Description
POSITION: Assistant Professor of Communication and Media Studies
Stetson University seeks an Assistant Professor of Communication and Media Studies. Candidates with specialization in the relationship between human communication and technology approached from interpretive or critical/cultural traditions will be given preference. This tenure-track, full-time, nine-month appointment begins in August 2026. We are a department focused on qualitative, rhetorical, and mediated traditions of inquiry within the communication discipline, and we look forward to welcoming a colleague who is a dynamic teacher and active scholar with enthusiasm for teaching a variety of undergraduate classes that explore the role of media and technology within everyday life and public culture.
Requirements
QUALIFICATIONS:
A Ph.D. from a Communication, Media Studies, or a related field is preferred, but applicants who are ABD with expected degree conferral in August 2026 will be considered. The successful candidate will have an active scholarly agenda and demonstrated excellence in teaching undergraduates with a variety of effective teaching strategies. We are particularly interested in candidates whose teaching and research focus on global, transnational, non-Western, and BIPOC media and technology cultures. Applicants are invited to address in their cover letter how they approach critical theories and practices of communication, media, and technology within their teaching and research. Specializations could include but are not limited to: digital media and identity, sociocultural aspects of technological change, human-AI interaction, computer-mediated and virtual community communication, and technology ethics and policy. We welcome applications from teacher-scholars who are enthusiastic about working with students from a diverse range of backgrounds and eager to work across disciplines to contribute to a liberal arts-based program and a broader community of undergraduates.
RESPONSIBILITIES:
The teacher-scholar model at Stetson includes a tenure-track faculty annual teaching load of five courses and one student-centered immersive experience (equivalent to one course) as part of the University’s experiential, contemporary, and integrative learning initiative—Hatter Ready. Courses will include communication and technology, media theory and analysis, and other courses based on program needs as well as our new colleague’s expertise. In addition to supporting our majors and minors, teaching assignments may include courses for the University’s General Education Curriculum, including First-Year Seminars, Junior Seminars, and Writing Enhanced courses. Other responsibilities include participation in Senior Research Projects (required of all majors) and student advising. Candidates should demonstrate a passion for teaching combined with the ability to produce peer-reviewed academic scholarship. Service to the Department, the College of Arts and Sciences, the University, and the profession is also required.
For more information on our expectations in teaching and scholarship, our tenure policies, and our support for faculty development, please see the Academic Affairs website at http://www.stetson.edu/administration/provost/prospective-faculty/index.php.
THE DEPARTMENT:
The Department of Communication and Media Studies (https://www.stetson.edu/artsci/communication-and-media-studies/) takes an interdisciplinary approach to undergraduate liberal arts education and communication research. We are a thriving department within the Humanities Division of the College of Arts and Sciences with approximately 90 majors and minors. Our students take courses in three disciplinary traditions and methodological approaches: qualitative communication theory and research, rhetorical theory and criticism, and media theory and analysis. Across all three program perspectives, our department’s mission centers on challenging students to better understand culture, meaning, and symbolic activity—especially as they relate to democracy, citizenship, and equality within our global and digital age. Through the study of communication and media, we seek to prepare graduates who are adept at interpreting the world and ready to offer energetic and innovative leadership as citizens and in their professions. We offer a major and minor in Communication and Media Studies as well as an interdisciplinary minor in Journalism. Our focus is exclusively on undergraduate students who desire rigorous training in becoming creators and critics of communication in mediated, public, and relational contexts within the framework of a liberal arts education. Our students learn through dynamic, discussion-rich classes as well as through internships, field experiences, and a year-long Senior Project sequence.
COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES:
Stetson’s College of Arts and Sciences (https://www.stetson.edu/artsci) is the largest and most diverse of the University’s colleges and schools; it includes the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, education, and creative arts. With nineteen academic departments and nine interdisciplinary programs, the College is the liberal arts core of the University. A great strength of the College is its faculty of approximately 140 full-time teacher-scholars. The College offers 31 undergraduate majors and 34 undergraduate minors; seven graduate degrees are offered in Education, Counselor Education, and Creative Writing. Every undergraduate major requires a senior research project, allowing students the opportunity to design and carry out independent research under faculty mentorship. Our academic programs are shaped by the values of social justice and civic responsibility. All of our courses and programs of study promote engaged learning, whereby students create connections between the classroom or lab and the local, regional, and global community. The academic programs of the College of Arts and Sciences prepare students to live significant lives, to interact with and positively affect the world around them.
THE UNIVERSITY:
Founded in 1883, Stetson University (http://www.stetson.edu) is a private, selective university comprised of a rich array of liberal arts and professional academic programs. Collectively, Stetson’s faculty works with approximately 3,800 students in undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs. The University’s historic main campus, located in DeLand, enrolls approximately 2,400 students in undergraduate programs in the College of Arts and Sciences, the School of Business Administration, and the School of Music. Stetson University College of Law, Florida’s first law school, moved from the main campus to Gulfport in 1945, and, with the addition of the Tampa Law Center, serves approximately 1,000 students working full-time or part-time toward J.D. or LL.M. degrees. Graduate programs based at the main campus in DeLand include Business, Accounting, Education, Counseling, and Creative Writing, with Educational Leadership cohorts also offered at the Gulfport campus. Florida’s oldest private institution of higher learning, Stetson has regularly been ranked among the best regional universities in the Southeast and was the first private college in Florida to be granted a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa.
Stetson University provides an inspiring education that engages students with rigorous academic and creative study grounded in liberal learning and promotes civic values of personal and social responsibility. Working closely with faculty and with one another, students cultivate abilities to explore issues deeply, think critically, reason empirically, speak persuasively, and connect ideas creatively. Firmly committed to inclusive excellence, our vibrant community of teacher-scholars nurtures the potential of individual students to lead lives of significance and prepares each to meet the challenges of shaping the future—locally, nationally, and globally.
THE COMMUNITY:
DeLand is a picturesque residential community of 38,000 located 20 miles west of Daytona Beach and 35 miles northeast of Orlando. The area offers extensive cultural as well as recreational activities.
SALARY: Salary is competitive.
STARTING DATE: August 10, 2026
APPLICATION:
Applicants should supply: 1) cover letter; 2) curriculum vitae; 3) transcripts (copies acceptable for screening); 4) teaching evaluations and other evidence of teaching effectiveness (e.g., peer observation letters); and 5) confidential letters of recommendation from three professional references (at least two of which should address teaching ability). In the cover letter, candidates are encouraged to highlight skills and experiences that demonstrate a commitment to promoting inclusive academic environments and engaging across differences.
All information may be submitted electronically to Dr. Erik Johnson, Search Committee Chair, at communicationstudies@stetson.edu.
Review of applications will begin immediately and will continue until the position is filled. For full consideration, applications should be submitted by December 1, 2025.
Stetson University is an Equal Opportunity Employer that affirms inclusive environments and engaging across differences as a core value of academic excellence at Stetson University. We are committed to achieving equal access in education, employment, and participation through the recruitment and retention of outstanding faculty, staff, and students from a tapestry of diverse backgrounds, and to meaningful academic and intellectual transformation in curriculum, research and service. We are dedicated to actions and policies that foster a community in which individuals with various identities, cultures, backgrounds, and viewpoints work together to create opportunities for engagement through rewarding and fulfilling careers and personal experiences in an increasingly diverse society and a globalized world. We encourage qualified candidates across all backgrounds and identities to apply for employment, including members of historically underrepresented groups. Stetson University is an EEO, ADA, ADEA, and GINA employer.
