Sheng Yen Postdoctoral Fellowship in Chinese Buddhism at Columbia

This position will not open to the public in 2019, but it will be advertised in early 2020.

With the generous support of the Sheng Yen Education Foundation, the Center for Buddhism and East Asian Religions (C-BEAR) at Columbia University is pleased to invite applications for a one-year postdoctoral fellowship, with the likelihood of renewal for another year. The initial term of appointment is July 1, 2018, to June 30, 2019.

The fellowship is intended to foster the academic careers of recent PhDs whose area of research is Chinese Buddhism. In addition to pursuing his or her own research, the fellow is expected to teach one course per year, give a public lecture, and take part in the regular events of the C-BEAR. It is envisioned that after the fellowship period, the fellow will continue his or her academic career in teaching and research on Chinese Buddhism.

Compensation includes a highly competitive annual salary, research fund, and health benefits. Additional financial support is available for the fellow to organize workshops, conferences or speakers' series in his or her area of research. The fellow will be provided with office space, access to the library system, and other related administrative assistance.

Minimum qualification

Applicants must have completed their Ph.D. degrees (deposition of the dissertation) by June 30, 2018, but no earlier than July 1, 2012. Candidates who do not yet hold a Ph.D. but expect it by June 30, 2018, should provide a letter from their home institution confirming their schedule to completion.

Application

All applications must be made through Columbia University's Recruitment of Academic Personnel System (RAPS). Please upload the following required materials:

• Curriculum vitae
• Graduate school transcripts (to be submitted as "Other Document 1").
• A personal statement of no more than 2,000 words outlining previous research (including dissertation), research the applicant plans to pursue during the fellowship period, future professional goals, as well as any other information deemed relevant to the application
• A one-page statement of teaching interests, along with two syllabi, one of which is for the lecture course "Chinese Religious Traditions" and the other for a seminar course of his or her own design (note: Columbia courses normally meet a total of two or three hours per week throughout a fourteen-week semester)
• A writing sample
• Three letters of recommendation

Before uploading documents, applicants first will be asked to input a name and valid email address for each reference provider. The application to this position must include a minimum of three (3) reference letters. The applicant may enable RAPS to generate an automatic email to the reference provider, politely requesting a letter of reference and offering a secure link to the RAPS website where a letter can be uploaded quickly and easily. Wherever possible, letters should be uploaded into the online system.

After completing the "Provide References" screens, the applicant will come to the "Attach Documents" screen and be asked to upload into RAPS the required application materials listed above. The completion of the application process in RAPS is indicated by a confirmation number, which the applicant should retain.