Entry Level Interdisciplinary Studies Jobs in California

Position overview
Position title: Assistant Professor of Law
Salary range: The current salary range for this position is $203,900 -$333,600 (9-month academic year salary), however, off-scale salary and other components of pay, which would yield compensation that is higher than this range, are offered to meet competitive conditions.
Anticipated start: July 1, 2027
Application Window
Open date: June 26, 2026
Next review date: Friday, Aug 14, 2026 at 11:59pm (Pacific Time) Apply by this date to ensure full consideration by the committee.
Final date: Friday, Aug 14, 2026 at 11:59pm (Pacific Time) Applications will continue to be accepted until this date.
Position description
The Jurisprudence and Social Policy (JSP) PhD Program in the School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley invites entry-level and early-career lateral applicants for a full-time, tenure-track faculty position with a primary research and curricular focus on the criminal legal system in its practical, institutional, historical, social, economic, and political contexts. We seek applications from scholars versed in qualitative and/or quantitative research methods and with a demonstrated record of and/or potential for outstanding scholarship in the field that contributes to its interdisciplinary development. Possible areas of specialization might include but certainly are not limited to: criminal courts; policing and civil rights; mass incarceration; race and the carceral state; abolition and reform; punishment and society; the economics of crime; and the politics of law and order. We welcome applicants who engage with social impact, public engagement, and social justice in their scholarship. Our search is open to comparativists and scholars whose work is primarily on a non-U.S. legal system. However, we are particularly interested in applicants who will have at least a substantial comparative interest in the US criminal legal system.
JSP represents disciplinary and interdisciplinary training across the social sciences, history, and philosophy/political theory, and takes primary responsibility for directing a diverse student body in our PhD program. JSP faculty also are primarily responsible for and teach core courses in Berkeley's interdisciplinary undergraduate Legal Studies major.
The JSP Program attracts a diverse student body with a variety of experiences before graduate school. The JSP Program is committed to methodological pluralism and encourages scholars to apply who are willing and able to mentor graduate and undergraduate students whose research uses a range of methods and theoretical traditions.
The JSP Program is committed to addressing the family needs of faculty, including dual career couples and single parents. We are also interested in candidates who have had non-traditional career paths or who have taken time off for family reasons, or who have achieved excellence in careers outside academia. For information about potential relocation to Berkeley, or career needs of accompanying partners and spouses, please visit: New Senate Faculty | Office for Faculty Equity & Welfare .
The law school strives to educate responsible, effective, and forward-thinking advocates who will serve the public through legal practice, public policy, academic scholarship, and related fields. In doing so, the school addresses some of society's most pressing challenges by leveraging its strengths in teaching and research to improve law, policy, and public institutions. At the heart of Berkeley Law's public mission is a commitment to access, affordability, and empowering students from all backgrounds to pursue impactful careers across a wide range of professional paths.
School: https://www.law.berkeley.edu/
For further details about the JSP and Legal Studies Programs, see:: https://jsp-ls.berkeley.edu/
Public Mission: https://www.law.berkeley.edu/public-mission/
Qualifications
Basic qualifications (required at time of application)
Hold a Ph.D. or equivalent international degree, or have advanced
to candidacy status for a Ph.D., or equivalent international degree.
Preferred qualifications

• Primary research focus is on law, crime, and punishment in the United States, and/or comparative research in which law, crime, and punishment in the United States is a component. Open as to the field. We particularly welcome scholars versed in qualitative and/or quantitative research methods and theories.
• Ability to teach at least one introductory graduate course on law, crime, and punishment.
• Ability to work with students from diverse disciplinary backgrounds.
• Ability to mentor a diverse student body, including those from non-traditional and underrepresented minority backgrounds.
• Ability to contribute to building an equitable, diverse, and interdisciplinary learning environment for all students, including those with nontraditional backgrounds.
• Ability to teach within the undergraduate Legal Studies program and potential to contribute to the JD program.

