Job Description

Global Humanities and Religions - Non-Tenure Track Faculty Vacancy Pool

Western Washington University, with over 15,000 students in seven colleges and the graduate school, is nationally recognized for its educational programs, students and faculty. The campus is located in Bellingham, Washington, a coastal community of 90,000 overlooking Bellingham Bay, the San Juan Islands and the North Cascades Mountain range. The city lies 90 miles north of Seattle and 50 miles south of Vancouver, British Columbia. Western has additional sites in Anacortes, Bremerton, Everett, Port Angeles, and Poulsbo. Western is recognized nationally for its successes, such as being named one of the top public master's-granting institutions in the Pacific Northwest for 25 years in a row by U.S. News & World Report.

Western Washington University is committed to achieving excellence through advancing inclusive success, increasing our Washington impact, and focusing on transformational education grounded in the liberal arts and sciences and based on innovative scholarship, research, and creative activity. Western's greatest strength is the outstanding students, faculty, staff, and alumni/ae who make up its community. Western supports an inclusive governance structure for all and provides a learning and working environment in which everyone can thrive. In pursuit of this excellence, individual employees are expected to establish and maintain productive and effective inclusive working relationships amongst diverse populations including staff, faculty, administration, student, and external constituents. Further, individual employees are expected to have the ability to operationalize sustainability concepts (economic, societal, environmental) into all aspects of performing their job duties.

The College of Humanities and Social Science and the Department of Global Humanities and Religions support Western's mission, which states that together with our students, staff, and faculty, we are committed to making a positive impact in the state and the world with a shared focus on academic excellence and inclusive achievement. We encourage applications from women, people of color, people with disabilities, veterans, and other candidates from underrepresented backgrounds and with diverse experiences interested in this opportunity.

The Department of Global Humanities and Religions at Western Washington University consists of eight tenured or tenure-track faculty whose courses serve major and minor programs in "Humanities: History of Culture", "Religion and Culture", "Arabic and Islamic Studies", "Digital Humanities", "South and Southeast Asian Studies", and "African Studies" as well as making significant contributions to the university’s general education curriculum. The department's interdisciplinary humanities curriculum focuses, in particular, on cultural history and religious studies.  It ranges ancient to modern and covers most of the globe; our curriculum also emphasizes cross-cultural interaction. Faculty in the department are also committed to providing high quality courses that prepare both majors and non-majors with skills in critical reading, research, analysis, and writing.  Please see more here: https://chss.wwu.edu/global-humanities-and-religions

The Department of Global Humanities and Religions maintains a vacancy pool of qualified persons interested in temporary teaching positions. In anticipation of possible openings throughout the academic year, applications are accepted continuously for temporary non-tenure track teaching positions on a part-time basis with rare opportunities for temporary, full-time appointments. Positions may become available at any time and are typically filled on a quarterly basis.

The department seeks qualified applicants who have a Ph.D. or are ABD in a Humanities field, whose academic expertise aligns clearly with the department mission, and who have the ability to teach one or more of the department’s 100- or 200-level courses.

We are particularly interested in faculty whose areas of expertise include some of the following: religious studies, area studies, history (especially cultural and social history), comparative literature, cultural anthropology, art history, film, popular culture, philosophy, and/or gender.

Position Responsibilities: Teach existing courses that satisfy General Education Requirements and serve the majors and minors, typically at the lower division level. The department may occasionally seek development of a new course or to hire someone qualified to teach an upper division course. The department, college and University value teaching, and we expect you to be an excellent teacher; to be current in your discipline; to engage students actively in their own learning including discussion, writing, and analysis; and to set high standards regarding course content. You are expected to provide students with timely feedback on their coursework and examinations, and to be available to students through regularly scheduled office hours in keeping with department policy. You must have your students evaluate your course(s) using the standard University evaluation forms, or others approved by the provost, and you must make those evaluations available to the department chair for annual review.

• PhD or ABD status in a Humanities field related or adjacent to the course(s) to be taught
• Demonstrated potential for successful teaching at the university level
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively with diverse students, faculty, and staff, including a commitment to cultivating learning environments that are equitable and inclusive of students with diverse social identities and backgrounds

• Relevant teaching experience at the university level
• Broad perspective on the Humanities

All employees must comply with our Immunization policies, including Proof of Rubeola Measles Immunity within 60-days of hire. Please reach out to HR@wwu.edu if you need information regarding medical or religious exemption and applicable accommodations.

Commensurate with experience and qualifications

Benefits Information

United Faculty of Western Washington

Please submit your application through Western's PageUp system.  You should include a CV and a letter of application addressing the above listed required and preferred qualifications, and detailing specific areas of teaching expertise; please describe both teaching experience and the specific courses you would hope to teach in the department.  (These could be either existing course numbers or proposed new courses).  Applicants are encouraged to consult the department's page in the university catalog (https://catalog.wwu.edu/preview_entity.php?catoid=19&ent_oid=1994&returnto=5131) and the department web site (https://chss.wwu.edu/global-humanities-and-religions), in order to consider possible course offerings.

Please also include a complete curriculum vitae including contact information for at least three professional references.

This vacancy pool is refreshed annually; please see applicable close date information below. Applicants who continue to remain interested in being considered for on-going opportunities should re-submit updated materials to the new pool, once posted.

Applications are accepted continuously for potential NTT faculty openings. Vacancy pool closes no later than October 31, 2026.

Job Tags

Similar Jobs