Metropolitan State University, Minnesota’s public, urban university, and recipient of the 2019 Insight Into Diversity Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award, occasionally needs community (adjunct) faculty to teach courses that cannot be staffed by regular faculty or graduate students.  These positions are temporary and part-time. We are seeking candidates to teach the following courses in Fall 2023 and Spring 2024:

 

·       HUM 314  Global Early Modernisms (4 credits)

The course covers achievements in thought, art, architecture, religion, science, and literature around the world between c. 1300-1650 CE. The course explores cultural artefacts and contexts such as colonialism, Aztec Empire, European Renaissance and the Protestant Reformation, the rise of Islam, the Ming Dynasty, among others. Readings, slide/lectures, and class discussions explore the many ways that art, ideas, and events from this era still live in contemporary civilizations. Selected content will vary but will draw from medievalisms around the world, including cultural  Africa, East Asia, Europe, North and Central America, and South and Southeast Asia. All texts read in English or English translation.

 

·       HUM 317 Global Modernisms (4 credits)

Around the world, at different moments in history, artists have questioned older social, philosophical and artistic forms and sought to create radically new, “modern” forms. To understand these developments and how they have influenced the contemporary world, this course examines several influential modern(ist) texts in a global frame, in connection with developments in modern art, music, politics and thought. Selections will vary but will draw from modernisms around the world, including cultural  Africa, East Asia, North and Central America, and South and Southeast Asia. All texts read in English or English translation.

 

·       HUM 318 Global Postmodernisms (4 credits)

Postmodernism is broadly characterized by radical rejection of traditional aesthetics to the extreme limit, developing new theoretical and aesthetic movements. From the blurring of high and low culture, through the use of pastiche, collage, and bricolage, to the status of the object in an era of simulacra, postmodernism is characterized by a number of distinct techniques and critical theories which we’ll explore in a wide variety of art, film, new media, literature, architecture, and music. Readings will consider postmodernism in a global frame. All texts will be in English or English translation.

 

·       LIT 100 Introduction to Literature (3 or 4 credits)

This course introduces students to ways literary studies encourages reading, understanding, interpreting, researching and arguing about various genres of literature. As we read poetry, drama, short stories, and novels, we’ll learn about relevant literary terms such as, theme, motif, and form, and methods of analysis, like close reading and socio-historical contextualization, in order to sharpen critical reading skills and deepen our appreciation of the world’s literature.

 

·       LIT 161 Global Graphic Novel (4 credits)

This course investigates the literary genre of the graphic novel in global contexts. The course will study the graphic novel as a multidisciplinary artform based on the interplay of text and image. Students will learn interpretive and practical approaches to the study of graphic novels that explore how the genre creates space and imagery for marginal, emergent, fantastical, or alternative discourses about contemporary existence. 

 

·       LIT 363 Native American Oral and Written Narratives (4 credits)

The course surveys a variety of Indigenous oral and written narrative expressions (for example, bilingual texts and pictographic texts) from different regions, including Dakota, Anishinaabe, Ho-Chunk, and Potawatomi communities, and well as a possible inclusion of First Nations and Métis narratives. Students will  explore themes and concepts central to Indigenous individuals, groups, and communities with a culturally ,historically, and futuristically informed analytical approach to literary study. Significant focus is given to issues of race and racism.

 

·       LIT 369 African and African Diasporic Literatures (4 credits)

This course examines contemporary literatures by African and African diasporic writers. Students will identify and compare the diversity of African and African diasporic literatures to critique and challenge monolithic understandings of Africa and the African diaspora.  Students will deepen their understanding of the construction of “Africa” and the African diaspora and distinguish the various ways these literatures reflect and innovate traditional narrative practices and Western literary forms. Finally, students will apply relevant socio-political and literary scholarship about literatures from the continent and the diaspora to literary analysis. Topics that may be studied in relation to literary production include but are not limited to, race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, language, nationalism, anti-colonial resistance, decolonization, and globalization. All texts will be in English or English translation.

 

·       LIT 373 Asian and Asian Diasporic Literatures (4 credits)

This course examines Asian and Asian diasporic literatures written in or translated to English. Students will analyze how these literatures have contributed to and transformed the study of English in a global frame. Students will investigate how Asian and Asian diasporic literature emerges from specific cultural, historical, national, global and American multiethnic contexts and demonstrate how “Asia” is itself a distortion of a broad region, largely produced from a western imperial imagination. Topics that may be studied in relation to literary production, include but are not limited to, gender, race, ethnicity, class, sexuality, language, immigration, global migrant labor, citizenship, imperialism, as well as Asian indigenous histories. All texts will be in English or English translation.

