Recruit

The University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) invites applications for an Open Rank Professor position (Assistant, Associate, or Full rank) in the area of American Indian and Indigenous Studies, to be located in a department in the Division of Mathematics, Life, and Physical Sciences (MLPS). We invite applications in any of the following fields and areas of expertise, including but not limited to: geography, environmental studies, statistics and applied probability, earth sciences, biology, marine science, ecology, botany, traditional ecological knowledges, natural resource management, data sovereignty, and Indigenous sciences (oceanography, astronomy, physics, navigation), ecology and Indigenous engineering, psychology, social psychology, neuroscience, public health, arctic studies, or other relevant fields. We also invite applicants from institutions that engage in scholarly research and advancement of the field of indigenous studies. While the appointment is expected to be in a department in MLPS, a joint or cross-divisional appointment can be considered.

This position is part of a coordinated recruitment of scholars in the three divisions of the College of Letters and Science: Humanities and Fine Art, Social Sciences, and Math, Life, and Physical Sciences. It builds upon a substantial and dynamic cadre of recently appointed early career faculty across the divisions and disciplines meant to expand and strengthen American Indian and Indigenous Studies (AIIS) at UCSB. This expansion is the result of a core group of faculty and community members (known collectively as the American Indian and Indigenous Collective) who devoted many years to program building in this area.

Responsibilities of faculty members generally include the development of an actively funded research program of the highest quality, teaching at undergraduate and/or graduate levels, recruitment, supervision and mentorship of graduate students, and participation in university service and professional activities. In addition to scholarly and pedagogical contributions to their home department(s), successful candidates will have a record that demonstrates their potential to advance and build the national profile of the American Indian and Indigenous Studies (AIIS) program on campus. This includes working with interdisciplinary and inter-divisional faculty and students, as well as with community members to promote and sustain an innovative and intellectually expansive community for American Indian and Indigenous-centered research, curriculum, and initiatives at UCSB. We are seeking a candidate who values working collaboratively towards community building and has the leadership skills and experiences to help develop AIIS at UCSB. The University is especially interested in candidates who can contribute to the diversity and excellence of the academic community through research, teaching and service as appropriate to the position. This position is open until filled.

Background on American Indian and Indigenous Institutional History
The AIIC (American Indian and Indigenous Collective) continues the vision initiated by generations of student organizing, student-driven research and community building at UCSB. UCSB’s American Indian and Indigenous Student Association (AIISA) was founded over fifty years ago, just 25 years after the university itself. The American Indian and Indigenous Studies Minor was instituted 20 years ago, and 12 years ago American Indian and Indigenous graduate students initiated and founded the AIIC (American Indian and Indigenous Collective) Research Focus Group (RFG). Under the aegis of an AIIC umbrella, initiatives and programs serving UCSB and Native and Indigenous communities at large were sustained and developed. These include STANDS (Students Taking Action for Native Dreams and Success), a student-initiated college outreach program focused on junior high and high school American Indian and Indigenous students. Also, an American Indian and Indigenous Gardens Alliance was established in consultation and collaboration with local Indigenous Chumash community members and UCSB Native students in 2015 and continues today. Community sustaining activities affiliated with the gardens such as the Native Families project, the Native Arts Collaborative, and University/Community partnership with the AIIGA continue to emerge from the AIIC umbrella. In response to student demand the AIIS minor was expanded in 2018 to include several course options within Environmental Studies that focus on Traditional Ecological Knowledges, Sustainability, and Indigenous Environmental Justice. The most notable development reaching beyond the UCSB campus is the annual AIIC Symposium, which celebrated its 11th year in 2024. The AIIC RFG and the symposium graduate student visionaries want to provide opportunities for all students and community members to forge relations and scholarship with Native and Indigenous relatives near and far by sharing knowledges, stories, and communities. Pre-pandemic in-person attendance was and is consistently over 125 and virtual participation reached over 450 global participants in 2022.

UCSB’s AIIC Academic Council, established in summer 2016, is a product of this ceaseless work. In June 2016 at the request of Native (graduate and undergraduate) student activists, a meeting was held with UCSB senior administrators to demand the reinstatement and expansion of academic and student services and programs for American Indian and Indigenous students at UCSB. At that time the AIIC Academic Council was created to serve as a liaison body between UCSB administration and the Native student community. The AIIC AC’s establishment and commitment to consensus decision making fosters shared constituent and community governance and involvement. The Academic Council includes the participation of eight recently hired early career scholars across the divisions in the College of Letters and Science, senior UCSB faculty in the field, graduate and undergraduate students, and community members. In tandem with the opening of an AII Center on campus, an AIIC-Academic Council plan for a Major in AIIS is currently under review and revision. A template for establishing a department is also under review. Please visit the UCSB American Indian and Indigenous Studies website for more information.

Acknowledgements and Commitments
The AIIC Academic Council and its members acknowledge the traditional custodians of these lands and waters and are committed to working collaboratively with tribes, bands, councils, committees, and families among the local Chumash Peoples and other Native and Indigenous Peoples of lands currently known as the Americas and beyond. We seek counsel, direction and partnering with those who have cared for these lands and waters across millennia. UCSB currently sits on a distinguished traditional place of learning, known to have drawn Peoples from distances for thousands of years in safety, community, and sharing, not only of resources but also of knowledge. In partnership with Chumash Elders and scholars and Native and Indigenous Peoples and scholars from the Americas and beyond, we listen to and learn from place-based understandings of land, language, culture, and peoples, thereby shifting epistemological perspectives in ways that strengthen and intertwine current disciplinary practices.

The University of California is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age or protected veteran status. For the University of California’s Affirmative Action Policy please visit: https://policy.ucop.edu/doc/4010393/PPSM-20. For the University of California’s Anti-Discrimination Policy, please visit: https://policy.ucop.edu/doc/1001004/Anti-Discrimination.

As a condition of employment, you will be required to comply with the University of California Policy on Vaccination Programs, as may be amended or revised from time to time. Federal, state, or local public health directives may impose additional requirements.