Application Requirements
Document requirements

• Curriculum Vitae - Your most recently updated C.V.
• Statement of Research, Teaching, and Service - Please provide a statement discussing your scholarship, teaching and mentoring, and service.
  In discussing your scholarly research, we are particularly interested in work relating to law, crime, and punishment issues. We are interested in both your accomplishments (e.g. publication record and any awards) and future plans (e.g. research agenda) with regard to scholarship in law, crime, and punishment. We are also interested in any scholarly work or plans relevant to our public mission, including efforts to build an equitable and diverse scholarly field.
  In discussing your teaching interests, we are particularly interested in your teaching experiences or plans regarding teaching law, crime, and punishment subjects, in addition to your general approach to teaching and mentoring. We are also interested in how your approach to teaching aligns with our public mission, including, e.g., working with students from diverse backgrounds and building an equitable and inclusive learning environment for all students through curriculum design, classroom environment, and pedagogy.
  In describing your service, we are particularly interested in your experience and/or plans regarding public service involving law, crime, and punishment or related issues, in addition to general service to academic, professional, and/or community institutions. We are also interested in how your prior and proposed academic, professional and/or public service activities align with our School's public mission. This could include, for example, service activities that remove barriers and support increased participation in the law, crime, and punishment community by individuals from all backgrounds.
• Representative and recent scholarship - Please provide a recent sample of your scholarship, published or unpublished (e.g., articles, book chapters, dissertation chapters). No more than one (1) sample per individual upload.
• Representative and recent scholarship - Please provide a recent sample of your scholarship, published or unpublished (e.g., articles, book chapters, dissertation chapters). No more than one (1) sample per individual upload.
• Representative and recent scholarship - Please provide a recent sample of your scholarship, published or unpublished (e.g., articles, book chapters, dissertation chapters). No more than one (1) sample per individual upload.
• Authorization to Release Information Form - An institutional reference check will be completed only if you are selected as the candidate to whom the hiring unit would like to extend a formal offer. Download, complete, sign, and upload the Authorization to Release Information form .

Reference requirements

• 3 letters of reference required

Apply link: https://aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF05426
Help contact: academicpositions@law.berkeley.edu
About UC Berkeley
UC Berkeley is committed to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in our public mission of research, teaching, and service, consistent with UC Regents Policy 4400 and University of California Academic Personnel policy ( APM 210 1-d ). These values are embedded in our Principles of Community , which reflect our passion for critical inquiry, debate, discovery and innovation, and our deep commitment to contributing to a better world. Every member of the UC Berkeley community has a role in sustaining a safe, caring and humane environment in which these values can thrive.
The University of California, Berkeley is an Equal Opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age, or protected veteran status.
For more information, please refer to the University of California's Affirmative Action and Nondiscrimination in Employment Policy and the University of California's Anti-Discrimination Policy .
In searches when letters of reference are required all letters will be treated as confidential per University of California policy and California state law. Please refer potential referees, including when letters are provided via a third party (i.e., dossier service or career center), to the UC Berkeley statement of confidentiality prior to submitting their letter.
As a University employee, you will be required to comply with all applicable University policies and/or collective bargaining agreements, as may be amended from time to time. Federal, state, or local government directives may impose additional requirements.
The University of California is committed to creating and maintaining a community dedicated to the advancement, application, and transmission of knowledge and creative endeavors through academic excellence, where all individuals who participate in University programs and activities can work and learn together in a safe and secure environment, free of violence, harassment, or discrimination. Consistent with this commitment, UC Berkeley requires all applicants for Senate faculty positions to complete, sign, and upload an Authorization of Information Release form into AP Recruit as part of their application. If an applicant does not include the signed authorization, the application will be considered incomplete, and as with any incomplete application, will not receive further consideration. Although all applicants for faculty recruitments must complete the entire application, applicants will only be subject to institutional reference checks if and when they are selected as the candidate to whom the hiring unit would like to extend a formal offer. More information is available on this website .
As a condition of employment, the finalist will be required to disclose if they are subject to any final administrative or judicial decisions within the last seven years determining that they committed any misconduct.

• "Misconduct" means any violation of the policies or laws governing conduct at the applicant's previous place of employment, including, but not limited to, violations of policies or laws prohibiting sexual harassment, sexual assault, or other forms of harassment or discrimination, as defined by the employer.
• UC Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment Policy
• UC Anti-Discrimination Policy
• APM - 035: Affirmative Action and Nondiscrimination in Employment

Job location
Berkeley, CA