Civic, Liberal, and Global Education

The Stanford Introductory Studies Fellowship to Diversify Teaching and Learning

Fellowship applications are currently closed. In early to mid-December 2023, we will open applications for the next cycle (with a hiring date of August 1, 2024). If you would like to be notified when we open applications, please sign up on the fellowship interest list.

The Office of the Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education (VPUE) at Stanford University is now accepting applications for teaching fellowship positions in the first-year requirement. Multiple positions with potential terms between three and four years are available. We seek candidates from all fields in the Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences, and STEM, and especially value interdisciplinary scholarship and teaching. We encourage applications from candidates whose backgrounds and life experiences bring additional perspectives and dimensions to the University’s teaching mission. We have a strong preference for candidates who will have a PhD by June 2023, or earned the PhD no earlier than 2017.

Positions are available in two of the programs that satisfy the first-year requirement: COLLEGE (Civic, Liberal, and Global Education) and SLE (Structured Liberal Education). External candidates may choose to be reviewed for one or both types of positions. All positions, whether the working title is COLLEGE Teaching Fellow or SLE Lecturer, are full-time academic staff in Stanford Introductory Studies and receive standard Stanford employee benefits including health insurance. The annual salary will be at least $80,194 (paid over 12 months). Academic staff in SIS have access to at least $2,000 each year to support research expenses.

Open Positions

The COLLEGE Program

COLLEGE (Civic, Liberal, and Global Education) courses support first-year students in achieving a successful transition to college-level learning, while inviting students to examine the purpose of college and their own role in society and the world. For more about COLLEGE courses and teaching expectations, please visit: https://college.stanford.edu/fellows/fellowship-search/fellowship-search-courses.

All disciplines are welcomed, and interdisciplinary training is especially valued. COLLEGE Fellows teach 2 sections per quarter of 16 students each. COLLEGE Fellows receive an initial two-year contract and a final one-year contract for a total of three years. COLLEGE expects to hire 2-3 external COLLEGE Fellows with a starting date of August 1, 2023. Questions may be directed to collegefellowship@stanford.edu.

The SLE Program

SLE (Structured Liberal Education) is a residence-based humanities program that encourages students to live a life of ideas in an atmosphere that emphasizes critical thinking and interpretation. Focusing on great works of philosophy, religion, literature, painting, and film drawn largely, but not exclusively, from the Western tradition, the SLE curriculum places particular emphasis on artists and intellectuals who brought new ways of thinking and new ways of creating into the world, often overthrowing prior traditions in the process. For more about SLE courses and teaching expectations, please visit the SLE website at https://sis.stanford.edu/sle-lecturer-search.

Candidates in the arts, humanities, and qualitative social sciences are welcomed, and interdisciplinary training is especially valued. SLE lecturers attend the SLE lectures, teach a single section of 15 students per quarter, conduct intensive writing instruction, and engage with aspects of residential life in the SLE dormitory environment. SLE Lecturers receive an initial two-year contract that may be renewed once for a total of four years. SLE expects to hire 3-4 positions with a starting date of September 1, 2023. Questions may be directed to Jeremy Sabol, Associate Director of SLE, at jsabol@stanford.edu.

How to Apply

Applications will close February 1, 2023. Offers of employment are made contingent upon the successful completion of a background check and ability to demonstrate eligibility to work in the United States.

All applications must be submitted through Interfolio at https://apply.interfolio.com/118738.  The required materials include:

  1. Cover letter that addresses all aspects of your qualifications including:
    1. Demonstrated excellence in teaching, especially as it may apply to teaching first-year students in discussion-based seminars
    2. Relevant research and teaching related to courses in the COLLEGE and/or SLE curriculum
    3. Intellectual flexibility to teach material outside of your specialization and discipline
    4. Experience with team-teaching
    5. If you wish to be considered for COLLEGE: Please be sure to include a discussion of how you might teach a topic or text from at least two courses in our curriculum: address at least one spring course, AND either Why College? or Citizenship in the 21st Century. For COLLEGE courses, please see https://college.stanford.edu/fellows/fellowship-search/fellowship-search-courses
    6. If you wish to be considered for SLE: Please be sure to include a discussion of your experience or preparation for a) teaching in a residential humanities program b) writing instruction c) helping diverse undergraduates draw connections between pre-modern texts and contemporary concerns.  
  2. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion statement: Applicants should provide evidence of experience with and a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, especially through teaching and mentoring students.
  3. Current curriculum vitae.
  4. Teaching Evaluation: Submit the aggregated university evaluation report for one recent course; if possible, use a course in which you were teaching first-years, or non-majors. (Do not submit individual student forms or letters from individual students.)
  5. Two letters of recommendation. At least one letter should speak to your teaching. If you have not yet earned the PhD, at least one letter should describe the progress of your dissertation.

In Interfolio, you will also fill out several questions, including:

  1. Program you wish to be considered for: COLLEGE, SLE, or both.
  2. Demographic Profile: including degree granting institution and date of Ph.D. which should have been earned no earlier than 2017. Please select ABD as the highest degree if you expect to earn your PhD in June 2023.
  3. COLLEGE only: Spring Course Choices: rank the 2 spring courses that you would consider yourself best fitted to teach.

Final deadline for submitting your completed application is February 1, 2023, 8:59 pm PST (note: Interfolio closes the system just before midnight on Eastern Time). We expect to be inviting first-round interviews anytime from early March through late April. We are searching for multiple positions and our specific needs often evolve during the process of the search, so we may be operating on multiple timelines simultaneously.

Please note: Stanford will close for winter break after Tuesday, December 20, re-opening on Wednesday, Jan 4, so we will not be available to answer any questions during this time. Please visit us online at http://college.stanford.edu or http://sle.stanford.edu for more information about the programs.

Stanford University has returned to fully in-person teaching. As an organization that receives federal funding, Stanford University has a COVID-19 vaccination requirement that will apply to all university employees, including those working remotely in the United States and applicable subcontractors. To learn more about COVID policies and guidelines for Stanford University Staff, please visit https://cardinalatwork.stanford.edu/working-stanford/covid-19/interim-policies/covid-19-surveillance-testing-policy

Stanford University is an equal employment opportunity and affirmative action employer and is committed to recruiting and hiring qualified women, minorities, protected veterans and individuals with disabilities.