Associate Professor

Faculty / Type Title :

Associate Professor

Area of Study :

African Diaspora History

Begins : Fall Semester 2026

About the College :

Spelman College seeks teacher / scholars dedicated to excellence in teaching and to the continued enhancement of the academic environment for students and colleagues. Founded in 1881, Spelman College is a private four-year liberal arts college located in Atlanta, GA. The oldest historically Black college for women in the United States, Spelman is a member of the Atlanta University Center Consortium and Atlanta Regional Consortium for Higher Education.

Position Description :

About the Department : Centered in the Division of the Humanities, the Department of History offers the intellectually curious student an opportunity to explore and interpret past developments, the role they play in current local, national and global realities, and to participate fully in charting the path ahead, cognizant of the historical foundations of both the now and the future. The Department of History prepares the next generation of women of African descent as thought leaders in History by offering a rich, well-rounded academic education, graduate school, career and leadership preparation in the discipline of History and a profound understanding of the centrality and role of history in global developments and finding solutions to global problems. An understanding of history, historiography, historical research, and analysis lies at the heart of the liberal arts education approach of this premiere HBCU (Historically Black College and University), one of only two dedicated to educating women of the African diaspora.

With a major in History, our students are fully prepared with the essential skills of the discipline of History, but also with a broad spectrum of twenty-first century transferable skills that equip them for careers in wide -ranging fields. History majors graduate with a solid and interdisciplinary foundation of reading, writing, research, critical thinking, incisive analysis, multimodal presentation and argumentation, documentation, unearthing and telling stories using various theoretical frameworks, methodologies, and modalities, making connections in developments, trends, and through time, space, and using a variety of analytical lenses to ensure they consider all perspectives. Our majors are accepted into leading graduate programs and can be found in a wide range of fields, that include but are not limited to : academia, K-12 education, the world of business, archives, museums, public history, conservation, ecology and environmental protection and conservation, government, non-profit organizations, medicine, health careers, urban planning and development, administration, religion, social work, journalism, documentary film-making, law, social justice activism, consultancy, local, national, and global leadership.

About the Position :

The Department of History invites applications to fill a senior position with the department beginning August 2026 , at the rank of Associate / Professor of History who will also serve as Director of the African Diaspora and the World Program in the first instance and renewable subject to performance evaluation.

Applicants must have already received tenure at their current institution, have the ability to develop and teach courses on the History of the African Diaspora with a focus on women, and expertise in at least one geographical area of concentration.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities : As Associate / Full Professor in the Department of History, the successful candidate will be required to develop and teach courses on the History of the African Diaspora, with a special focus on women and in at least one geographical area of concentration that complements and extends the current range of offerings within the department.

The successful candidate will also be expected to contribute to the teaching of core courses in the major and must have some demonstrated experience in program leadership. Applicants must share the college’s commitment to advising and mentoring students, to global education, real world preparedness, employing high impact current instructional technologies, and providing service to the department and college.

The successful candidate needs to demonstrate an acumen for innovative, visionary, and collaborative leadership, and dedication to all-round excellence in alignment with the mission, vison, and strategic goals of both the department and the institution. Candidates with a demonstrated commitment to program efficacy, curriculum and faculty development, and working with women and underrepresented minority students are especially encouraged to apply.

As Director of the African Diaspora and the World Program, the successful candidate will also be expected to work with the Division Chair, chairs of departments that contribute to the staffing and curriculum of the program, and an advisory committee of faculty. The African Diaspora and the World Program is a gender-infused, multi-disciplinary, two-semester general education course sequence that has been specially designed and intended as a signature first-year experience specific to the students of this institution. The course is intended to prepare young women of African descent for full-functioning and leadership in the twenty-first century world with a full understanding of the experiences of the global African Diaspora historically and in contemporary times, and the factors that have influenced those experiences. The course is intended to create a safe space for women of African descent to fully explore their past, to understand how world developments have affected them and how they have exercised resilience, agency, self-empowerment and leadership over time. It encourages our students to locate themselves at the center of their own identity and experiences, and to view that central positionality as a sine qua to their own empowerment and future choices.

The Duties of Program Director include, but are not limited to, the following :

• providing leadership for the unit’s academic program, including enhancing the curriculum, ensuring curriculum integrity, and currency, relevance, and appropriate rigor
• assuring the high quality of instruction within the program
• conducting and overseeing evaluation of program faculty through class visits, peer evaluations, reviewing student evaluations, and evaluation reports
• managing the program budget
• assessing the quality and effectiveness of the academic program through evaluating student learning outcomes, annual curriculum review, and syllabi revision
• ensuring standardization in course content, pedagogy, assignments, and assessment rubrics across all course sections to ensure a commonality of experience for students in this signature year-one program
• initiating grant writing efforts consistent with program goals and purposeensuring adequate staffing of all program course sections through instructor recruitment and hiring
• teaching at least one course section per semester within the program.
• developing a calendar of co-curricular program events and activities each semester
• convenings regular instructor meetings and training workshops
• ensuring that proper minutes are kept of all meetings and workshops
• ensuring content and pedagogical development for program faculty via attendance and participation in conferences, symposia, workshops, panels etc. with a focus on the worldwide African Diaspora.
• attending monthly Council of Chairs meetings of chairs, and with the Division Chair
• preparing and submitting annual program reports
• conducting and overseeing the Program Review Process
• supervising Administrative Assistant / Program Coordinator

Application Timeline : Review of applications will begin immediately and continue until the position is filled. Preference will be given to candidates with complete application dossiers submitted by January 16, 2026. All reference letters must be received by January 30, 2026. We expect to complete preliminary and on-campus final interviews, plus select a final candidate for hire by March 31, 2026. The selected candidate must be ready to assume the position in August, 2026.

Application Materials : Complete and submit online application form and upload the following required documentation via the Spelman College HR People Admin site : Ø Cover Letter of ApplicationØ Updated Curriculum VitaeØ Unofficial copies of graduate transcripts. Official transcripts will be required at time of hire.Ø 1-page Teaching Philosophy StatementØ 1-page Scholarly Philosophy StatementØ 1-page Service Philosophy StatementØ 1-page Leadership Profile StatementØ Two Sample Syllabi (one lower level; one upper level)Ø Writing sampleØ Three (3) Letters of Reference

This position is contingent upon the availability of sufficient funding.Questions may be directed to Marcelle Welch at marcellewelch@spelman.edu in the Faculty Affairs Office. Please do not contact members of the Search Committee.

Qualifications :

Qualifications : Ph.D. in History (any specialty within the African Diaspora) and tenure at current institution. Applicants should be proven leaders with a record of stellar scholarship, sound intellectual vision, along with administrative and teaching experience, and an ability to work collaboratively with others.

Posting Number : F629P

Open Date : 10 / 17 / 2025

Close Date : 01 / 16 / 2026

Open Until Filled : No

Special Instructions to Applicants :

Any correspondence regarding the position or your application will be relayed to you by our Faculty Affairs Team. Please do not reach out to any department faculty regarding the position or status of your application. We appreciate your interest and consideration.

EEO Statement :

Spelman College is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are a smoke-free campus.

Deadline to Receive Letter(s) of Reference :

01 / 30 / 2026