 

·       LIT 383 Latina/o/x Literature of the US (4 credits)

This course examines significant works of Latina/o/x literature written in the U.S., focusing on the diversity of the Latino/a/x literary expression. Students will explore relevant sociopolitical contexts and how literature provides insight into the commonalities and differences of the experiences of Latin American diasporas in the US. Topics that may be studied in relation to literary production, include but are not limited to identity (e.g. mestizaje, Afro-Latino/a/x), race, indigeneity, gender, sexuality, as well as borderlands, citizenship, migration, and multilingualism. Emphasis will be on U.S. based literature, but may include some comparative analysis with literary texts across the Americas and the Caribbean. Significant emphasis on race and racism.

 

·       LIT 502 Literary Criticism: 1950-Present
 This course introduces influential literary theories developed between 1950 and the present. Students become familiar with the main concepts of each theory and with how these theories can be applied to particular texts, past and present. Discussions focus on how contemporary theory challenges older ideas about literature, what distinguishes literature from other uses of language, how literature should be read, what roles literature plays in social, political, and personal life, and what makes a work of literature effective.

·       Faculty members are expected to demonstrate ability to teach literature, humanities, or language courses effectively at the undergraduate level.

·       Assigned courses may include the following subject matter: 

o   Literature

o   Literary Theory

o   Humanities (e.g., art, music, architecture, new media, philosophy, film, etc.)

·       Courses will likely be offered in an asynchronous online modality. 

·       Outstanding candidates will demonstrate a commitment to serving a culturally diverse student body through delivering a student-centered education in a liberal arts and sciences context and will possess the ability to work effectively with a wide range of individuals.

·       Demonstrated written and verbal communication skills.

·       Demonstrated ability to work in an institution with culturally, economically and linguistically diverse students and workforce. 

·       Close alignment/overlap between the candidate’s degree and the course matter to be taught. 

·       Two or more years of experience teaching literature courses.

·       Subfields, teaching experience, or professional experience with allied humanities fields such as art, film, music, new media, etc.

·       Experience teaching literature and/or the humanities in asynchronous online modalities.

Notice: In accordance with the Minnesota State Vehicle Fleet Safety Program, employees driving on university business who use a rental or state vehicle shall be required to conform to Minnesota State’s vehicle use criteria and consent to a motor vehicle records check.

 

Metro State University provides an excellent, inclusive, and engaging education to eliminate opportunity gaps and empower our students to lead our communities to a prosperous and equitable future. The university offers programs leading to baccalaureate, masters, and applied doctoral degrees. We provide accessible, high quality liberal arts, professional, and graduate education with continued emphasis on marginalized groups, including adult learners. Metro State is a five-time recipient of the Insight into Diversity Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award, most recently in 2021. Federally recognized as a Minority Serving Institution, its employees serve more than 9,000 post-traditional learners, two-thirds of whom identify as belonging to communities of color or American Indian nations, are first in their family to attend college, and/or are eligible for Pell Grants. Since we do not operate residential facilities, Metro State University students all commute to class locations across the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area, or take their courses wherever they are through our many distance-learning and hybrid course offerings, allowing Metro State to truly be “where learning meets living.” Metropolitan State is recognized by CollegeNet as a leading higher education promoter of social mobility for students (Ranked # 67 out of 1550 in 2021). Recognized in 2008 and 2016 by the Carnegie Foundation for Community Engagement, the university is committed to academic excellence and community engagement through curriculum, teaching, scholarship, and services designed to support an urban mission. As a member of Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System, Metro State University actively works to achieve the Equity 2030 goal of the system, with initiatives to close disparities among student groups that focus on academic programs, policies and procedures, and effective student support. In addition, equity and anti-racism strategies are focused on building an inclusive and welcoming campus climate, hiring and retaining a diverse workforce, and developing our capacity to serve students in a culturally responsive manner. The university is guided by a strategic plan with a theme of “Building a Resilient, Student Ready University.” 

 

Visit the Metro State University website to learn more about the university, our programs, and our students. Learn more about Minnesota State Colleges and Universities at their website.

 

Visit our web site at http://www.metrostate.edu

 

For campus safety information and crime statistics visit: https://www.metrostate.edu/students/support/safety

 

The School/Academic Department: The Literature & Language Department houses a vibrant and evolving collaboration between several related disciplines (Humanities, Linguistics, Literature, Languages) whose close departmental proximity provides responsive programming for Metro State University students. Next year, the department will be implementing a redesigned English BA that will expand offerings in global humanities and literatures, as well as other significant additions such as, Latino/a/x literatures, Literatures of Africa and the African Diaspora, and Global Modernisms & Postmodernisms. As it undertakes this important redesign of the major to reflect new developments in English studies and deepen its commitment to anti-racist curricular programming, the department welcomes scholars whose teaching interests can help support Metro State’s anti-racist mission.

Salary:  Salary is commensurate with education and experience, and is determined by the salary placement process as outlined in the Inter Faculty Organization (IFO) Master Agreement 

 

* Employment for this position is covered by the collective bargaining agreement for the Inter Faculty Organization which can be found at: IFO 2021-2023 Contract

 

For the most current information on the IFO, go to www.ifo.org