ASSISTANT, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, COMPUTATIONAL APPROACHES TO LANGUAGE

Website University of Wisconsin-Madison

JOB NO:100343-FA
WORK TYPE:FACULTY-FULL TIME
DEPARTMENT:L&S/LANGUAGE SCIENCES PROGRAM
LOCATION:MADISON
CATEGORIES:INSTRUCTIONAL, RESEARCH, SCIENTIFIC

POSITION SUMMARY: This position is a full-time, tenure-track faculty position at the Assistant Professor level, to start August 2020. Applications at the associate professor level may be considered in exceptional cases. The search is for a job candidate whose expertise bridges research on language learning, development, evolution and/or instruction, with proficiency in computational methods related to learning analytics, natural language processing, connectionist approaches, Bayesian models, topics models, semantic analysis, high dimensional data analysis, and/or data mining. Candidates that use big data approaches are particularly encouraged to apply.

The main tenure home for this position is likely to be Educational Psychology, Language Sciences, or Psychology, with potential joint appointments in other departments as indicated by the candidates’ background and interests. The position will involve a teaching load consistent with the tenure home, which will involve both undergraduate and graduate instruction.  Tenure home will be determined at time of hire.

This position is part of the Opening Doors Through Language: Access and Equity faculty hiring cluster. The goal of the cluster is to build on existing strengths in language research on campus.by recruiting three new assistant professors whose research programs and teaching expertise addresses language-related issues that influence societal access, disparities, and/or equity. Candidates should have an interest in collaborating with the cluster faculty and with colleagues in schools, centers, and training programs across campus. Tenure homes for the three positions will likely be in Communication Sciences & Disorders, Educational Psychology, English, Language Sciences, and/or Psychology.

Overall, three candidates will be recruited in this Cluster: (1) Assistant Professor, minority languages and/or dialects [PVL TBD]; (2) Assistant Professor, sign language research [PVL TBD]; (3) Assistant Professor, computational approaches to language [this position; PVL: 100343]. These positions are part of UW-Madison’s Cluster Hiring Initiative (https://facstaff.provost.wisc.edu/cluster-hiring-initiative/), designed to foster innovative, outstanding research programs that will stimulate productive interactions among faculty and students interested in research across the campus and to expand interdisciplinary research.

PRINCIPAL DUTIES: The successful candidate will be expected to develop a state-of-the-art research program; advise undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate research; develop and maintain extramural funding for their research program; teach undergraduate and graduate courses in language, computational methods, and/or another topic related to the candidate’s research expertise.

Faculty hired under this initiative will have a primary faculty appointment in a tenure home (likely Educational Psychology, Language Sciences, or Psychology).

Instruction, research leadership, and participation in faculty governance at the department level are expected.

University, professional, and community service will also be expected as appropriate.
Specific expectations for teaching, research, and service will be aligned with expectations of the tenure home.

Candidates are expected to collaborate with others recruited as a part of the cluster and with colleagues in related centers and training programs across campus.

Successful candidates will proactively support the expansion of diversity among all components of the university, and ensure an inclusive, fair, and equitable environment that fosters engagement.

INSTITUTIONAL STATEMENT ON DIVERSITY: Diversity is a source of strength, creativity, and innovation for UW-Madison. We value the contributions of each person and respect the profound ways their identity, culture, background, experience, status, abilities, and opinion enrich the university community. We commit ourselves to the pursuit of excellence in teaching, research, outreach, and diversity as inextricably linked goals.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison fulfills its public mission by creating a welcoming and inclusive community for people from every background – people who as students, faculty, and staff serve Wisconsin and the world.

For more information on diversity and inclusion on campus, please visit: Diversity and Inclusion

DEGREE AND AREA OF SPECIALIZATION: Ph.D. in psychology, educational psychology, education, language sciences, linguistics, computer science, or related fields.
MINIMUM YEARS AND TYPE OF RELEVANT WORK EXPERIENCE: Candidates should demonstrate training in language research and computational methods; evidence of high quality scholarly research; potential for securing external funding; experience in teaching/mentorship at the undergraduate and graduate level; interest in collaborating with other language researchers across departments at UW-Madison.

Appointment at the tenured level requires evidence of excellence in scholarly research, teaching and service and requires review by the Tenure Committee at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: UW-Madison is seeking a diverse set of faculty candidates who will deepen our campus’ interdisciplinary research strength in key areas of current and future research promise, as well as faculty candidates who will approach their work in a manner that advances our commitment to research excellence.

The successful applicant will be responsible for ensuring eligibility for employment in the United States on or before the effective date of the appointment.

Note that the other two positions associated with this Cluster (Minority Languages and/or Dialects and Sign Language Research) will be released later this Fall.

DEPARTMENT(S): A485200-COL OF LETTERS & SCIENCE/LANGUAGE SCIENCES PROGRAM
WORK TYPE: Full Time: 100%
APPOINTMENT TYPE, DURATION: Ongoing/Renewable
ANTICIPATED BEGIN DATE: AUGUST 17, 2020
SALARY: Negotiable
ACADEMIC (9 months)
INSTRUCTIONS TO APPLICANTS: To apply for this job, please visit http://jobs.wisc.edu/. The position number is 100343. Please submit: (1) a brief cover letter; (2) a current curriculum vitae; (3) a statement describing the candidate’s research program and a statement summarizing the candidate’s teaching experience and philosophy (please include both statements in the same document); (4) three reprints/preprints of scholarly work (please include all three in the same document).
In addition, you will be asked to submit the names and contact information for three references. These references will submit confidential letters of recommendation on your behalf through the application portal.The deadline for assured consideration is November 1, 2019: however, the position will remain open and applications may be considered until it is filled.

For additional questions, please do not hesitate to contact the search committee chair:

Haley Vlach
Department of Educational Psychology
University of Wisconsin-Madison
1025 W. Johnson Street
Madison, WI 53706 -1796
Phone: 608-262-6105
Email: hvlach@wisc.edu

CONTACT: Haley Vlach
hvlach@wisc.edu
608-262-6105
Relay Access (WTRS): 7-1-1 (out-of-state: TTY: 800.947.3529, STS: 800.833.7637) and above Phone number (See RELAY_SERVICE for further information. )

To apply for this job please visit jobs.hr.wisc.edu.