Assistant Professor in British/Anglophone literatures, 1600 - 1830

Description

The English Department at Williams College invites applications for a tenure-track position in British / Anglophone literatures from 1600-1830 at the level of Assistant Professor, to begin Fall 2026. We are especially interested in applicants whose research and teaching interests include one or more of the following: race and empire, Indigenous studies, environmental humanities, early Atlantic or Caribbean studies, genre studies, media and material cultures, gender and sexuality, poetics and critique. We welcome applicants who can track literary developments in the seventeenth or eighteenth century forward into the generation of the Romantic poets and their peers. The standard teaching load at Williams is two courses per semester.  

Candidates should be prepared to teach courses from the Renaissance to Romanticism, as well as advanced courses in their areas of interest. We would welcome courses that support our long-standing commitments to the college's interdisciplinary programs, including Africana Studies, American Studies, and Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, as well as Comparative Literature.

The English Department offers a robust undergraduate major with courses across the historical and geographic breadth of literary and cultural production, including a strong set of creative writing offerings, all taught in small class sizes.  Our students are deeply engaged, and our lively honors program offers seniors an opportunity to undertake more intensive scholarly projects. English faculty participate in a wide set of interdisciplinary programs at Williams as well as the Clark Art Institute, a world class visual studies research program in Williamstown.

Williams College offers professional development opportunities, including the college's First3 program as well as programming organized by the Rice Center for Teaching and the NCFDD, among other mentoring initiatives.

We welcome applications from candidates of all backgrounds and strongly encourage individuals whose experiences and perspectives will enhance our commitment to academic excellence and innovation to apply.

Qualifications

Williams is an institution that places a high value on undergraduate teaching; consequently, we seek applicants who can demonstrate in their supporting materials a capacity for excellent teaching as well as excellence in scholarship. Candidates should have Ph.D. in hand by the time of appointment.

Application Instructions

Review of applications will begin on October 1st, 2025 and will continue until the position is filled. There is no guarantee that applications received after this date will be reviewed. All applications should be submitted through Interfolio at apply.interfolio.com/172490. Email, fax, and paper applications will not be accepted. The application should include the following 5 items, (1) a cover letter addressed to Gage McWeeny (Search Committee Chair), (2) a curriculum vitae, (3) a concise statement of teaching philosophy, (4) a writing sample (not to exceed 25 pages), and (5) three recommendation letters. Your application should speak to your ability to work effectively