Assistant Professor of Game Studies

Department: School of Journalism and Communication
Rank: Assistant Professor
Annual Basis: 9 Month

Application Deadline

February 28, 2025; position open until filled

Required Application Materials

To ensure consideration, please upload the following with your online application:

• A letter of interest outlining how your knowledge, skills, and experience meet the minimum and/or preferred qualifications of the position.

• Current CV or resume including dates of employment.

• Name and contact information for three professional references. The candidate will be notified prior to references being contacted.

• A diversity statement (see below).

As part of the application process, applicants seeking faculty positions at the University of Oregon are asked to submit a statement about their past, present, and future contributions to promoting equity, diversity, and inclusion in their professional careers. For example, you may have worked with members of communities or local governments in politics, or university constituents such as students, staff, or faculty to further the goals of equity and inclusion.

In evaluating statements of contributions to diversity, equity, and inclusion, search committees often consider the applicants:

• Awareness of inequities and challenges faced by underrepresented minority students and faculty.

• Track record (commensurate to career stage) of activities that reduce barriers in education or research for underrepresented minority students and faculty.

• Vision and plans for how their work will continue to contribute to UO's mission to serve the needs of our diverse state and student population and create an inclusive campus.

We particularly welcome applications from scholars who are from populations historically underrepresented in the academy, and/or who have experience working with diverse populations. Applicants are encouraged to highlight their experience and philosophy with regard to diversity, equity, and inclusion and to address how they integrate these values in research, teaching, engagement, and/or service.

Any application missing the above documents/information may be considered incomplete.

Position Announcement

The University of Oregon’s School of Journalism and Communication seeks a tenure-track Assistant Professor with a research and teaching emphasis in the area of Game Studies. We seek to hire colleagues who will conduct research on and teach about games (both analog and digital), game communities and affiliated technologies and platforms (e.g., Discord, Twitch, Esports, Virtual Reality) through the lenses of media studies, strategic communication, design, marketing, or their impacts and effects on users and culture.

As one of the largest media and entertainment industries, games sit at the intersection of a variety of interactive and immersive interactive communication technologies, ranging from artificial intelligence to live streaming, that require rethinking the professional and social boundaries of media practitioners and consumers. At the same time, the ideological, economic and social norms fostered by gamers and game studios profoundly impact how everyday players and media users approach life, their sense of self, and create and maintain their own communities. From content creators, influencers and political pundits using streaming services like Twitch to the ways Artificial Intelligence is being deployed and adopted any number of professions, the impact of games and gaming is undeniable to the future of media.

Hires would bring the following key contributions to our faculty:

1. Expertise in theories and concepts pertinent to game studies in regard to fields of media studies, communication, design, marketing, human-computer interaction, journalism, or affiliated fields.

2. A related specialty, such as the study of esports, fan studies, digital asset and game production, content creation, gaming identity, digital cultures, emerging media industries and economics, environmental studies, human-machine communication, strategic communication, and media psychology.

3. A capacity to teach required coursework in our new Game Studies minor at the SOJC such as media ethics, gender, media and diversity, and introduction to media studies, and potentially contribute to our online Immersive Media Communication Master’s program.

This hire will join our growing body of scholars studying and teaching game studies and Immersive Media, including the new Game Studies minor launched in Fall 2024, which focuses on training media professionals in the culture and communication of games. Faculty members would also ideally strengthen SOJC’s tie