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Director of African Studies Center Position Announcement

Michigan State University (MSU), the nation's premier land-grant university, invites applications for the position of Director of the African Studies Center (ASC).

Responsibilities

The Director of the ASC is responsible for providing intellectual and programmatic leadership to advance and promote excellence in MSU's diverse research, teaching, and outreach activities relating to Africa. The position requires policy development and implementation capabilities, with the ability to work collaboratively with faculty, administrators of academic units, and other area studies, and international thematic centers in promoting international research, education, outreach, and service programs.

The duties of the Director of the ASC include supervising the Center's programs and staff; representing the Center at MSU, across the nation, and internationally. The director also supervises the Center's African Language Program. As a Title VI National Resource Center, the ASC develops and sustains strategic partnerships with higher education and other institutions in Africa to advance collaborative research, teaching, and engagement activities that positively impact critical local, national, and global issues. These partnerships facilitate and catalyze collaborative, multi-disciplinary, and cross-college faculty research and proposals for external funding of research, grant proposals, and Title VI funding. Securing Title VI and other external funds enable the Center to offer undergraduate and graduate specializations and majors and to facilitate graduate student proposals for external research funding. The director will work to build and strengthen relationships with diverse constituent and stakeholder groups such as faculty, administrators, students, academic programs, K-12 institutions, local communities of African descent, and others elsewhere in the United States and Africa.

The director's appointment will be at least 50%, and no more than 75%, in the Center, with the exact percentages there and in an academic department, the tenure home, to be mutually agreed between the successful candidate, the Dean of ISP, and the host academic department. The appointment is on an annual (12-month) basis for a five-year period with renewal possible.

The African Studies Center

Founded in 1960, the ASC has a proud history of engagement with Africa. ASC is one of nine comprehensive Title VI National Resource Centers on Africa designated by the U.S. Department of Education. It seeks to develop research, studies, and programming regarding all of Africa. MSU can offer instruction in 32 African languages, teaching up to 12 each year. Two Ph.D. African studies librarians staff one of the largest Africana libraries in the nation. African Studies at MSU has been distinguished by its focus on Africa's human needs: education for development, environment and development, ethics of development, food security and agriculture, gender equity, poverty alleviation, tropical disease, as well as the social sciences and humanities. The Center's specific programs include support for an undergraduate major in Global and Area Studies with an African Studies concentration and certificates in African Studies for graduate and undergraduate degree students. The ASC also conducts extensive outreach programs for educators, non-governmental organizations, governments, the media, and business communities.

The Center frequently pursues strategic partnerships with African universities and institutes with the aim of developing cooperative and intensive research and curricular projects. The Center's affiliated faculty members are well-known for the ethical standards that inform their partnerships, research, and development work in Africa.

ASC is a unit of the Office of International Studies and Programs (ISP) at MSU which is headed by its own Dean, to which the Director reports. ISP incorporates MSU's extensive study abroad programs and international student and scholar services. The ASC actively partners with other Title VI centers including the Asian Studies Center, Center for the Advanced Study of International Development, Center for International Business Education and Research, Center for Language Education and Research, and the Women and International Development Program. Other partners on-campus include the Department of Linguistics and Germanic, Slavic, Asian and African Languages; Canadian Studies Center; Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies; Center for European and Russian Studies; the Muslim Studies Initiative; Institutes of International Agriculture, International Health, and International Studies in Education; and the African and African American Studies Program. ASC has 170 affiliated faculty members in the humanities, social sciences, physical and biological sciences, agriculture, business, law, and other professional programs. In addition to student employees, the Center staff consists of five full-time positions: an Assistant Director, Outreach Coordinator, Office Administrator, Senior Secretary, and Publications Assistant. See more detail about the Center at www.africa.msu.edu.

Qualifications

Candidates are expected to have an outstanding record of research and scholarship with experience working in and teaching about Africa. Candidates must have an earned Ph.D. or its equivalent and meet the standards for appointment to the rank of associate or full professor (with tenure) in an academic department or school in one of MSU's academic colleges. Candidates are expected to have demonstrated administrative skills and ability to secure external funding from diverse sources; establish and sustain strategic partnerships with universities and other institutions in Africa; and facilitate and catalyze programs of collaborative, multi-disciplinary research. In addition to the above qualifications, the ideal candidate should possess proficiency in an African language and/or French, Portuguese, or Spanish.

An understanding of, and a commitment to the mission of a premier land-grant/AAU university is essential. MSU is strongly committed to achieving excellence through cultural diversity. The university actively encourages applications of women, persons of color, veterans and persons with disabilities. MSU is an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer. See more detail about the position at: www.isp.msu.edu/ASCDirector.

Applications

Please send an application letter addressing your qualifications relevant to the items identified above, a recent vita, and a list of three referees with addresses to: ASC Director Search, c/o Michael Stokes, International Studies and Programs, Michigan State University, 209 International Center, East Lansing, MI 48824 or stokesm@msu.edu. We will begin reviewing applications on a date to be determined. We will receive applications until the position is filled.

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