CBR Chair in Politics and Censorship

CBR Chair in Politics and Censorship

UATX seeks candidates to fill the newly-endowed CBR Chair in Politics and Censorship. The Chair is intended to advance the study of censorship and related phenomena, including the technological, political, economic, and cultural conditions that lead to the suppression of speech. By exposing students to the historical manifestations and recent operations of censorship, the Chair will facilitate the responsible exercise of free speech in a pluralistic society.

The CBR Chair in Politics and Censorship directly supports the core mission of UATX. The University strives to build and sustain a community based on the lively clash of ideas and opinions in an atmosphere of open inquiry and civil discourse. Treasuring both the wisdom of the past and the transformative potential of novel ideas, we seek to preserve and transmit humanity’s rich intellectual, scientific, artistic, and cultural inheritance while vigorously pursuing the discovery, creation, and communication of new knowledge. These endeavors depend on fostering an environment of intellectual freedom and pluralism.

The Chair comes with a very substantial yearly budget to support public activities related to the theme of politics and censorship. It will be housed in UATX’s Intellectual Foundations (IF) Program, which offers a core liberal arts education that is required of all freshmen and sophomore students. It is expected that the chairholder will substantially enrich the literary, historical, political, philosophical, and religious perspectives included in the IF curriculum, particularly in courses on the origins of civilization, the beginning of politics, the American form of government and way of life, ideological tyranny, and the uses and abuses of technology. In addition, the chairholder will offer elective coursework for undergraduate and graduate students.

Like all faculty at UATX, the inaugural holder of the CBR Chair will be expected to maintain the highest standards of pedagogical excellence, to be available in person and in office on the days he or she teaches, to attend weekly common lectures and other academic events outside the classroom, to advise students academically, and to supervise them as they work on their Polaris projects (in which students build, create, or discover something that serves the human good).

The ideal candidate for the Chair will be an outstanding undergraduate teacher with a broad and distinguished record of research and publication in the study of censorship and related phenomena from multiple perspectives, e.g., historical, philosophical, political, religious, sociological, economic, and artistic.

To apply, please provide: (1) a curriculum vitae; (2) a cover letter that addresses your interest in, and qualifications for, the Chair as well as your commitment to UATX’s principles; and (3) a list of references. These materials may be submitted at https://www.uaustin.org/jobs. Review of applications will begin Nov. 1 and continue until the position is filled.