Assistant Professor - Empire and Environment in Latin America

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Job Title

Assistant Professor - Empire and Environment in Latin America

Department

Arts and Sciences | Spanish and Portuguese

Transnational World Language Studies

Empire and Environment in the Spanish and Portuguese-Speaking Worlds

Rank: Tenure-Track Assistant Professor

Department of Spanish and Portuguese

College of Arts and Sciences

Position Overview

The Department of Spanish and Portuguese (SPPO) at The Ohio State University invites applications for a Tenure-Track Assistant Professor position in Transnational World Language Studies in the area of Empire and Environment in the Spanish and/or Portuguese-Speaking areas of Latin America and the Caribbean beginning August 15, 2027. We aim to hire a dynamic scholar who will contribute to the vibrant and collegial intellectual communities of our department by engaging with interdisciplinary research, innovative teaching, program development, community engagement, and service.

This is one of three tenure-track hires in Transnational World Language Studies, the other two being in the departments of East Asian Languages and Literatures and Slavic and East Europeans Languages and Cultures. We are also conducting searches for three Postdoctoral Scholar to Tenure-Track Assistant Professor positions in Humanities-based Interdisciplinary World Languages and Cultures in the departments of French and Italian, Germanic Languages and Literatures, and Near Eastern and South Asian Languages and Cultures .

In keeping with the department’s commitment to interdisciplinarity, we are especially interested in scholars who demonstrate an interdisciplinary research profile that examines the historical and contemporary relationships among empire, environment, extraction, race, indigeneity, migration, and ecological justice across the Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking world. We seek scholars whose research approaches environmental questions through the lenses of, for example, cultural studies, literary studies, Indigenous studies, Latinx studies, decolonial studies, critical geography, environmental humanities, media studies, visual culture, or public humanities. Areas of specialization may include colonial ecologies; extractivism and resource frontiers; environmental injustices; Indigenous and Black Atlantic environmental knowledge; climate migration; food systems; water politics; energy humanities; environmental media; or the historic and cultural dimensions of planetary crisis.

The successful candidate will build on SPPO's existing strengths in Latin American, Latinx, Brazilian, Andean, Iberian, and community-engaged scholarship and will contribute to strengthening connections across world languages while helping to cultivate a more unified intellectual identity around themes of global relevance.

Partial startup for the Transnational World Language Studies tenure-track positions is funded by the Mellon Foundation grant “Global Fluency, Career Agility: Transforming World Languages at Ohio State.” The new hires will participate in the activities within the Department, create new courses, and have designated faculty mentors who are engaged in research on topics relating to transnational world language education, global fluency and intercultural competence, and their area of specialization.

Performance Objectives

• Develop and maintain an active, nationally and internationally recognized research agenda on empire, environment, and transnational cultural dynamics in the Spanish- and/or Portuguese-speaking world.
• Teach and mentor undergraduate and graduate students in Spanish and/or Portuguese while contributing to curriculum development in areas such as environmental humanities, climate justice, coloniality, ecology, and transnational cultural studies.
• Advance the Mellon-funded Transforming World Languages at OSU initiative by collaborating with faculty and staff across disciplines, contributing to innovative programming, and creating new courses that strengthen students’ global fluency and intercultural competence.
• Foster connections across languages, disciplines, and communities through collaborative research, public-facing scholarship, and/or community-engaged activities.
• Participate in departmental service.

Education and Experience Qualifications

Required

• PhD in Spanish, Portuguese, Latin American Cultural Studies, or related field required at time of appointment which is August 15, 2027. ABDs welcome to apply.
• Native or near-native fluency in Spanish and/or Portuguese
• Candidates must demonstrate achievement or strong promise of scholarly success.
• Research agenda that connects multiple methods and/or theoretical approaches to the study of empire and environment in the Americas.

Desired

• Experience and/or commitment to public-facing or community engaged scholarship, teaching and/or service.
• Demonstrated ability to contribute to and strengthen transdisciplinary and translingual collaborations in environmental humanities scholarship.
• Knowledge of French, Haitian Kreyòl/Creole, and/or Francophone Caribbean contexts, particularly in dialogue with Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking worlds .

Ohio State provides access to a depth and breadth of opportunities and resources. Starting your first day, Ohio State offers you a comprehensive benefits package .

How to Apply

To be considered, please submit your application via Workday. https://osu.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/OSUCareers/job/Columbus-Campus/Assistant-Professor---Empire-and-Environment-in-Latin-America_R160266

Application period closes November 9, 2026. Inquiries may be directed to Laura Podalsky, podalsky.1@osu.edu.

You will be presented with the opportunity to attach up to FIVE documents in the Application Documents section. Please include the following:

• Attachment 1: Cover Letter : 1-2 page letter, which should include a brief summary of your academic background and why you are interested in this opportunity.
• Attachment 2: CV (Curriculum Vitae) : Detailed overview of your scholarly experience, including your research experience, teaching and mentoring experience, service, engagement, and publications.
• Attachment 3: Research Statement: Summary of your past research accomplishments, current work/research, and proposal for your future research plan as a faculty member.