Assistant Professor in Critical Feminist Data Studies
Position Overview
Organization: Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies
Title: Assistant Professor in Critical Feminist Data Studies
Position Details
Position Description
The Department of Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies at the University of Washington, Seattle invites applications for a full-time, tenure-track position as Assistant Professor in critical feminist data studies, with an anticipated start date of September 2023. Tenure-track faculty have an annual service period of nine months (Sept 16-June 15). The successful applicant will be expected to engage in research and teaching that use feminist and related analytics of power to create theories, platforms, and practices that examine and reconfigure how data is figured into asymmetrical distributions of power, and that particularly impact women, trans, intersex, and queer people. We are especially interested in applicants whose investigations of data center the labor, histories, methodologies, and intellectual genealogies of Indigenous peoples and/or people in the Global South, as well as applicants who mobilize transnational analyses.
This position responds to the evolving intersections among data studies; feminist studies; and the interdisciplinary field of gender, women, and sexuality studies. The successful applicant will have the opportunity to engage in research and teaching in areas including, but not limited to: data infrastructures and Global South labor; digital banking, mobile phone platforms, and subaltern agency; data discrimination, algorithmic bias, and Black freedom struggles; privacy, AI surveillance, and reproductive justice; data colonialisms and Indigenous data sovereignty; medical datasets and care; violence and social media; technoculture and gendered labor; critical code and platform praxis; queer data; activist archiving and internet studies; cultures of data; decolonial approaches to fields such as bioinformatics; queer/BIPOC new media, gaming, and iterative design; and critical approaches to data visualization. Positive factors for consideration include, but are not limited to, technical training and experience with applied methods, such as programming for the web, human-centered design approaches to data collection, benchmarking measures for machine learning/AI, statistical analysis, ethical computing practices in big data analytics, data curation and visualization.
The Department of Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies (GWSS) at the University of Washington has been at the cutting edge of its fields for over fifty years. The scholarship and pedagogy of our faculty have consistently advanced critical analysis of gender and sexuality in relation to race, class, and disability; in debates about U.S. Women of Color and transnational feminisms; and in terms of queer and trans studies. This hire complements our department’s existing strengths in Black, Latinx, Asian, and transnational feminisms, trans and queer studies, gender and labor studies, digital and medical humanities, and new media and performance studies. Duties include teaching at the undergraduate and graduate levels and mentoring diverse student populations. The successful applicant will be expected to develop a robust research agenda and teach courses that reflect our department’s intellectual and pedagogical commitments to anti-racist feminist critique and queer theory through transnational perspectives—and apply these commitments in courses that can contribute to the university’s Data Science Minor. All University of Washington faculty engage in teaching, research, and service.
The GWSS department is housed in a public university with one of the strongest tech curriculums in the U.S. and in a city with one of the most vibrant tech industries in the world. We are rooted in a community of students and scholars across campus who value critical approaches to data, who think carefully about knowledge production within and beyond the academy, and who are invested in creating conversation across languages and skillsets. We seek a new faculty member who will be central to the continued growth of GWSS but who may also find communities and connections in departments including but not limited to American Ethnic Studies; American Indian Studies; Anthropology; Communication; Comparative History of Ideas; Disability Studies; Geography; Law, Societies & Justice; and the School of Art + Art History + Design. Candidates may also find intellectual networks in schools and departments such as Human Centered Design & Engineering; the Information School; the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies; and the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering.
Qualifications
This position requires a PhD, or foreign equivalent, in Gender, Women & Sexuality Studies or related field by the start date of September 2023.
Instructions
While review of applications begins in October, we will continue to accept applications through November 30, 2022. Please contact Professor and Chair of GWSS, Sasha Welland (swelland@uw.edu), with any questions regarding the search. Applications at the initial stage must include the items listed below, submitted as doc/docx or pdf files. Additional materials such as a second sample of your work, teaching statement, and reference letters will be requested later in the search process.
- Cover letter (maximum 2 pages) detailing how feminist approaches to data inform your research and teaching, discussing proposed graduate and undergraduate course offerings that fulfill the department’s mission statement and build critical data literacy
- Curriculum Vitae
- Diversity Statement (maximum 1 page) discussing specific methods or practices of committing to diversity, equity, inclusion, and/or justice in research, teaching, and service or community work
- Writing sample (maximum 25 pages) of a recently published article or, for graduate students completing degrees by June 2023, an excerpt of a dissertation chapter
- List of names and contact information for 3 references
Please do not submit additional materials unless you receive an email request to do so.
Equal Employment Opportunity Statement
University of Washington is an affirmative action and equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, creed, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, pregnancy, genetic information, gender identity or expression, age, disability, or protected veteran status.
Benefits Information
A summary of benefits associated with this title/rank can be found at https://hr.uw.edu/benefits/benefits-orientation/benefit-summary-pdfs/. Appointees solely employed and paid directly by a non-UW entity are not UW employees and are not eligible for UW or Washington State employee benefits.
Commitment to Diversity
The University of Washington is committed to building diversity among its faculty, librarian, staff, and student communities, and articulates that commitment in the UW Diversity Blueprint (http://www.washington.edu/diversity/diversity-blueprint/). Additionally, the University’s Faculty Code recognizes faculty efforts in research, teaching and/or service that address diversity and equal opportunity as important contributions to a faculty member’s academic profile and responsibilities (https://www.washington.edu/admin/rules/policies/FCG/FCCH24.html#2432).
Privacy Notice
Review the University of Washington Privacy Notice for Demographic Data of Job Applicants and University Personnel to learn how your demographic data are protected, when the data may be used, and your rights.
Disability Services
To request disability accommodation in the application process, contact the Disability Services Office at 206-543-6450 or dso@uw.edu.
COVID-19 Vaccine Requirements and Information
Under University of Washington (UW) Policy, University-compensated personnel must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and provide proof thereof, or receive a UW-approved medical or religious exemption. This requirement will be a condition of any offer associated with this recruitment. For more information, please visit https://www.washington.edu/coronavirus/vaccination-requirement/.