Candidates selected for additional consideration may be contacted to send additional materials such as letters of recommendation, writing samples, teaching philosophy, etc. First-level interviews will be conducted via Zoom and then selected candidates will be invited to campus.

Direct inquiries about the position can be sent to the search committee chair, Dr. Dagmar Scharold at scharoldd@uhd.edu

Please submit a CV and cover letter describing your experience with writing program administration, research agenda, and teaching experience by Monday, November 4, 2024.

The Department of English at the University of Houston-Downtown (UHD) invites applications for a tenure-track Assistant Professor to join the faculty and serve as First-Year Composition (FYC) Director, beginning August 2025. The successful candidate will collaborate with current faculty to enhance well-established curricular and institutional programs.

Our FYC Director will be an experienced leader who has administrative experience in a writing program or writing center and is ready to support and collaborate with our diverse students, faculty, and staff. The search committee is especially interested to hear from candidates who approach first-year composition from multiple perspectives and who are prepared to guide instructors in the promotion of 21st-century composing practices. To this end, our FYC Director will draw from current composition praxis to provide curricular, administrative, and pedagogical leadership for instructors in our FYC program via effective communication and professional development opportunities.

The tenure line faculty teaching load is 4/3. The FYC Director position receives two course releases each long semester resulting in a 2/1 teaching load, with an additional stipend for summer work. Adjustments are made for graduate teaching. Publications in the candidate’s field of expertise and university service are required for tenure.

EEO/AA

Required Qualifications

• PhD in Rhetoric & Composition or related disciplines, such as English, Technical and Professional Communication, or a focus in Rhetoric & Composition, by initial appointment


• Administrative experience in a writing program or writing center


• Teaching experience in First-Year Composition 

Preferred Qualifications

• Expertise with first-generation and underrepresented student populations


• Expertise in multilingual pedagogies and practices of writing instruction


• Experience teaching Integrated Reading and Writing (INRW) courses


• Experience teaching with or research focused on Large Language Models and writing pedagogy


• Additional experience teaching advanced composition courses and graduate courses in composition and rhetoric