Academic Title: Faculty Fellow
Department: Center for Arts and Humanities

The DepartThree fellowships will be awarded to AUB faculty for the academic year 2019/2020 through a competitive process. Faculty fellowships at the Center for Arts and Humanities are intended to encourage junior and mid-career faculty to actively reimagine their disciplines, conduct innovative research, and develop new courses and programs that explore humanistic and artistic scholarship from multiple disciplinary and regional perspectives.

The deadline for applications for 2019-20 is January 15, 2019.   

Responsibilities

During the academic year, each faculty fellow will pursue his or her pre-defined research agendas as well as design and teach a seminar which experiments with innovative approaches in course delivery or explores new lines of inquiry.

Fellows will be excused from all other teaching, undergraduate advising, and some non-essential administrative responsibilities for the duration of the fellowship. Fellows will continue to serve on standing faculty committees, and will participate in departmental meetings; periodic program reviews; discipline-specific seminars and workshops; and voting on appointments, reappointments, and promotions.

Fellows are expected to be present on campus in order to participate fully in the Center’s programmatic activities, teach one seminar during the academic year, and contribute to the curricular development activities of their departments.  Each fellow will submit a written report on their fellowship and feedback on the effectiveness of the program at the conclusion of the academic year.

Compensation and Research Funding:

Fellows will be paid their usual salaries and benefits. Fellowship applicants will not be barred from seeking external or internal research grants payable in the same academic year as the fellowship. Those wishing to apply for internal funding must submit separate grant applications within the usual deadlines and according to published procedures.

Eligibility:

Faculty fellowships will be open to assistant and associate professors engaged in Arts and Humanities research and teaching in Arabic and Near Eastern Languages; English; Fine Arts and Art History; History and Archaeology; Philosophy; Sociology, Anthropology and Media Studies; Political Studies and Public Administration; the Civilization Studies Program; as well as closely related disciplines.

Evaluation Criteria:

Faculty fellows will be selected annually in a competitive process that also takes into consideration the representation of a variety of arts and humanities disciplines. Preference may be given to selected disciplines or clusters of disciplines in any given year to ensure maximum integration of the AUB Faculty Fellowships with University priorities in the revitalization of arts and humanities programs.

Proposals that engage in humanistic and artistic scholarship from multiple disciplinary and regional perspectives will be evaluated by the Center for Arts and Humanities Steering Committee and Director.

Proposals that connect research and curricular development in the following ways are encouraged:

• Proposals that demonstrate the particular necessity of the planned course(s) or curricular revisions and its/their relevance to AUB’s broader humanistic curriculum (including General Education).
• Proposals that may benefit multiple units or programs or which may help to integrate the arts and humanities into the curricula of AUB’s professional programs.
• Proposals that explore new ways of conducting, presenting, and disseminating research, and of bringing it into the classroom.
• Proposals that include the use of a high-impact educational practice, such as a writing-intensive format, collaborative assignments/projects, undergraduate research, service-learning, and/or the integration of digital tools and methodologies in teaching and learning.

Each applicant must solicit a letter of recommendation from their department or program chair.

Please consult the list of Materials to be Submitted for more detailed information.

Submissions:

The completed application should be submitted electronically to Ms. Rita Bassil (rb81@aub.edu.lb), Program Manager of the Center for Arts and Humanities.

MATERIALS TO BE SUBMITTED

FOR

AUB FACULTY FELLOWSHIPS IN THE ARTS AND HUMANITIES

1. Application Form :
Cover sheet including an abstract of the proposal (see below for format). The abstract is limited to 150 words.

2. Detailed Description of Proposed Study (1500 words) :
The most successful applications are the best conceptualized proposals; they convey a sense that an important question is being asked, the complexities of the issue have been considered, and that the investigation will lead to significant results. When writing your description, bear in mind that your evaluators’ areas of expertise will most probably differ from yours; therefore, it is important to explain what you propose to do in a way that is accessible to non-specialists.
Authors may find the following questions useful in preparing their proposals, as an indication of some of the stylistic and substantive issues that should be kept in mind:

Importance of the project

• How does this proposal fit in your research agenda and at this stage in your career?
• What is the potential impact of this project for your scholarly field?
• How does this proposal engage new ways of conducting, presenting, and disseminating research, and of bringing it into the classroom?
• What is the relevance of it to curricular development?
• Clarity and coherence of the project description
• Have you defined the nature of the problem you plan to investigate?
• Have you presented it in a form that is clear, accessible, and compelling to colleagues who may know nothing about your field?
• If you have used technical terms, have you defined them adequately?
• Have you included examples and a clear indication of the kind of analysis that you will propose?
• Have you been as specific as possible in stating what issues and material will be analyzed?

