Open Rank Tenure Track Position in New & Emerging Media

Open Rank Tenure Track Position in
NEW AND EMERGING MEDIA

GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY

To facilitate scholarship aimed to address mass media transformations, the Department of Communication at Georgia State University invites applications for an open-rank, tenure-track or tenured position connected to advanced scholarship of NEW AND EMERGING MEDIA, to start August 2011 pending budgetary approval. We seek candidates able to articulate a compelling vision for how the academy can advance understanding of new and social media (including their connections to the production of visual and motion media experiences), promote critical research through projects based in a creative context, and serve as a catalyst for connecting scholarship to entertainment and information industries. The ideal candidate does intellectually distinctive work as a new media scholar or practitioner and will evidence interest in working with other faculty to develop interdisciplinary activity in new media, potentially including work on one or more of these questions:
(a) What do new and emerging media systems portend for creative work, content generation, and/or civic engagement? (b) How are media literacy and learning being transformed by new and emerging media? © How are new and emerging media technologies changing patterns and consequences of relational communication, social networking, and/or community building? (d) How are new media uses altering social disparities and ethnic/racial inequality? (e) How can new media architectures enable economically sustainable forms of mass communication (such as journalism and/or documentary investigation) while preserving the possibilities for democratic access?

This senior appointee will anchor a university-wide initiative in the area of new and emerging media, one of eight areas of interdisciplinary inquiry funded by a university presidential Second Century Initiative (2CI). The appointment will reside (for tenure, promotion, and review purposes) in the Department of Communication, a unit of the College of Arts and Sciences. 2CI, timed to coincide with Georgia State University's 2013 centenary, is targeted at hiring 100 additional faculty over the next five years, and the first twenty hires have been authorized for the 2010-2011 cycle. The primary aim of the initiative is to build internationally recognized scholarly strength and critical intellectual momentum around common research themes of international significance in order to enhance GSU's overall quality, interdisciplinary richness, and competitiveness.

The new media sector is fast growing in Georgia, thanks to generous state tax subsidies and the city's prominence as a national arts and entertainment hub. Atlanta is the country's third largest media market, an international music production center, and home to a vibrant arts community annually generated $387 million in economic activity. Georgia State University houses the region's premier university new media content origination facilities, as well as highly accomplished faculty in Communication, Music, Art & Design, and English who have received Sundance (2008), Grammy (2010), and recent Emmy awards. Building on this foundation, we seek new colleagues able to significantly strengthen new media content creation, train media producers for the new economy, secure external research support for leveraging digital convergence trends, and better construct the university with the national arts and entertainment sectors. Senior faculty are simultaneously being recruited in sound design (School of Music), digital photography and lens-based media (Welch School of Art & Design), and new media literacy (Department of English).

The application should include a letter of interest, a curriculum vitae that documents a track record of nationally visible research and/or creative accomplishment, samples of published written or creative work, evidence of teaching effectiveness, and three letters of recommendation. GSU is a unit of the University System of Georgia, and an AA/EO employer. An offer of employment will be contingent on background verification. Ph.D., M.F.A., or equivalent terminal degree in communication or a closely allied discipline required. Send applications to: Dr. Kay Beck, New Media Search Committee, Suite 662, One Park Place, Department of Communication, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, 30303.

First review of files will begin November 15, 2010.

For more information contact:
David Cheshier
Chair, Department of Communication
[email protected]

Kay Beck
Director, Digital Arts & Entertainment Laboratory
Search Committee Chair
[email protected]