Assistant Professor of Communication, Film and Media Studies

Work Schedule:

Full-time, tenure-track position at the rank of Assistant Professor available September 1, 2024. This position is responsible for the load equivalent of six undergraduate courses (24 load credits per year), taught in a 4-1-4 calendar.

General Description:

The Department of Communication, Media, and Design Arts (CMDA) at Pacific Lutheran University invites applications for an Assistant Professor of Communication, Film and Media Studies. This position supports the Department’s degree emphases in Film & Media Studies and Strategic Communication, including MediaLab, our award-winning student-run agency.

We seek a dynamic and inclusive educator who can provide a crucial link between our programs in Design, Strategic Communication, and Film & Media Studies, and who will cultivate collaborative opportunities across campus and with the local community. Candidates should have experience teaching Media history, theory, and production, as well as a record of fostering a diverse, equitable, and inclusive learning environment.

Essential Functions and Responsibilities:

• Teach in a combination of courses including Introduction to Media Studies, Media Writing, Multimedia Production, Student Media, and MediaLab, our student-run media agency.
• Mentorship of Communication majors.
• Ongoing professional activity, including professional/media/artistic production and/or research.
• Participation in departmental operations and support of its culture, including faculty meetings, student advising, and event programming.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Knowledge of communication curriculum and ability to teach various service and major courses in the applicant’s area of expertise.
• Facility with audio, visual, and new/emerging media production tools and the ability to instruct students in their use.
• PLU’s Department of Communication, Media & Design Arts is media-centric across concentrations. Successful candidates will be able to teach theories and techniques of media criticism and production.
• Ability to foster a diverse, equitable, and inclusive learning environment.
• Candidates must demonstrate an active research agenda in Communication or Media Studies and a facility with the various research traditions employed in the discipline.

Required Qualifications:

• Ph.D. in Communication, Media Studies or related field or MFA in Visual Communication or relevant discipline. ABD will be considered, but terminal degree must be in hand by September 1, 2024.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience in teaching at the university level

Special Instructions to Applicants:

To apply, please submit the following:

• Letter of application in which you describe how your previous experiences and education not only qualify you for the position, but enable you to contribute to advancing diversity- and equity-related concerns through your teaching;
• Curriculum vitae;
• Statement of teaching philosophy in which you describe your goals for student learning, the methods you use to help students achieve them, and how you assess student learning. This statement should also explicitly address how you create an inclusive learning environment;
• Evidence of teaching competency, which may be incorporated in written materials or provided as additional documentation, including examples of student work course evaluations.
• Names/addresses and contact information for three professional references.

For questions or more information, please contact Dr. Amy Young, Search Chair, at youngam@plu.edu.

Other Information:

Pacific Lutheran University purposefully integrates the liberal arts, professional studies and civic engagement in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. Our faculty lead with a bold commitment to expanding well-being, opportunity, and justice and instill this commitment in their students. PLU educators work to create an environment where students feel heard and valued, nurturing lifelong learners who aren’t afraid to do things differently to make the world better for everyone. PLU supports faculty as they help students turn ambition into purpose, skills into tools, and their caring into a transformative force.

Because PLU is a community committed to the creation and advancement of knowledge through diversity and inclusion, the university actively recruits a faculty, staff, and student body from all religions, races, socioeconomic groups, sexual orientations, and gender expressions and from all over the world. For the 2022–23 academic year, 36.0% percent of PLU undergraduate students are from the first generation in their families to attend college; 46.6% percent self-identify as students of color; and 33.4% percent are Pell Grant–eligible.

Offering distinctive opportunities for global engagement, collaborative student-faculty research, and purposeful learning, our faculty guide 2,633 students from all faiths and backgrounds to discern their purpose through relevant coursework, inclusive mentoring, and internships at world-class Puget Sound-area businesses and institutions. PLU is located on a 156-acre woodland campus in the Parkland neighborhood of Tacoma, Washington and about 40 minutes south of downtown Seattle. The campus reflects consciously green practices and is in proximity to the natural beauty of Mount Rainier, the Cascade and Olympic mountain ranges, and the Puget Sound.

PLU administration supports and respects the strong culture of faculty-shared governance by working closely and collaboratively with faculty leadership to sustain and strengthen existing structures and procedures while working together on key institutional, academic and curricular decisions. PLU is an equal opportunity employer and welcomes applications from members of historically underrepresented and marginalized groups, women, veterans, persons with disabilities, and others who would bring broadly diverse perspectives, experiences, and backgrounds in educational, research, or other work activities. For general application questions or if you need accommodations at any point in the application and/or interview process, please contact the Human Resources Office at 253-535-7185 or humr@plu.edu. Click here for detailed benefits information.