teaching and mentoring services to students in a manner which does not discriminate based on race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age, protected veteran status, political affiliation, or other protected categories.
  
  
• Remain current in the field through a variety of professional development activities.
  
  
• Support division and department goals through active and collegial engagement in decision-making and unit-level planning.
  
  
• Serve on collegewide and departmental committees, councils, work groups, and task forces.
  
  
• Perform other related tasks as assigned by the department chair, dean, and/or associate vice chancellor, vice chancellor, executive vice chancellor.
  
  

Additional Duties

• Provides leadership in developing, evaluating, and maintaining a curriculum that responds to community needs, prepares students for success and meets the stated requirements of THECB, SACSCOC, and other accrediting bodies.
  
  
• In the area of curriculum/instruction, ensures unit plan development (OIE), Unit-Level Effectiveness Assessment Documentation (ULEAD), GIPWE/ACGM/SACSCOC/Co-Board guidelines compliance.
  
  
• In conjunction with another level of authority plan, develop, and evaluate curriculum, ensure instructional program planning (Master Plan), ensure continuous quality improvements in all courses and programs, ensure course master syllabi compliance, and evaluate faculty credentials.
  
  
• In the area of management, develops and approves final course schedule (in consultation with department personnel). Makes faculty assignments, maintains eligibility list, hires, supervises, and evaluates department faculty and staff. *Provides leadership for and approves professional development activities for departmental faculty and staff. Develops budget, orders instructional supplies, facilitates department meetings, makes and reviews updates to college catalog. May, in conjunction with another level of authority, monitor faculty LEH workloads, recommend canceled classes, monitor office hours, supervise and evaluate site-based support staff, full-time and adjunct faculty, monitor performance improvement, request new faculty positions, recommend members of interview committee for full-time faculty positions, recommend new full-time faculty to administration for final approval, prepare and/or oversee the preparation of required reports.
  
  
• In the area of student/faculty Issues, approves administration of Course Challenge exams, approves grade change requests, and processes incomplete grade changes. May, in conjunction with another level of authority, approve course substitutions/waivers, address student and employee complaints against instructors, review and resolve on-site student and faculty issues, serve as contact for registration/add-drop issues, approve class limit override and informal class transfers.
  
  

Technology

• Demonstrated proficiency using computer applications, online resources, and other technologies for the classroom. Demonstrated proficiency using an online learning management system such as Blackboard to develop and build course content and perform administrative duties (posting office hours, syllabi, etc.).
  
  

Principal Professional Standards

• Appropriate use of the college's learning management system.
  
  
• Meet deadlines for attendance certification and submission of final course grades.
  
  
• Participate in graduation, general assembly, and other official college functions.
  
  
• Maintain regular office hours to assist students and improve student retention and success.
  
  
• Attend and participate in collegewide, campus, department, or other activities and meetings.
  
  
• Recognize and reflect standards of civility and collegiality in all interactions.
  
  
• Comply with published college policies and procedures and meet professional standards for teaching in a community college.
  
  

Required Education

In accordance with Southern Association of College and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) requirements: MFA in Creative Writing, Dramatic Writing, Screenwriting or a Master's Degree in English​ or Master's Degree with 18 graduate hours in these disciplines. SACSCOC requirements may differ depending on the courses taught within the discipline.

For specific requirements by course and program, please see the current year Faculty Qualifications Table located here .

Preferred Qualifications

Graduate hours in two or more genres of the following: Prose, Poetry, Fiction, Memoir, Young Adult Fiction, Playwriting, Screenwriting, Poetry & Prose, Digital Storytelling, Children's Literature.

Qualities of a Successful Candidate

• Ethics, integrity, and sound professional judgment.
  
  
• A commitment to establishing and maintaining positive working relationships with students, colleagues, and staff representing diverse ethnic, cultural, and socioeconomic backgrounds.
  
  
• Dynamic, non-traditional instructional delivery methods to teach students of widely varying levels of proficiency and from diverse backgrounds and abilities.
  
  
• Appropriate and up-to-date knowledge of the discipline and subject matter.
  
  
• Experience using technology as an instructional aide where appropriate to enhance learning.
  
  
• Documented experience with active and applied teaching and learning methodologies.
  
  
• A strong commitment to teaching in a community college setting, including teaching practices that reflect an understanding of the multicultural classroom and the benefits of cultural awareness and sensitivity in the classroom and the workplace.
  
  
• Commitment to a diverse workforce.
  
  
• Commitment to the comprehensive mission of Austin Community College and to the principles and practices associated with Servant-Leadership.
  
  
• Ability to communicate effectively with students with a wide range of skills and backgrounds.
  
  
• Strong interpersonal skills and ability to work with varied and diverse groups from the community as well as students, staff, faculty, and administration.
  
  
• Strength in communication media, both verbal and written, as well as listening.
  
  
• Strong organizational skills, attention to detail, ability to maintain an established schedule, including evenings and weekends, including possible multiple campus locations that may vary by semester.
  
  
• Commitment to maintaining confidentiality of student information.
  
  
• Understanding of what it means to teach in a community college environment that serves often underprepared and underrepresented students.
  
  
• Understanding of systems of inequality and recognition of the role of community college faculty in promoting equity, equality, and inclusion.
  
  
• Other: See Commitment to Equity and Inclusion.
  
  

Application Requirements

Document Requirements

1. Upload the following documents to your application:

• Unofficial/copy of transcripts
  
  
• Updated Curriculum Vitae (C.V.) or Résumé
  
  
• Cover letter - explaining interest in the position
  
  

2. Request official electronic transcripts to be sent directly from the institution to hrtranscripts@austincc.edu. If official electronic transcripts are not an option, a hard copy can be mailed to the following address:

ACC Highland Business Center
Attention: E.M. Breedlove, Employment Manager

5930 Middle Fiskville Road, Austin, TX 78752

Photocopies of transcripts or transcripts stamped "issued to student" are not accepted .

Working Conditions

• Work is routinely performed in a classroom or laboratory setting.
  
  
• Subject to standing, walking, sitting, and reaching for extended periods of time.
  
  
• Work safely and follow safety rules. Report unsafe working conditions and behavior. Take reasonable and prudent actions to prevent others from engaging in unsafe practices.
  
  

Salary Range
$59,121 - $88,382 (10.5 Month Contract Base Salary)

Position to be filled for the start of the Fall 2023 semester.

Number of Openings:

1

Job Posting Close Date:

January 9, 2023 Clery Act

As required by the US Department of Education, employees are required to report violations under Title IX and, under the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Crime Statistics Act (Clery Act), select individuals are required to report crimes. If this position is identified as a Campus Security Authority (Clery Act), you will be notified, trained, and provided resources for reporting.

Disclaimer

The above description is an overview of the job. It is not intended to be an all-inclusive list of duties and responsibilities of the job, nor is it an all-inclusive list of the skills and abilities required to do the job. Duties and responsibilities may change with business needs. ACC reserves the right to add, change, amend, or delete portions of this job description at any time, with or without notice. Employees may be required to perform other duties as requested, directed, or assigned. In addition, reasonable accommodations may be made by ACC at its discretion to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential functions of the job.

If you are a current Austin Community College employee, please click this link to apply through your Workday account .