Wayne State University invites applications for a nationally prominent scholar who would be hired at a senior rank to hold the Coleman A. Young Endowed Chair in Urban Affairs. The successful candidate's assignment to a particular school or department at Wayne State University will depend on the candidate's qualifications and interests. The holder of the chair will be referred to as the Coleman A. Young Chair.
The Coleman A. Young Endowed Chair in Urban Affairs was endowed by former Detroit mayor Coleman A. Young, who served as mayor for 20 years. Mayor Young's early years of achievement were marked by his path-breaking work in the fields of labor and civil rights and later by his work in the areas of urban politics and urban development.
The Coleman A. Young Endowed Chair was established to recognize faculty scholarly achievement and to promote the field of urban affairs at Wayne State University. The Coleman A. Young Endowed Chair will be used to support the scholarly and research activities of the chair-holder.
The Chair will teach and conduct research in urban-related areas and continue scholarly publication and research in the incumbent's disciplinary field and/or topics relating to urban government, social issues, civil rights, racial disparities, social justice or urban studies, race relations and public policy; obtain external support for research and public service; and enhance interaction between the University, the city of Detroit, the Coleman A. Young Foundation, and the diverse communities in the metropolitan Detroit area.
The selected applicant will be chosen on the basis of: (1) excellence in both scholarship and teaching at the graduate and undergraduate levels; (2) excellence in scholarly research in urban government, social issues, race relations, and/or public policy; (3) experience in implementing and/or developing programs that emphasize issues that affect and are important to minority students, including the admission of students to the University and the graduation rate of students from the University; and (4) ability to assume leadership in academic affairs reflecting the multi-racial and multi-cultural dimensions of urban America.
Wayne State University is a nationally recognized metropolitan research institution enrolling almost 32,000 students. With nearly 3,000 faculty serving more than 400 academic programs, Wayne State University is one of only two public urban universities holding the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching's designation as an institution with "very high research activity" as well as the Foundation's most comprehensive classification for community engagement. Its student body is the most diverse of the 15 public universities in Michigan, including over 40 percent minority students (25 percent African-American) and students from more than 60 countries.
Application review will begin in October 2011 and continue until the position is filled. Applicants should apply online at http://jobs.wayne.edu (posting number 038130). Applicants may contact Dr. Marick F. Masters, Director, Labor@Wayne, Wayne State University, at 313.577.5358 or marickm@wayne.edu if they have any questions about the search. Dr. Masters' mailing address is: 255 Reuther Library, 5401 Cass Avenue, Detroit, MI 48202. We invite nominations for this position in addition to direct applications. At some point in the search process, applicants may be required to submit references.