English - Assistant Professor - Fiction or Poetry

Mission or Goal of Unit:

The mission of the College of Humanities and Sciences is to serve as the intellectual heart and soul of our institution and wider community. The College of Humanities and Sciences:

• Prepares lifelong learners to participate actively as engaged and responsible citizens
• Propels scientific research and scholarship to improve the human condition, cure and treat diseases, and promote healthy environments
• Grounds us in our history, critically examines our present human condition and empowers students to create more equitable local and global communities
• Provides communities with a passionate and creative workforce that serves as a powerful engine for economic development and innovative solutions to problems

As the intellectual lifeblood of VCU and our community, the College of Humanities and Sciences seeks to inspire our students to explore their passions and dreams as individuals and provide the context to understand their place in the world and connections with others-locally, globally and throughout time. Most importantly, our educational and research environment addresses an array of technological, health-related and societal problems, as well as providing profound insights and reflections of what it means to be human and humane..

Chief Purpose of this position: The English Department at Virginia Commonwealth University seeks to hire an Assistant Professor in either Fiction or Poetry.

Position Responsibilities: The successful candidate would join the faculty in August 2025. This is a tenure-eligible position, which carries an annual 2/2 teaching load. Teaching responsibilities include graduate and undergraduate creative writing workshops, thesis supervision within our nationally recognized, three-year M.F.A. program, as well as graduate and undergraduate courses on craft and literature.

Required Qualifications: Candidates for this position should hold either an M.F.A. or a Ph.D. and have a strong record of publication, including at least one published novel or poetry collection from a respected press as well as evidence of promise of future recognition in the field.

Preferred Qualifications: N/A

Our residential M.F.A. Program in Creative Writing is currently celebrating its 40th Anniversary. Although we have very recently lost two of our most beloved colleagues to well-earned retirements, we have, in the past five years, also hired new faculty in fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry. Our recent alumni and current students have achieved impressive publishing success and recognition.

We are small highly congenial program, offering tuition remission and funding to a cohort of about 30 graduate teaching assistants. These students have the opportunity to assist with large classes, to work together on our well-respected online literary journal Blackbird, to oversee two national literary prizes, and also to teach their own independent sections of both creative writing and composition. In addition to concentrations in Poetry and Fiction, we also offer a very popular Dual-Genre concentration, which most frequently includes coursework and a thesis in nonfiction. The English Department also enables undergraduates from across all academic areas to complete an undergraduate minor in Creative Writing.

Applicants should submit: letter of application, CV, statement of teaching philosophy, including experience working with diverse student populations, and a writing sample. Review of applications will begin January 15, 2025 and will continue until position is filled.

Virginia Commonwealth University is located in the center of Richmond, a city with a vibrant arts community. The English Department serves a large, diverse student population, including many first-generation students. As such, we value demonstrated experience working in and fostering a diverse faculty, staff, and student environment or a commitment to do so as a faculty member at VCU. We also welcome applicants who might seek to foster experiential learning opportunities through lived experiences and/or professional service that inform worldviews and/or perspectives about minority group status, including race, age, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, religion, and disability.