Feasibility of project for time allotted

• Have you defined the scope of your project in a way that seems feasible within the time allotted?

Sources you are likely to consult

• Please limit this information to one page, single-spaced.

3. Brief statement of teaching philosophy and goals :
The statement should include some discussion about the design of courses integrating high-impact teaching practices for active learning. Maximum length: 2 pages. Please supply course files relevant to your teaching philosophy. 2017-18 AUB Faculty Fellowships in the Arts and Humanities

4. Curriculum Vitae :
The curriculum vitae should be in outline form and list 1) education; 2) history of employment; 3) academic honors received; 4) bibliography of applicant’s publications; and 5) the source, time, and nature of any fellowships or grants received during the past five years. Maximum length: 5 pages.

5. Chair’s Recommendation :
Each proposal must be accompanied by a recommendation from the department or program chair. This letter need not be long and can be done in the form of answers to the following three questions:

• Is the applicant qualified?
• Are there any special concerns about finding qualified instructors to cover the faculty member’s teaching responsibilities for the duration of the fellowship?
• Is there anything else the committee needs to know to assess the proposal?

The main purpose of the letter is to bring to the committee’s attention outstanding features (recommendations and impediments) regarding the work presented in the proposal.

Letters concerning proposals related to curriculum development proposals should be explicit about the long-term value of the projected course(s) or curricular revisions in the context of the given department or program.

Academic Title: Postdoctoral Fellow
Department: Center for Arts and Humanities

The American University of Beirut invites applications for its Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowships in the Arts and Humanities, which begins in September 2019. The duration of appointment will be 10 months. Appointees will be attached to a relevant department and will be expected to remain in residence for the duration of the academic year.

The position is open to recent recipients of the PhD degree whose research and teaching interests involve one or more of the following disciplines:

• Arabic (Mamluk or Ottoman Arabic Literature)
• English (translation studies, world literature, and global theater/film)
• Fine Arts and Art History (musicology, music performance, theater and art history)
• Philosophy (Ancient Philosophy, Islamic Philosophy, Feminist Philosophy)
• History and Archaeology (Natural sciences in Archaeology, Prehistory of the Levant, Islamic Archaeology, Egyptology)

Calls for Mellon postdoctoral fellows will focus on specific disciplines and departments that are likely to have permanent openings in the near future. These may occur as senior faculty retire; as new lines are created to reduce teaching loads; and as existing lines are redistributed after academic program reviews. However, while promising fellows will be urged to apply for openings that may arise in their areas of specialty, all positions must be filled through open searches in accordance with University policy.

Requirements: 

• Applicants must have received their doctoral degrees no later than 30 days and no earlier than five years prior to the appointment start date;
• Applications must include the following:
• Letter of interest;
• Curriculum vitae;
• Statement of research interests (2-3 pages), specifically, research to be undertaken during the fellowship and proposed research product;
• Dissertation abstract or summary (1 page);
• Samples of publications (or dissertation extracts)
• Statement of teaching interests and experience;
• Three letters of recommendation; sent to rb81@aub.edu.lb
• Copy of official transcript or letter of confirmation from dissertation committee chair indicating that the degree will be granted by the appointment start date.

Individuals who have held other postdoctoral fellowships are not barred from applying.

Stipend, benefits, and other advantages and obligations of the Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowships in the Arts and Humanities include:

• Annual stipend of $45,000;
• Co-pay health coverage under the University’s Health Insurance Plan;
• Housing subsidy;
• Teaching load of one course per semester;
• Participation in the Arts and Humanities activities are required by the Center.
  

Completed proposals should be submitted in one e-mail by close of business (5:00 p.m.) on January 15, 2019.

Application material should be sent to:

Submissions:
The completed application should be submitted electronically and in one e-mail to Ms. Rita Bassil [rb81@aub.edu.lb]