Women in French

Assistant Professor of the Practice in French – Wesleyan University (Connecticut, USA)

Wesleyan University, founded in 1831, is a diverse, energetic liberal arts community where critical thinking and practical idealism go hand in hand.

Position Details

The French Section of the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures at Wesleyan University invites applications for an Assistant Professor of the Practice in French beginning July 1, 2022, for an initial three-year appointment with the possibility of renewal based on performance, budget, and continued need. The Department values collaboration, and our colleagues contribute broadly to an interdisciplinary French Studies curriculum and interrogate the highly political history of the French language in the Americas, Europe, Africa, Oceania, and Asia. Our program engages in contemporary debates related to the French language, including those where French is seen as a mode of resistance to a perceived English-only globalization, as a means of identity negotiations with regional and local languages, and as a dynamic entity in which the introduction of langage inclusif (gender-inclusive language) has resulted in various responses from people and institutions throughout the French-speaking world.

The Assistant Professor of the Practice will focus on applied linguistics, second language acquisition, language pedagogy, intercultural communication, or sociolinguistics. We would welcome applications from those with native or near-native fluency in any variety of French (European, Caribbean, North American, African, etc.). The teaching load for an Assistant Professor of the Practice in French is five courses per year and our new colleague will teach all levels of French language courses and, on occasion, a content-oriented upper-level French course, a First-Year Seminar, or a linguistics course in English. Other responsibilities will include taking the lead in reviewing and renewing the French language curriculum, helping supervise the department’s Foreign Language Teaching Assistants, overseeing the French placement exam, developing procedures for assessing students’ progress through the French curriculum, possibly serving as faculty advisor for the Maison Francophone, and taking a turn directing the Vassar-Wesleyan Program in Paris.

Minimum Qualifications

Candidates must have a Ph.D. in French linguistics, foreign language acquisition and teaching (French), French/Francophone language, literature, and culture, or a related field in hand by the time of appointment to be hired as an Assistant Professor of the Practice; a successful candidate may be hired as an Instructor if the candidate does not have a PhD in hand at the time of appointment.

Special Instructions To Applicants

You will be asked to upload electronic versions of the items we require, which are a 1) a letter of application; 2) a curriculum vitae; 3) a statement of pedagogical philosophy; 4) up to three course syllabi, 5) evidence of teaching effectiveness such as teaching evaluations or peer observations (if available). In the cover letter, applicants should describe how they will embrace the college’s commitment to fostering an inclusive community, as well as their experience working with individuals from historically marginalized or underserved groups.
You will also be asked to provide the email addresses of three referees from whom we may obtain confidential letters of recommendation (please double-check the accuracy of the email addresses of the referees you name to ensure that you have the most up-to-date email addresses for each one).
After you have submitted all of the required documents, you will see a confirmation number. At that point, each of your referees whose email address you have provided will receive an automatically-generated email requesting that he or she submit a letter of reference for you.