Assistant Professor of Ancient Studies, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

The Ancient Studies Department at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County invites applications for the position of Assistant Professor (tenure track) to begin in August 2024. A Ph.D. in a discipline related to the ancient world is required by the time of appointment. Scholars conducting research on the language, archaeology, history, and culture of civilizations on the continent of Asia in the context of the ancient Mediterranean are encouraged to apply. Possible areas of specialization include, but are not limited to, Anatolian and Near Eastern cultures and empires (Hittites, Assyrians, Persians from the Achaemenids to the Sassanids); the Byzantine empire in relation to Persia, the Near East, central Asia, and the rise of Islam; the origins and development of the Silk Road; India (to the Muslim conquests) or China (through the Tang Dynasty) in comparative perspective.

The department seeks to hire a scholar-teacher capable of enhancing the diversity of its faculty, curriculum, and approaches to knowledge of the ancient world. The Ancient Studies Department believes strongly that that public universities are obligated to help end inequity and to promote social justice and strives to realize UMBC’s vision “to redefine excellence in higher education through an inclusive culture that connects innovative teaching and learning, research across disciplines, and civic engagement.” University-wide resources on faculty diversity can be found at https://facultydiversity.umbc.edu. Commitment to fostering inclusive excellence and the ability to respond in pedagogically productive ways to the learning needs of students from diverse backgrounds are essential qualifications for this job.

This position is one of four positions in a cluster hire in Asian Studies. UMBC is searching in 2023-2024 for Asian Studies specialists in Ancient Studies, History, Philosophy, and Political Science. Faculty hired as part of this cluster will have opportunities to collaborate across disciplines and to develop alongside a cohort of new faculty members with an interest in Asian Studies. Though the new faculty members will be housed in their respective academic departments, they will also be affiliate faculty in and contribute to the success of the interdisciplinary Asian Studies Program at UMBC through their course offerings, participation in research seminars, and engagement with Asia-related programming on campus. For more information about the cluster hire in the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, see https://cahss.umbc.edu/cluster-hire/.

For information about the Ancient Studies Department at UMBC, visit https://ancientstudies.umbc.edu. Please direct inquiries concerning this position to Prof. David Rosenbloom, Chair of the Ancient Studies Department (dsrose@umbc.edu).

UMBC is a dynamic and growing Carnegie Foundation R1 (highest research activity) public university located in the Baltimore-Washington Corridor, an area rich in scholarly resources and opportunities. We have 14,000 undergraduate and graduate students. U.S. News and World Report regularly ranks UMBC in the top 10 of most innovative universities, and the Chronicle of Higher Education recognizes the university as one its “Great Colleges to Work For” in areas such as cooperative governance, compensation, teaching environment, and work-life balance. We are especially proud of the diversity of our student body (https://umbc.edu/about/), and we hope to attract an equally diverse applicant pool for this position. Our campus community has a strong commitment to equity and social justice.