Humanities Department Chair Jobs (NOW HIRING)

Description
The Fox Center for Humanistic Inquiry is pleased to open applications for our fellowship program for tenured Emory faculty. The program will host up to five fellows (including one non-ECAS fellow) working on large-scale writing projects in the humanities and/or centrally involving humanistic frameworks. Fellows will be released from their university teaching and service commitments for the academic year, with the support and approval of their respective department chair/program director and dean.
We invite applications from tenured faculty in any humanistic discipline who are eager to be part of a community of scholars engaged in interdisciplinary conversations around our theme of Humanities Plural. (See below.) Faculty research projects do not need to address the theme directly, but all applicants should briefly address how the project relates to significant methodological, theoretical, or conceptual issues in the humanities. For example, an applicant working in a well-established scholarly tradition could make a case for the importance of carrying that tradition forward within the current humanities landscape; an applicant working in an emerging area of scholarship could address the broad potential of that new area and/or the methodology it entails; a project from an applicant outside of a humanities department could address how humanities scholarship matters to their work.
The application deadline for applicants to submit their materials is December 7, 2026, at 11.59 PM ET. The deadline for receipt of letters of recommendation is December 11, 2026, at 11.59 PM ET.
All faculty fellows enjoy an office at the Fox Center, participate in a weekly works-in-progress seminar, attend thematic programming, and participate in the life of the Center. Fellowships run from August 1, 2027, to May 31, 2028, and provide an additional $3,000 in research funds.
Humanities Plural
At a moment when fields such as "history of the humanities" and "humanities theory" are coming into view, and as hybrid formations such as digital humanities, health humanities, and public humanities are taking humanities scholarship into new academic and extra-academic spaces, we seek to expand our horizons for thinking about the humanities as they have existed or are unfolding in our current moment. Among the questions we hope to address in our shared discussions and programming are: What are the contexts, across time and space, where humanistic learning occurs and matters (e.g., formal orinformal academic settings, places of worship, prisons, online spaces, museums)? Where is humanistic scholarship enlisted into serving other systems of knowledge and value (e.g., medical schools, think tanks, revolutionary movements, corporate boardrooms), and what sorts of work is it asked to do there? Which communities have forged programs or practices of humanistic learning without having access to formal or elite institutional structures? What are the distinct methods, epistemologies, aesthetics, and/or values that take shape in these sites? What gave rise to "theory," where and why has it taken root, and what is its future? And how do or should "the humanities" function in hybrid formations, for example in digital humanities, environmental humanities, or health humanities?
Qualifications
Fellows must be tenured Emory faculty (applicants applying without tenure must receive formal approval of tenure prior to the start of the fellowship). In addition to considering the merits of the proposal, the review committee will consider previous funding for the proposed project and-in consultation with dean's office-the applicant's record of recent leaves. Fellowship recipients may apply for a subsequent fellowship after an interval of ten years, although the selection committee will prioritize applicants who have not previously held an FCHI fellowship.
Please note: In accordance with the College leave policy, ECAS faculty fellows are expected to return to Emory after their fellowship and be in residence for three consecutive years. The sabbatical clock for ECAS fellowship recipients will be restarted at the conclusion of their Fox Center fellowship.
Application Instructions
To complete the online application, you will need to provide the following:

• Project description (1000 words maximum, including an account of work already accomplished and a timeline for the fellowship year).
• Curriculum vitae.
• Title and brief description of a Keyword seminar that you would offer in the year following the fellowship.
• E-mail contact information for one non-Emory recommender. Your recommender will be automatically notified via Interfolio to upload their letter to your file. See specific instructions below.
• Email contact information for your department chair. Your department chair will be automatically notified by Interfolio to upload a letter approving your leave.
• Any current and previous funding for proposed project, including other pending applications.
• Previous leave history as well as course releases received during the past 7 years.

SPECIFIC INSTRUCTIONS
Project description: Applicants should describe the specific research/writing planned for the period of the fellowship, an account of the work already completed, and a detailed timeline. Applicants should also address how the project relates to significant methodological, theoretical, or conceptual issues in the humanities. For example, an applicant working in a well-established scholarly tradition could make a case for the importance of carrying that tradition forward within the current humanities landscape; an applicant working in an emerging area of scholarship could address the broad potential of that new area and/or the methodologies it entails; a project from an applicant outside of a humanities department could address how humanities scholarship matters to their work. Please remember that Fellows are expected to be in residence at the Centerfull-timeeach semester.
Keyword/Key Text/Key Thinker proposal: During the year following their fellowship year, Faculty Fellows are expected to offer a four-session "Keyword" seminar. Each faculty member chooses a single concept or idea, a seminal text, or an important intellectual figure or movement as the basis for a short-form seminar. These seminars are intended to engage either (1) an interdisciplinary group from within the Emory community (most often faculty and graduate students), or (2) a broader public audience. These seminars comprise four weekly sessions over the course of a month (generally in the evening for public audiences and during the workday for Emory audiences). Our public seminars may be cohosted with a community partner at a local venue. All seminar proposals should aim to attract an interdisciplinary audience. Please be prepared to enter your seminar's title, description, format, and desired timing (fall/spring 2026-2027). For examples of recent Keywords, see our website.
Recommendation letter: Your recommender will be automatically notified via Interfolio to upload their letter to your file. Their letter should be no longer than one page and should describe how you and your project would contribute to and benefit from an interdisciplinary research environment.
Letter from department chair: Your department chair will be automatically notified via Interfolio to upload their letter to your file. Your chair will be asked to submit a letter which lists any course releases or leaves you have received since your most recent promotion (or your arrival at Emory, if you have not been promoted since) and confirms that they approve the year of leave from teaching and service obligations that receipt of this fellowship would provide.
It is the applicant's responsibility to ensure that all required documents are uploaded to Interfolio and submitted. Incomplete applications cannot be considered after the deadline.
ACCEPTANCE PROCEDURES
Upon notification of a Faculty Fellowship award, recipients must agree to:

• conduct research and/or writing in residence full-time at the FCHI for the academic year;
• take full responsibility for contributing to and maintaining an environment conducive to academic research and intellectual community-building while at the Center;
• submit a final report of progress to the Director at the end of the Fellowship;
• acknowledge the FCHI in all work resulting from research and writing done during the Fellowship;
• offer a Keyword seminar in the year immediately following the Fellowship year;
• attend all Fellows' seminar meetings and thematic programming sponsored by the FCHI during their terms of residence;
• immediatelynotify the FCHI of any other support or of any conflicts with the restrictions and conditions of this Fellowship Program;
• return to their Emory University positions for three consecutive years immediately following their Fellowship.

Please note: If for any reason a fellow's circumstances change (such as Sabbatical Leave, Leave Without Pay, or the receipt of any grant or award that conflicts with the restrictions and conditions of this fellowship), and the grantee is unable to use the fellowship during the academic year for which it was granted, the Fellowship will be forfeited. If you accept another fellowship before notification about the FCHI program, please inform the FCHI as soon as possible so that alternates can be contacted promptly. If the project involves human subjects, approval from the proper Emory Institutional Review Board Committee (IRB) is required before Fellowship funding can be released. For more information, please refer to the IRB website: www.irb.emory.edu. Please note that the FCHI does not provide any assessments of or feedback on unsuccessful applications.