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The Alabama Digital Humanities Center at the University of Alabama (http://www.lib.ua.edu/digitalhumanities) is pleased to invite applications for a post-doctoral fellowship in Digital Humanities. The fellowship offers the successful candidate a unique platform for professional advancement: financial and material support for independent research combined with the opportunity to play an instrumental role in nurturing the growing digital humanities community at the University of Alabama.

A program of the University Libraries, the Alabama Digital Humanities Center (ADHC) is a space and a community of over 40 faculty members from Art and Art History, Communication and Information Sciences, Continuing Studies, Education, English, Gender and Race Studies, History, the Libraries, Modern Languages and Classics, and Music.  The facility is outfitted with a high-tech array of equipment, specialized software, presentation space, high-definition virtual conferencing capabilities, and group and individual workspace.  The initiative has evolved through collaboration and represents a growing and dynamic community on campus.  Housed in the Amelia Gayle Gorgas Library, a central gathering point on campus, the Center was built through generous support from the University Libraries and the Office of Information Technology.  Open now for a year, the Center has hosted a digital humanities class, numerous guest lectures, monthly brown-bag discussion gatherings, private project consultations, tool training sessions, project work, and community conversations.

The post-doctoral fellow will hold a joint appointment  in the University Libraries and the History Department. In addition to conducting his or her own research, the fellow will serve as an ambassador within the University of Alabama faculty to promote the resources and community of the Alabama Digital Humanities Center.
The University of Alabama is an Equal Opportunity Affirmative Action Employer. Women and minorities are encouraged to apply.

Duties:

The fellow will devote 50% time to conducting his or her own research.

• The fellow will conduct his or her own research and demonstrate progress toward publication goals. In addition, each semester he fellow will give faculty workshops or other public presentations on his or her research as a way to increase the profile of the digital humanities among faculty at the University of Alabama.
• The fellow will be provided with travel funds and be expected to present at digital humanities conferences to make both his or her own research and the work of Center more visible in the larger digital humanities community.

The fellow will devote 50% time to outreach activities promoting the digital humanities and the mission of the ADHC.

• The fellow will work closely with the Office of Library Technology staff in organizing and leading lunch discussions, training workshops, and other public events related to the digital humanities. As the ADHC operates in a team atmosphere, the fellow will be expected to take an active role in the established community to help the ADHC maintain a responsive environment and to assess its impact.
• The fellow will maintain weekly office hours for consultations and be available by appointment to work with faculty and graduate students on digital humanities projects.
• The fellow will take a leading role in planning a public presentation (in person or virtual) at least once a semester by a visiting scholar on digital humanities research.
• The fellow will take a visible public role on campus in promoting the work of the ADHC, including communications about ADHC events and projects, publishing web site content, and engaging with the ADHC community through social media.
• The fellow will be asked to propose and give a faculty workshop on a topic in digital pedagogy at the beginning of each academic year. The specific topic of the workshop will be left to the determination of the fellow in consultation with the College of Arts & Sciences and the ADHC

The position will report to the Associate Dean for Library Technology in the Libraries.

Qualifications and Requirements:

Applications for the fellowship are encouraged from those who have recently finished or who are about to finish their doctoral dissertations (degree must be in hand by June 1, 2012). More advanced scholars will also be considered.

Residence within the Tuscaloosa, Alabama area during the term of the post-doctoral appointment is required. Preference will be given to candidates who can begin the position in May 2012.

Application:

Applications should be completed electronically at http://facultyjobs.ua.edu and include a letter of application, a curriculum vita, three letters of reference, and a dossier (composed of a research proposal, a statement of digital humanities philosophy, a writing sample, and a link to a sample of digital scholarship). Inquiries may be directed to Prof. David A. Michelson, Search Committee Chair, david.a.michelson@ua.edu. Review of applications will begin January 4th and continue until the position is filled.

• Three Letters of recommendation: All letters of recommendation should be sent via e-mail to Vera Johnson, vmjohnso@ua.edu. These letters should be from senior scholars who are familiar with the applicant’s work and the proposal being made for the fellowship. Letters of recommendation should include evaluation of the applicant’s research proposal as well as the overall quality of the applicant’s work as an Historian. At least two of these letters must be from scholars who can speak to the applicant’s engagement with the field of digital humanities.
• Dossier: Please submit a dossier as a single .pdf file composed of the following four items:
  1. Research Proposal: A 150 word abstract, accompanied by a detailed narrative statement (no more than 1000 words) describing the research project the applicant plans to undertake during the term of the fellowship. The narrative statement should explain how the proposed project would make a contribution to the applicant’s research and advance their larger field of study; the anticipated outcomes of the proposed research (including names of potential journals or publishers); a timetable for completion of the proposed project during the term of the fellowship; and the implications of the project for digital humanities scholarship more broadly.
  2. Digital Humanities Outreach Proposal: A separate statement (no more than 1000 words) discussing the applicant’s engagement with Digital Humanities as an emerging field of scholarship. This statement should both highlight past experience in the field and offer a proposal for how the applicant would work with the ADHC to develop or expand the field at the University of Alabama. This statement should include proposals for a faculty workshop on digital pedagogy and also for possible public events with guest scholars.
  3. Writing Sample: A representative sample of the applicants work as an historian. Please limit this to 30 pages or less.
  4. Sample of Digital Scholarship: The applicant should provide a link to a sample of his or her digital scholarship.

About the University of Alabama:

Founded in 1831 as Alabama's first public college, The University of Alabama is dedicated to excellence in teaching, research and service. We provide a creative, nurturing campus environment where our students can become the best individuals possible, can learn from the best and brightest faculty, and can make a positive difference in the community, the state and the world. The College of Arts and Sciences is the University's largest division, with approximately 7,000 undergraduate students and 1,100 graduate students.

The University of Alabama Libraries ranks 56th among 115 U.S. and Canadian university libraries qualifying for membership in the Association of Research Libraries and 32nd among libraries at publicly funded universities in the U.S., belonging to ARL. The Libraries is also a member of the Council on Library and Information Resources, the Center for Research Libraries, the Association of Southeastern Research Libraries, and Project Bamboo. The Libraries maintains an ongoing program to digitize special collections, supported in part by a $1.5 million gift. Among its research collections, both in print and online, the Librarie’ special collections pertaining to the history, culture, and economic development of the South are nationally recognized for their breadth and depth. Noteworthy strengths are in Southern economic, political and social history; Civil Rights; and African-American studies. An extensive photo archive of the South, ca. 1850 to the present (largely unpublished and unstudied), oral histories of prominent national and Civil Rights figures, sheet music, sound recordings in a broad range of formats and subjects, and extensive collections of historical documents, literary archives, and correspondence round out the collections.

The History Department of the University of Alabama is one of the largest academic units of the University and offers students the opportunity to major or minor in History with additional faculty support for concentrations in Asian Studies, Latin American Studies, and the International Honors program. Nationally recognized for its scholarship on the history of the American South (through the leadership of The Summersell Center for the Study of the South), the History Department consists of 25 fulltime faculty members with expertise covering a diversity of historical periods and world cultures. For additional information see http://as.ua.edu/history/index.html.