About UMass Amherst
UMass Amherst, the Commonwealth's flagship campus, is a nationally ranked public research university offering a full range of undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees. The University sits on nearly 1,450-acres in the scenic Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts, and offers a rich cultural environment in a bucolic setting close to major urban centers. In addition, the University is part of the Five Colleges (including Amherst College, Hampshire College, Mount Holyoke College, and Smith College), which adds to the intellectual energy of the region.
Job Description
The Journalism Department at the University of Massachusetts Amherst is accepting applications for a full-time (9-month) non-tenure track Lecturer in Public Relations. This position is eligible for membership in the Massachusetts Society of Professors (MSP), the union representing over 1,400 faculty and librarians on the University of Massachusetts Amherst campus.
The selected candidate will be a core member of the Department's rapidly growing Public Relations (PR) Concentration. The candidate would be responsible for teaching three PR course sections per semester, which may include Introduction to Public Relations, Writing for Public Relations, and multimedia electives. They may also be asked to advise our highly active, student-led Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) chapter. The selected candidate will have the opportunity to work closely with the concentration's Program Director to develop forward-thinking experiential courses to help prepare PR students for work in various organizational settings.
Candidates with industry experience in public relations, strategic communication, or a related field are especially encouraged to apply, and we welcome candidates with expertise or experience in a range of subareas. We also welcome applications from candidates who can contribute to our goal of providing an education that reflects and is responsive to our entire student body and the diverse industries they seek to become leaders in.
The position will begin on Sept. 1, 2024. The initial appointment is for one academic year, with anticipated reappointments for the first four years and the possibility of continuing reappointment thereafter under union-bargained guidelines. All reappointments are contingent upon funding availability and satisfactory performance.
Requirements
Applicants must have at least a master's degree. Candidates with superlative professional experience in public relations, strategic communication, or a related field, and/or undergraduate teaching experience, particularly in Writing for Public Relations, are preferred.
Additional Information
Salary and benefits at UMass are competitive.
The Journalism Department is a collegial and dynamic group. Our focus is on quality undergraduate education, with our award-winning instructors and courses consistently receiving some of the highest student evaluation scores across the university. Our class sizes are generally small, which allows us to develop strong connections with our students. We take our commitment to students seriously and have a departmental culture of respect and mutual support. Both tenure-track and non-tenure-track faculty have a voice in departmental governance.
As a campus with an increasingly diverse student body, we are looking for candidates who can operate effectively in a diverse faculty and student community and who value collegiality, collaboration, achievement, and integrity. We encourage applications from women, minorities, and individuals with a commitment to mentoring under-represented demographics within journalism and public relations. We are also interested in candidates who have had non-traditional career paths, who spent time outside of academia, or those who have paused their careers for family or pandemic reasons. We are committed to helping all constituents reach their full potential, creating best-in-practice operations to support faculty development and fostering excellence in student experiences inside and outside our department.
UMass Amherst is a leader in providing institutional support for faculty to combine work and family/personal responsibilities and was listed among the Chronicle of Higher Education's "Great Colleges to Work For." For more information on work-life balance at UMass Amherst, see https://www.umass.edu/prospective-faculty/work/balance.
Application Instructions
Please submit your application through UMass Amherst’s PageUp online application system.
Along with the application, please submit the following:
- A letter of interest addressed to Professor Jennie Donohue, Search Committee Chair, S414 Integrative Learning Center, 650 North Pleasant Street, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, USA.
- A curriculum vitae.
- A one-page statement outlining the skills, experience, and commitment the candidate will bring to bear in teaching, mentoring, and professional service to promote equity, inclusion, and diversity for the University’s historically underrepresented and other marginalized groups of students, as well as for the discipline as a whole.
- Names and contact information for three references who may be contacted at an advanced stage of the selection process.
Evaluation of applications will begin February 19, 2024, and will continue until the position has been filled. Questions may be addressed to Search Committee Chair Jennie Donohue at jldonohue@umass.edu.
The University is committed to active recruitment of a diverse faculty and student body. The University of Massachusetts Amherst is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer of women, minorities, protected veterans, and individuals with disabilities and encourages applications from these and other protected group members. Because broad diversity is essential to an inclusive climate and critical to the University's goals of achieving excellence in all areas, we will holistically assess the many qualifications of each applicant and favorably consider an individual's record working with students and colleagues with broadly diverse perspectives, experiences, and backgrounds in educational, research or other work activities. We will also favorably consider experience overcoming or helping others overcome barriers to an academic career and degree.