Mellon Bridge Assistant Professorship, Greco-Roman and Islamic Traditions

The School of Arts and Sciences at Tufts University seeks a scholar who studies the contact between the Greco-Roman and Islamic traditions during any period through the Renaissance for a tenure-track Mellon Bridge Assistant Professorship, to begin September 2015. This newly-created position is being supported by a grant from the Mellon Foundation to promote scholarship and teaching that bridges different departments and programs in the humanities. Mellon Bridge professors will be grounded in one department but will also teach in other academic departments or programs, according to their areas of expertise.

This position will have a primary appointment in the Department of Classics, and a secondary appointment in one or more of the following programs and departments: Arabic; Archaeology; Art History; History; International Relations; Middle Eastern Studies; Philosophy; Religion; Romance Languages; and a potentially new interdisciplinary master’s program, Digital Technologies for Pre-Modern Studies, which is currently in the planning stage. The School will extend secondary appointments and cross-list courses in other departments and programs as appropriate. The successful candidate will receive an appointment as a fellow at the Center for the Humanities at Tufts (CHAT) for the duration of the pre-tenure probationary period.

The intellectual emphasis of the Department of Classics is the transmission of knowledge across cultures and time. The Department currently teaches courses in Greek, Latin, Medieval Latin, and Sanskrit and in the archaeology and history of Egypt, the Greco-Roman world, Ancient Northern Europe, and the Mediterranean, as well as in the comparison of Greek, Roman, and Chinese history. In addition, department members and affiliated faculty maintain teaching and research interests in the medieval and early modern world. The Department of Classics also houses the Perseus Digital Library, one of the largest and most actively used open-access humanities databases in the world—currently containing approximately 165 million searchable words in Greek, Latin, Arabic, French, German, Italian, and English, and receiving more than eight million visits last year alone, with a returning-visitor rate of 66%. Perseus’s collections range from Homer through the Renaissance to nineteenth-century American literature and contemporary scholarship, and also include photographs and descriptions of art objects, buildings, and archaeological sites. The Perseus Perseids Platform, supported by a generous grant from the Mellon Foundation, is currently expanding Tufts’ digital infrastructure by facilitating the publication, revision, and conservation of previously unavailable texts, other media, and original research by faculty and students.

Applicants should demonstrate knowledge of Arabic as well as either Greek or Latin. Evidence of a strong record of scholarship is required. Doctorate and minimum of two years’ full- or part-time teaching experience is required. We especially welcome candidates who can support student research at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. Candidates who are interested in augmenting the strengths of Tufts’ Perseus Digital Library and its Perseids Platform in Greek, Latin, Classical Arabic, or other languages are especially encouraged to apply. The successful candidate will be expected to teach undergraduate courses related to his or her specific research area using works in translation, as well as to have the capacity to teach undergraduate and graduate courses on works in the original Latin and/or Greek.

Applicants should submit a letter of application, curriculum vitae, writing sample (less than 20 pages), research and teaching statements (each no longer than a single-spaced page), and should arrange to have three confidential reference letters submitted directly by the authors, to: https://apply.interfolio.com/27062. Questions about the position may be directed to Search Committee Chair, Vickie Sullivan, at vickie.sullivan@tufts.edu. Review of applications will begin November 21, 2014, and will continue until the position is filled.

Tufts University is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity employer. We are committed to increasing the diversity of our faculty. Members of underrepresented groups are strongly encouraged to apply.