Tenure-track position open
Psychology Faculty Position.
The Department of Psychology at the University of West Georgia announces a tenure-track Assistant/ Associate Professor position to commence Fall 2013.
The department houses dynamic undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral degree programs engaging an integrative approach with roots in humanistic, existential/phenomenological, transpersonal, depth, critical, and feminist psychologies. We emphasize human science and other qualitative research methods, clinical interests creatively informed by broader social sensibilities, social justice approaches to intervention, and studies in consciousness and spirituality. Terminal degree in psychology required.
Please send vita, three letters of recommendation, writing sample, and a description of your vision for psychology to Victoria Yang, Department of Psychology, University of West Georgia, Carrollton, GA, 30118, vyang@westga.edu. Review of applications will begin January 4, 2013. The University of West Georgia is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer. Should you be recommended for a position, University System of Georgia Board of Regents policy requires the completion of a background check as a prior condition of employment.
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The above was the official department announcement. Here is the unofficial, student-written announcement:
We are really excited that there is another opportunity for our department to hire another tenure-track faculty member.
Our department is a fascinating place, and it would be an ideal teaching gig for the right person.
UWG Psychology is grounded in the Humanistic tradition. We were birthed by Abraham Maslow’s recommendation of Mike Arons to develop this department three decades ago.
What professors seem to appreciate about teaching here is that they have an incredible amount of academic freedom. This is not a place where you are told what and when to teach. The attitude of the department is that intrinsic teaching fosters intrinsic learning. You, the faculty follow your passions. We, the students follow ours. And, we co-create an optimal learning environment.
A lot of our most recent hires have been in the category of critical psychologists, so some of us students are hoping for our next faculty to be more grounded in the humanistic or transpersonal. There are many students fascinated by phenomenology, so that would be a good fit too.
A faculty member who will thrive here is open-minded and open-hearted.
Many of our undergrads are first generation college students. And, often their educational focus is getting their degree and fulfilling their physical needs in the world. Many of our undergrad students sleep walk into their first psychology course, get sparked by the topic, and end up majoring and following it up with our master’s program. So, expect diversity amongst the undergrads.
Many of our masters students are bright minds who take the existential task of engaging with their emerging adulthood directly. Others are mature students who seek reengagement with the world via academia. Many of these students are a pleasure to engage with. They are interested in understanding themselves and the social world that they are embedded in. They tend to be very interested in topics of mind-body, eco-psychology, and Rogerian approaches to therapy. The master students can choose amongst the tracks of classwork only, thesis, and LPC. So, you’ll find some students busy with the LPC track while others are deeply engaged with the thesis track. It is almost like merging a philosophy department (deep reflection) with a school for social work (studying how to put it into action). Many students tend to wear both hats, others wear one or the other. Nonetheless, these are great students to teach, in my opinion.
Finally, there is the non-clinical doc program. It is technically called a program in “Consciousness and Society.” Thus, those faculty who want to teach us have the opportunity to sit more deeply with a topic. There is also the opportunity to be involved as a dissertation advisor. Many doc students teach undergraduate courses starting in their second year. Not all faculty are involved with the doc program. Some simply prefer teaching the undergrads and master students. The doc program will hopefully give you access to some great students as support in your research in the form of graduate research assistants. So, there is a lot of bouncing off each other amongst faculty and doc students.
In general, us grad students are very interested in our faculty members. We often choose courses based upon the faculty as much as the subject. And, the faculty tends to take our requests for courses seriously. So, there is a very sweet symbiotic relationship between the students and the faculty. You get the real feeling that we are engaging in the academic experience together, as co-creators. We tend to all carry the same core values of deep concern for humanity and the planet. We also share in our common rejection of simplistic answers to complicated questions. Much of what we do is sit with that which is not known. One might call this a common aptitude for sitting with ambiguity.
We look forward to attending your Candidate Colloquium in the spring!