Vanderbilt University, Department of Religious Studies

Tenure Track Assistant Professor of Religion and the Environment

We seek a candidate with a PhD degree in Religious Studies or a related humanities/humanistic social science discipline with expertise in the study of religion. Ability to contribute to the College’s new interdisciplinary Climate Studies program is essential.

Area of specialization, theoretical and methodological approach, historical period, cultural framework and geographical locus is open. Some examples of appropriate research foci at the intersection of religion and climate may include but are not limited to animal studies, bioethics, Black geographies and ecologies, comparative eschatologies, earth-based epistemologies and ontologies, immigration and environment, indigenous environmental studies, new religious movements, religious law and ethics, urban ecologies, environmental geopolitics, etc.

The Religious Studies department particularly values a diversity of worldviews and discourses that have been historically marginalized.  In addition to contributing to the growth and development of the department and to the field of Religious Studies, the successful candidate will join a growing number of faculty across the sciences, social sciences and humanities in Climate Studies and benefit from a strong institutional commitment to research and teaching in this area.

The normal tenure-track course load is two courses per semester (four per year). The successful candidate should expect to teach introductory classes in Religious Studies as well as advanced courses in her/his/their area of specialization, and one course yearly in Climate Studies. Qualified candidates should be prepared to mentor graduate students and teach advanced courses in the methodologies appropriate to the study of religion in the Graduate Department of Religion.

PhD must be in-hand no later than August 15, 2022 when employment starts at the beginning of Fall 2022 term.

Applications are accepted only through Interfolio here: http://apply.interfolio.com/93684 .

Deadlines: The deadline for application is 11:59 p.m. CST on October 10, 2021. Application review will begin October 11, 2021.

Required Documentation:

• Cover letter including personal statement
• Curriculum Vitae
• Names and contact information for three academic recommenders
• Research statement
• Teaching statement and unedited course evaluations (if available)
• Diversity statement (diversity, equity, and inclusion are growing in importance as benchmarks of success for faculty at Vanderbilt. Tell us some specific ways that you attend to these values and challenges in your work)
• Graduate/Post-graduate Transcripts (official)
• Writing sample (@ 30 pp.)

Questions: Direct questions to Laurel Schneider, Chair, Department of Religious Studies, laurel.c.schneider@vanderbilt.edu