The Department of Religion and Culture at Virginia Tech invites applications for a three-year postdoctoral associate position that will begin Fall 2023. The successful applicant will benefit from professional mentoring and the opportunity to gain experience teaching as well as planning and participating in scholarly public engagement activities.  Members of groups historically underrepresented in the professoriate are especially encouraged to apply. Successful applicants will be distinguished by their scholarly excellence and commitment to social justice research and work.

The successful candidate will teach three undergraduate Appalachian Studies courses per year. The Department of Religion and Culture’s Appalachian Studies program supports the Pathways minor in Appalachian Cultures and Environments in addition to Appalachia-focused students in our two majors, Religion and Culture along with Humanities for Public Service. The postdoc will be part of a vibrant departmental community and may engage in departmental activities and service.

We seek candidates who demonstrate a commitment to a program of research and/or engagement in Appalachian Studies and a record of successful teaching. We invite applications that attest to the candidate’s ability to teach “Introduction to Appalachian Studies” (40 students per class) as an interdisciplinary humanities course to students from across all colleges of Virginia Tech. The successful candidate may be invited to teach one Appalachian Studies course per year in the instructor’s particular area of expertise.

The successful candidate will assist with intellectual leadership and coordination for Virginia Tech’s Mellon Foundation-funded Monuments Across Appalachian Virginia project, a joint effort between the Appalachian Studies Program and the Center for Refugee, Migrant, and Displacement Studies. The Monuments Across Appalachian Virginia project works collaboratively with community members, local organizations, artists, scholars, and educators to document and display histories and experiences that have been silenced, denied, or excluded by existing monuments that dominate public spaces. New monuments in Appalachian Virginia and in Eastern Siouan lands more broadly will seek to highlight stories that illuminate: the diversity of communities with regard to race, ethnicity, indigeneity, national origin, sexuality, and more; movement across the landscape via migration and population displacement; regional ecologies, resource extraction, and environmental change; and struggles for social justice including feminist, anti-racist, environmental justice, and pro-labor movements.