Assistant Professor of Indigenous American Art and Visual Culture

Assistant Professor of Indigenous American Art and Visual Culture

POSITION DESCRIPTION
The History of Art and Visual Culture Department (HAVC, havc.ucsc.edu) at the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC) invites applications for a tenure-track Assistant Professor of Indigenous American Art and Visual Culture. We encourage applicants working with historical depth in any time period on visual cultures of Indigenous peoples across South, Central, and North America and the Caribbean. Applicants may be engaged in research that is archaeological, archival, theoretical, and/or decolonial in nature so long as their focus is on visual culture and/or art in any of these regions through the lens of Indigenous communities and cultural sovereignty. Ideal candidates will demonstrate a commitment to community involvement and Indigenous lived experience including working with Indigenous American, First Nations, Inuit, and/or Métis communities and organizations across the Americas, Borderlands, and/or Circumpolar Indigenous Nations. This position is integral to the department’s ongoing commitment to advancing local perspectives and voices in a range of historical contexts. The successful candidate will offer courses ranging from specialized seminars to large introductory lectures, and will teach and advise graduate students in the Visual Studies Ph.D. program and major and non-major undergraduate students in the History of Art and Visual Culture B.A. program. We welcome candidates whose experiences in Indigenous communities and/or community organizations inform their approach to teaching, research/creative production, and service and to transforming the culture of higher education institutions. This hire reflects a long-term commitment to Indigenous studies both within HAVC and at UCSC more broadly. The new faculty member will be part of a cohort of recently hired and incoming faculty in this area across the campus, including recent recruitments in history, media, and critical race and ethnic studies, and a forthcoming recruitment in Indigenous literature.

The HAVC faculty affirms its commitment to recognizing, addressing, and combatting all forms of discrimination, including discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexuality, and ability. The department collectively seeks to empower students, colleagues, and our campus community toward the goal of creating an inclusive, respectful, and equitable environment. We recognize that the above types of discrimination and resulting oppression are not limited to the U.S. These are global challenges that impact a broad range of constituencies. Therefore, as a department, we share an ethical obligation to create an environment that addresses the unique forms of bias that affect our diverse community. Please see HAVC’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Statement.

We have a strong undergraduate major in History of Art and Visual Culture; an undergraduate concentration in Curation, Heritage, and Museums; and a dynamic Visual Studies Ph.D. program. HAVC faculty support the investigation of art and visual culture from a variety of historical and theoretical perspectives in the cultures of Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, the Mediterranean, and the Pacific Islands. The HAVC Department is in the Division of the Arts, which also includes the departments of Art; Film and Digital Media; Music; Performance, Play & Design; and the M.F.A. Program in Digital Arts & New Media. There are opportunities for scholarly and teaching connections in these areas, as well as with colleagues and programs across the campus. The campus operates on a schedule of three 11- week quarters per academic year. In accordance with the department’s workload policy, faculty members are required to offer the equivalent of 5 five-unit courses per year (which normally means teaching 4 courses over three quarters and carrying out other academic and service responsibilities); effectively advise and mentor undergraduate and graduate students; actively engage in research; and undertake administrative service for the department, affiliated college, campus, and university. The ability to contribute significantly to graduate education and the mentoring of graduate students is highly desirable.

UCSC is enjoying faculty growth while prioritizing faculty diversity efforts, as reflected in myriad contributions to research and teaching that foreground gender, identity, intersectionality, race, ethnicity, disability, community engagement, and other sites of justice work, so that UCSC faculty better reflect the diversity of California and the student body and help further a feeling of belonging among students while pushing the boundaries of world-class research. The Arts Division supports faculty research, creative production, teaching, and community engagement through the Arts Research Institute and through innovative programming at the Mary Porter Sesnon Galleryand the Institute of the Arts and Sciences. The campus supports research and teaching with grants awarded by the Committee on Research, the Committee on Teaching, and other groups.

UCSC is a Hispanic-Serving Institution and an Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institution with a high proportion of first-in-family undergraduate students. In addition to encouraging participation in robust departmental, divisional, and campus mentoring, the campus offers a Faculty Community Networking Program that provides support for African-American/Black/Caribbean, Asian-American/Pacific Islander, Latinx/Chicanx, and Indigenous faculty, as well as groups for women in STEM, faculty with disabilities, and academic mothers.

Our first round of review will be based solely on (1) the letter of application and (2) the statement of contributions to diversity, equity, and inclusion. We welcome candidates who understand the barriers facing historically oppressed and underrepresented groups in higher education careers (as evidenced by life experiences and educational background), and who have experience in equity and diversity with respect to teaching, mentoring, research, and/or service towards building an equitable and diverse scholarly environment. This recruitment is supported by the UC Office of the President’s Advancing Faculty Diversity program and includes enhanced funding for faculty projects that contribute to diversity and to creating an inclusive climate.

The chosen candidate will be expected to sign a statement representing that they are not the subject of any ongoing investigation or disciplinary proceeding at their current academic institution or place of employment, nor have they in the past ten years been formally disciplined at any academic institution/place of employment. In the event the candidate cannot make this representation, they will be expected to disclose in writing to the hiring Dean the circumstances surrounding any formal discipline that they have received, as well as any current or ongoing investigation or disciplinary process of which they are the subject. (Note that discipline includes a negotiated settlement agreement to resolve a matter related to substantiated misconduct.)

The University of California, Santa Cruz is located on the unceded territory of the Awaswas-speaking Uypi Tribe. The Amah Mutsun Tribal Band, comprised of the descendants of Indigenous people taken to missions Santa Cruz and San Juan Bautista during Spanish colonization of the Central Coast, is today working hard to restore traditional stewardship practices on these lands and heal from historical trauma.

QUALIFICATIONS
Basic qualifications (required at time of application)
Ph.D. (or equivalent foreign degree) in art history, visual studies, or a related field. It is expected that the degree requirement will be completed by June 30, 2025.