Global Perspective on Society Postdoctoral Fellow

NYU Shanghai invites applications for a two-year Teaching Fellowship for Global Perspectives on Society beginning the 2025-26 academic year. This residential fellowship entails teaching responsibilities in the fall semesters; the spring semesters are devoted to the fellow’s self-directed research and writing. NYU Shanghai seeks to appoint a team of Teaching Fellows that will further diversify NYU Shanghai’s instructional faculty.

Global Perspectives on Society (GPS) is a required course that forms the foundation of the humanities and social science core curriculum for first-year undergraduates at NYU Shanghai. GPS is a fall semester course devoted to examining central questions about the individual in society through the study of key concepts and texts, as well as developing the reading, writing, and critical thinking skills central to a liberal arts education.  The course introduces students to a range of intellectual and critical traditions concerning the foundations of society and the analytical categories used to describe, understand, and critique society.

Lectures for GPS are delivered by core faculty members at NYU Shanghai. Teaching Fellows are responsible for leading two recitation sections per week during the fall semester. Each section contains approximately 18 students; half the students in each section will be Chinese nationals, and half will be international students. During fall semester, course-related responsibilities include the following:

• helping students understand the texts and concepts covered in the course; 

• designing weekly lessons, in-class activities, and teaching strategies based on the readings to maximize discussion and participation in the recitation sections; 

• grading paper assignments and examinations; 

• assessing overall student progress and the course learning outcomes; 

• assisting occasionally in the lectures as facilitators for specific in-class activities; 

• holding office hours for student consultations; 

• participating in weekly meetings to discuss administrative and/or pedagogical matters related to the course; 

• normalizing grade expectations with the course instructors and other Teaching Fellows.  

In addition, Teaching Fellows are expected to engage with the larger intellectual life of NYU Shanghai by presenting their scholarly work at various possible venues in the university, participating in or possibly organizing academic events of interest to the university community, partnering with a faculty mentor, or otherwise contributing to the intellectual mission of the university. Teaching Fellows are expected to remain in residence for the full academic year, but will have a discretionary fund for travel to conferences or research sites.

The appointment is expected to begin in August 2025, for a period of two years. Terms of employment at NYU Shanghai are comparable to NYU New York and other U.S. institutions.  

Qualifications

• PhD conferred no later than summer 2025 in any fields in the Humanities or Social Sciences (e.g., Anthropology, Comparative Literature, Cultural Studies, History, Law, Philosophy, Political Theory, Sociology); 

• Interest in developing teaching practices and pedagogy;

• Previous teaching experience strongly preferred;

• Experience teaching English language learners preferred, but not required;

• Interest in theoretical and historical approaches to key concepts in social and political thought;

• The capacity to effectively engage with the diversity of NYU Shanghai’s student body.

Application Instructions

If you have any questions, please e-mail shanghai.faculty.recruitment@nyu.edu.  

Applications must include:

• Cover letter explaining applicant’s interest in the position

• The names and contact information of two referees can that address the applicant’s intellectual and pedagogical strengths; letters of recommendation will be requested later in the process  

• CV, including a list of prior teaching experience

• Statement of teaching philosophy

• Brief statement of academic or intellectual interests and research

• Chapter-length writing sample drawn from the applicant’s own research

Application deadline: January 2, 2025, or until positions are filled.

About NYU Shanghai

NYU Shanghai is the third degree-granting campus within New York University’s Global Network. It is the first higher education joint venture in China authorized to grant degrees that are accredited in the U.S. as well as in China. All teaching is conducted in English. A research university with liberal arts and science at its core, NYU Shanghai resides in one of the world's great cities with a vibrant intellectual community. NYU Shanghai recruits scholars of the highest caliber who are committed to NYU's global vision of transformative teaching and innovative research and who embody the global society in which we live.

NYU’s Global Network includes degree-granting campuses in New York, Shanghai, and Abu Dhabi, complemented by thirteen additional academic centers across the world. Faculty and students may circulate within the Network in pursuit of common research interests and cross-cultural, interdisciplinary endeavors, both local and global.

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