UATX invites applications for multiple faculty positions in both Intellectual Foundations (IF) and the Center for Arts and Letters (CAL), to begin on or after 1 July 2024. Applicants may indicate a preference for IF or CAL, but will be considered for both. Start dates in 2025 or 2026 may be available by negotiation. Rank: open. Teaching load: six class hours per week during term-time, or the equivalent of 2/2 in the American semester system. Salary: highly competitive, e.g., $90,000 for an Assistant Professor.

UATX strives to build and sustain a community based on the lively clash of ideas and opinions in an atmosphere of open inquiry and civil discourse. Treasuring both the wisdom of the past and the transformative potential of novel ideas, we seek to preserve and transmit humanity’s rich intellectual, scientific, artistic, and cultural inheritance while vigorously pursuing the discovery, creation, and communication of new knowledge. These endeavors depend on fostering an environment of intellectual freedom and pluralism.

IF is an interdisciplinary core curriculum required of all students. Seminars examine subjects such as the foundations of civilization and political life; the importance of law, virtue, order, beauty, and the sacred; the unique vibrancy of the American form of government and way of life; and the character and consequences of ideological tyranny. Faculty in IF will also teach occasional advanced seminars of their own design.

CAL will initially offer concentrations in Ethics and Politics and Literature and Creative Writing and may expand to include concentrations in Theater and Film and Art and Architecture. The core of each track is a sequence of surveys of historical periods ranging from antiquity to the present. Other required courses include seminars on method, focused studies of single authors, and substantive introductions to the cultural history of geographic regions outside Europe and the Anglosphere. Faculty in CAL may also teach some courses for IF.

As our founding faculty in the arts and humanities, IF and CAL seek scholars and/or creative practitioners with a range of interests who can teach across more than one historical period, geographical region, and scholarly or creative discipline. In addition to ethics, political philosophy, literature, and creative writing, evidence of a developed capacity for teaching, research, and/or creative practice in any of the following disciplines may be of interest: history, philosophy, theology, literary theory, theater, film, painting, sculpture, art history, architecture, and the history of architecture. Specialists in non-Western as well as Western cultural traditions are encouraged to apply.

Like all faculty at UATX, faculty in IF and CAL will be expected to maintain the highest

standards of pedagogical excellence, to be available in person and in office on the days they teach, to attend weekly common lectures and other academic events outside the classroom, to advise students academically, and to supervise them as they work on their individual Polaris projects (in which students build, create, or discover something that serves the human good). Faculty may also teach courses in the Polaris sequence, e.g., on innovation, creativity, and the origin of ideas.

To apply, please provide: (1) a curriculum vitae; and (2) a cover letter that addresses your interest in, and qualifications for, a faculty position in Intellectual Foundations and/or the Center for Arts and Letters, as well as your commitment to UATX’s principles. Inquiries may be directed to the Dean of Intellectual Foundations, Jacob Howland (jhowland@uaustin.org) and the Dean of the Center for Arts and Letters, Patrick Gray (pgray@uaustin.org). Candidates being considered for interviews will be invited to submit writing samples and a list of references. Review of applications will begin 15 November 2023 and continue until available positions are filled.