Assistant Professor Rhetoric Composition Jobs in Maryland

Responsibilities and Duties
Assistant Professor
Department of Communication Studies
College of Fine Arts and Communication
COFAC-4004
Towson University:
Towson University (TU) is one of the nation's top 100 public universities. Located north of Baltimore, TU currently enrolls over 19,000 students and is the second-largest university in the prestigious University System of Maryland. Towson University fosters a climate that is grounded in respect to cultivate the intellectual and personal growth of the entire university community.
Position:
The College of Fine Arts & Communication invites applications for a tenure-track, 9-month Assistant Professor position in the Department of Communication Studies. Preferred start date August, 2027.
Qualifications:
The successful candidate will hold or anticipate a Ph.D. in Communication or a related field at the time of appointment (August 1, 2027). Candidates will demonstrate success or potential as a classroom teacher and researcher across multiple qualitative research methods such as cutting-edge critical, performance, rhetoric, and arts-based methods. Candidates must have a commitment to teaching and mentoring/advising undergraduate and graduate students. Candidates should be able to demonstrate a commitment to interdisciplinary scholarship with a potential for partnering across the department, university, and community and for securing internal and external funding.
Candidates must have a broad commitment to critical communication pedagogy and be able to teach qualitative research courses especially the following undergraduate core courses: Introduction to Communication Studies, Critical Writing and Research, and Critical Research Methods. At the graduate level, candidates should be able to teach Advanced Qualitative Research Methods and Advanced Communication Theory. We also seek a colleague whose scholarship, embodied work, and teaching align with but is not limited to critical/humanistic communication theories and methods to emerging trends in health communication, environmental communication, digital communication, organizational and leadership communication, intercultural communication, or interpersonal communication. Candidates whose work addresses interdisciplinary fields such as disability studies, races and ethnic studies, queer and trans studies, native and indigenous knowledge, and artificial intelligence policy will also be considered. Successful candidates may have the opportunity to teach elective classes and/or develop additional electives related to their area of research expertise.
Responsibilities:
For the first year, research-active faculty teach five or six classes over a 9-month academic year with undergraduate class sizes averaging 22 students per class and graduate class sizes averaging 15 students per class. Candidates may teach courses at the Towson University Northeast (TUNE) campus on a rotating basis, as needed. We encourage candidates whose research intersects with or extends department strengths in embodied communicative praxis to engage in social activism and advocacy. Scholarly research productivity and service, including mentoring and advising, to the department, college, and university is expected.
The Department:
The department ( www.towson.edu/comm ) offers an undergraduate major in Communication Studies and undergraduate minors in Communication Studies, Cultural Studies, and Professional Communication. At the graduate level, the department offers a Master of Arts in Communication and Advocacy. The department offers the majors and minors at our main campus and our Towson University Northeast (TUNE) campus and annually enrolls approximately 300 majors served by 14 full-time and 25 part-time faculty members. Department faculty specialize in rhetoric, organizational communication, critical/cultural studies, performance studies, intercultural communication, and critical/qualitative research methods.
Application Process:
Review of applications will commence October 2, 2026 and will continue until the position is filled.
Applicants should submit:
• A letter of application addressing the candidate's unique profile in relation to this position and the department.
• A current CV with the names of at least three references and contact information (letters of recommendation may be requested from candidates who continue to a later stage of the process).
• A teaching effectiveness portfolio that includes your teaching philosophy and potential or demonstrated evidence of teaching effectiveness which articulates your broad commitment to communication pedagogy
• A research statement that charts your scholarly expertise and agenda
• An unofficial copy of graduate transcripts
Click here to apply. Please note that the search number for which you are applying is COFAC-4004.
Please be sure to visit the Applicant Data Form to complete a voluntary on-line form. All data collected are for internal, state, and/or federal reporting and will not be used for other purposes.
Salary and Benefits:
Targeted salary range: $67,000 - $70,000.
Benefits: TU offers a comprehensive benefits package that includes excellent health, life and retirement plans; and tuition remission. To learn more about our benefits, click here for regular faculty/regular lecturer or here for contingent lecturer. TU also offers a variety of great perks and discounts, which can be found here.
Background Check:
A Criminal Background Investigation is required for the hired candidate and the results may impact employment.
COVID-19 Statement:
The safety of our students, faculty, staff, and neighbors has been our top priority and the focus of every one of our decisions since the earliest days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, the University System of Maryland (USM) has strongly encouraged full COVID vaccination and up- to-date booster shots (when eligible) for all faculty, staff, and students at all schools in the USM as both a reasonable and necessary means of protecting our health and safety.