[Air-L] Tenure-Track Faculty Job: Digital Platforms and Ethics at University of Oregon

[Bryce Newell]

Dear colleagues,

I just wanted to send a reminder of this open TT faculty position in Digital Platforms and Ethics here at the University of Oregon. The deadline for applications is Sept. 24th.

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The School of Journalism and Communication (SOJC) at the University of Oregon is looking to hire a tenure-track Assistant Professor Digital Platforms and Ethics within our Media Studies program. The job ad is at https://careers.uoregon.edu/en-us/job/527570/assistant-professor-of-media-studies. Dr. Nicole Dahmen and I are co-chairing this search, and we welcome questions as well as recommendations or virtual introductions to strong candidates who may be interested in this job. A portion of the position description from the job posting is copied below:

"The University of Oregon's School of Journalism and Communication seeks a tenure-track Assistant Professor with a research and teaching emphasis in the area of Digital Platforms and Ethics. We seek to hire a colleague who will conduct research on and teach ethics in the context of mass media, communication, and digital media technologies-including internet platforms, software, algorithms, and technical infrastructure. Apps, algorithms, and digital platforms dominate much of our economy, politics, culture, and everyday lives, with consequences for communication, mass media, democracy, and public life. For example, the ascendancy of Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, and Microsoft requires assessment of issues ranging from bias built into software to monopolization of online markets and even their role in the rise and spread of misinformation around COVID-19, climate change, and recent elections.

The hire would bring the following key contributions to our faculty:

1) Expertise in theories and concepts pertinent to media ethics generally and digital media ethics specifically, including issues of free speech, privacy, surveillance, transparency, content moderation, platform power, trust, misinformation, and/or human rights;
2) A related specialty, such as the study of algorithms, software, platforms and infrastructures, and/or critical approaches to programming; and
3) A capacity to teach our required Media Ethics course, other core courses (such as Media and Society and courses within our four undergraduate and graduate sequences as related to their area(s) of expertise), as well as develop innovative courses across the SOJC.

This person must have a Ph.D. in communication, media studies, journalism, information science/studies, philosophy, or another related field in hand by time of appointment; demonstrated potential for teaching excellence; ability to execute independent and/or collaborative research that advances theory and bridges knowledge and practice; and a record or promise of scholarly accomplishment that includes publication of peer-reviewed articles and publication in academic journals in communication, media studies, journalism, information studies, surveillance studies, and/or related fields.

This faculty hire will join our Media Studies area, which focuses on three key areas: Media Technologies and Public Life, Media Structures and Regulation, and Culture and Power in the Media. Further, they should contribute to making the SOJC a destination for graduate and undergraduate students to engage with and understand the ethical, social, and cultural implications of digital technologies. This hire would ideally strengthen SOJC's ties to other units on campus, including existing collaborations with CAS (e.g., the annual Data|Media|Digital Graduate Symposium), the campus-wide New Media and Culture Certificate program for graduate students, the ethics minor in philosophy, and UO's Data Sciences Initiative, through a practical orientation to ethical issues in society. Finally, the ideal candidate will have strong potential to mentor undergraduate and graduate students as well as strong potential for and commitment to contributing to a culture of inclusive teaching and evidence of valuing diversity, equity, and inclusion.

This position is based in Eugene."

Best wishes,

Bryce C. Newell, Ph.D., J.D.
Assistant Professor of Media Law and Policy
School of Journalism and Communication
University of Oregon