Associate Director

Overview:

The Associate Director provides intellectual and administrative leadership for the First-year Writing Seminars—small, intensive courses in academic inquiry and argument required of all of Princeton’s more than 1,400 first-year students and transfer students.

Totaling 120+ a year, the topic-based multi-disciplinary seminars are each capped at 12 students to allow for frequent written and in-person feedback from faculty on student drafts and revisions. The Associate Director takes the lead in forging a community of practice among the Writing Seminar faculty, bringing the range of their scholarly experience across the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, and engineering to bear on their shared work of introducing students to research and writing at the college level.

The Associate Director’s primary responsibilities are to manage the recruitment, hiring, training, and continuing development of a diverse faculty of ~40 full-time lecturers; to take a leading role in course development and regular reviews of existing First-year Writing Seminars; to generate a collaborative work environment for faculty empowered through rigorous peer mentoring; and to coordinate academic support and equitable accommodations for students across the seminars, consulting regularly with Residential College deans and assistant deans for studies.

In addition, the Associate Director plays an integral role in strategic planning and special projects for the PWP as a whole, and teaches in the Writing Program once every five semesters.

The Associate Director for the Writing Seminars reports to the Senior Associate Director for Curriculum and Assessment.

Responsibilities:

Faculty Hiring and Reappointment

▪ Manage the Program’s highly competitive international search for 8-12 new lecturers each year: lead the faculty Hiring Committee in reviewing applications and conducting ~70 phone interviews; with the Director, conduct more than 25 campus interviews; communicate with candidates as needed throughout.

▪ Spearhead recruiting efforts for candidates from historically underrepresented backgrounds and disciplines; coordinate and represent the PWP in diversity outreach; participate in ongoing DEI learning and embed best practices throughout the hiring process.

▪ Together with the Director and Senior Associate Director, work to provide experienced PWP faculty with teaching opportunities in addition to the First-year Writing Seminars.

▪ Maintain records to analyze trends in annual hiring searches, managing all documentation in accordance with best practices and University retention policies.

Training, Curriculum Development, and Faculty Development

▪ Design, organize, and assess comprehensive faculty development calendar that prepares faculty to teach academic writing and supports their development as teachers and scholars. (This includes multi-day new faculty workshops in May and August, an annual faculty retreat, and dozens of other events for Program faculty throughout the year.)

▪ With the Senior Associate Director, work with faculty to co-design ~12 new Writing Seminars each year; provide detailed feedback on syllabi and Canvas course sites, classroom teaching, and commenting and grading practices; and respond to student grade appeals.

▪ Organize faculty peer mentoring program; consult with faculty working groups; facilitate comprehensive teaching portfolio reviews for first-year faculty; write letters of recommendation.

▪ Consult with faculty as needed on classroom dynamics; student-in-difficulty and plagiarism cases; lesson planning; and field a broad range of teaching and pedagogy questions.

Coordinating Academic Support and Accommodations

▪ Consult regularly with faculty and with Residential College deans and assistant deans for studies to coordinate academic support and equitable accommodations for students across the seminars.

Writing Program Leadership

▪ As part of the administrative team, participate in Program-wide strategic planning; preparing reviews and reports; as well as creating and revising publications, websites, and promotional materials.

▪ Serve as an ambassador for the Writing Program in formal and informal ways to the Princeton community and beyond.

Teaching 0%/50%

▪ Teach one Writing Seminar (or its equivalent) every five semesters. In recognition of the intensive feedback Writing Program instructors offer students, each WRI course counts as .25 FTE (instead of the university standard .1665). For teaching semesters, this component of the position is 50%.

Qualifications:

Essential Qualifications:

Excellent organizational, interpersonal, and communication skills are a must, as are flexibility, openness, and imagination in the context of an evolving institutional landscape. The Ph.D. is required.

Preferred Qualifications:

Special consideration will be given to candidates with experience teaching in the Princeton Writing Program.

KNOW YOUR RIGHTS

1. 25

Eligible for Overtime: No

Benefits Eligible: Yes

Probationary Period: 180 days

Essential Services Personnel (see policy for detail): No

Physical Capacity Exam Required: No

Valid Driver’s License Required: No

• #LI-JE1