Assistant/Associate Professor of Bilingual Education and ESL

The Department of Curriculum and Instruction at Texas Tech University invites applications from innovative and thoughtful colleagues to join our faculty at the rank of an Assistant/Associate Professor in Bilingual Education. This full-time, tenure-track position with a nine-month academic year appointment will start on September 1, 2023.

Our Bilingual Education and ESL Master’s program plays an important role in Texas Tech’s strategic area of education and empowerment of our diverse student body and needs faculty who will contribute to the advancement of this goal. Due to the fact that Texas has almost one million English language learners and approximately 85% of them are Hispanics, 90% of the students in the program are coming from the teaching force related to Spanish-English dual language programs. We are therefore seeking highly qualified applicants who have expertise in Bilingual Education and ESL to meet the demands through excellence in research and teaching. In addition, in consonance with the mission of the National Association for Bilingual Education, the program also strives to prepare students to advocate for educational equity and excellence for culturally and linguistically diverse students and seeks candidates who have the expertise to provide the appropriate training in Bilingual Education policy and advocacy.

Applicants should be committed to collaborating with faculty across the disciplines to engage in rigorous and theoretically grounded research approaches for understanding and improving the educational experiences of bilingual students and emergent bilinguals in the United States. Candidates from underrepresented groups in higher education faculty with experience working in culturally and linguistically diverse settings are strongly encouraged to apply. In addition, candidates who have very strong records of scholarship supported by extramural funding and who have the proven capacity to bring externally sponsored research to Texas Tech University are encouraged to apply. The salary is competitive and commensurate with qualifications and experience.

Responsibilities of the successful candidate:

• Sustain a rigorous research agenda commensurate with a top tier research university
• Seek and secure external funding
• Teach graduate courses in policy, advocacy, and other contemporary issues in Bilingual Education including educational equity and social justice for culturally and linguistically diverse students, and other courses as assigned by the program and the department.
• Help the department build a strong and reputable Bilingual Education and ESL doctoral program to meet the demands and needs of K-12 Bilingual and ESL teachers, commensurate with the University’s mission as a Hispanic Serving Institution.
• Advise doctoral students and direct dissertations.
• Serve on the Bilingual Education Master’s Comprehensive Exam Committee.
• Work with in-service teachers, mostly Hispanics, to equip them with theoretical, historical, and practical foundations to effectively address instructional demands of non-English speaking student populations.
• Collaborate and cooperate with colleagues to fulfill the needs of the program and the department’s and college’s strategic goals.
• Develop and foster partnerships with school districts, other colleges, and universities for engaged scholarship.
• Actively recruit students for the program.
• Actively participate in service for department, college, and university committees. Service duties include program-building as well as commitment to co-curricular activities.
• Participate in professional organizations at the local, state, national, and international levels.
• Adherence to robust safety practices and compliance with all applicable health and safety regulations are responsibilities of all TTU employees.

Required Qualifications:

• An earned doctorate in Bilingual Education or a closely related field
• A strong record of scholarly publications, commensurate with assistant/associate rank respectively, in Bilingual Education, ESL, or closely related field
• An established research agenda in Bilingual Education, ESL, or closely related field
• Evidence of seeking external grant funding
• Commitment to collaborating with program faculty to meet program needs
• A demonstrated and ongoing commitment to serving diverse student populations

Preferred Qualifications:

• Native or near-native proficiency in Spanish or a language outside of English and ability to teach courses in Spanish or language outside of English
• Professional experience in graduate-level education at the faculty level in Bilingual Education and ESL or a closely related field commensurate with rank of assistant/associate, respectively
• Strong research agenda in Bilingual Education and ESL with a specific focus on policy and advocacy
• Evidence of securing external grant funding
• Experience developing partnerships with school districts and/or other institutions for engaged scholarship
• Experience working with and developing cultural/linguistic competency with diverse groups of individuals, including and especially first-generation and Hispanic students
• Experience teaching from a culturally responsive perspective
• Background as an English Language Learner
• Experience in graduate-level curriculum development
• Experience in advising doctoral students and chairing dissertations
• K-12 teaching experience in Bilingual Education and ESL programs
• Evidence of experience recruiting students into graduate-level programs
• Evidence of leadership in professional organizations at local, state, national and international levels

Application Instructions:

Interested candidates must submit application materials online at the TTU Personnel Employment website:

https://sjobs.brassring.com/TGnewUI/Search/Home/Home?partnerid=25898&siteid=5637#jobDetails=724905_5637

The following documents must be submitted by August 22, 2022:

• Letter of application that details personal accomplishments, stance on diversity, and specific interest in this position
• Current curriculum vitae
• Unofficial graduate transcripts
• One sample publication
• List of three references with complete addresses, phone numbers, and e-mail addresses
• Evidence of teaching effectiveness (e.g., course evaluations, peer teaching reviews) at the university level

For more information about the position, please contact the search committee Co-Chairs, Dr. René Saldaña at rene.saldana@ttu.edu or Dr. Josh Cruz at josh.cruz@ttu.edu.

The Department of Curriculum and Instruction offers a competitive graduate program that is growing both nationally and internationally. We are a diverse community of scholars, researchers, and educators with a commitment to excellence in education and serving EC-12 public schools and beyond.

The Texas Tech University College of Education, with over 2,000 students, offers a nationally recognized undergraduate teacher preparation program, and 21 graduate degrees that prepare students for professional or academic positions in education. The department and college place a focus on strategic outreach and engaged scholarship. We collaborate with local, regional, state, national and global partners to address complex problems facing individuals and communities. In recognition of its extraordinary community outreach efforts, the college received a 2018 W.K. Kellogg Foundation Community Engagement Scholarship Award from the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU).

Texas Tech University is the flagship of the Texas Tech University System and a Carnegie Tier One research university. The current enrollment is nearly 40,000 students. As a federally designated Hispanic Serving Institution, Texas Tech University seeks to foster an environment that promotes inclusive access and attracts committed and high-achieving students. We are dedicated to recruiting and retaining a diverse group of faculty to educate and empower our diverse student body while also serving an extremely vast and diverse state with an increasingly culturally pluralistic population. The university has also been awarded the Paul Simon Award for Comprehensive Internationalization by NAFSA: Association of International Educators twice in the last four years.

Lubbock, Texas (Pop. 260,000) is an outstanding place to live and work. This growing city, with its college-town feel, has a remarkable history and a vital future. Lubbock is the commercial, agricultural, medical, financial and cultural hub of the South Plains and has earned the nickname of “Hub” city of West Texas. The City of Lubbock and Texas Tech University enjoy an exceptionally cooperative and supportive relationship extending from community health to cotton crop production, from wind energy to education. Lubbock is nationally recognized as an outstanding place to raise a family, and offers ease of access for commuting across town, or travel across the nation. Depending on one’s personal preferences, there are plenty of recreational opportunities and a wide variety of restaurants and shopping, community events and cultural activities including breweries and wine bars, a vibrant live-music scene, museums, along with more traditional performing arts. 

As an Equal Employment Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer, Texas Tech University is dedicated to the goal of building a culturally diverse faculty committed to teaching and working in a multicultural environment. We actively encourage applications from all those who can contribute, through their research, teaching and/or service, to the diversity and excellence of the academic community at Texas Tech University. The University welcomes applications from minoritized candidates, women, veterans, persons with disability and dual-career couples. Texas Tech University recently surpassed the Hispanic student population threshold necessary for designation as a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI). To learn more about the university’s commitment to diversity, please visit The Office of Institutional Diversity.