Texas State seeks math profs with 'social justice' commitment

Texas State University is hoping to hire two Math Education professors with a demonstrated and longstanding commitment to “social justice.”

According to the job postings on Inside Higher Ed, the two new professors must not only share TSU’s commitment to “education equity” and “social justice,” but should preferably also have a demonstrated record of engagement or academic research on the issue.

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The openings are for both tenured or tenure-track positions at the “ranks of Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, or Professor,” with different levels of social-justice expertise preferred at each level.

Among the preferred qualifications for the Assistant Professor rank is a “demonstrated knowledge and engagement” with issues including “social justice, equity, access, and multilingual learning,” while the Associate and Full Professor ranks prefer “evidence of research and practices” on such topics.

“We are especially interested in applicants whose scholarly interests and work include attention to the concerns of race, ethnicity, multilingualism, immigrant, social class, gender, and diversity, broadly defined,” the advertisement notes, adding that professors “from historically underrepresented groups are strongly encouraged to apply.”

Once hired, the new professors will be expected to teach undergraduate and graduate courses to aspiring math teachers, publish research consistently, and help recruit new students into TSU’s Mathematics Education degree programs.

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While the job application specifies that TSU is a “Hispanic Serving Institution,” it is unclear how exactly a background in social justice is expected to benefit the department, since it currently offers no social justice programming or classes.

Campus Reform reached out to the university for more information, but did not receive a response.

Follow the author of this article on Twitter: @Toni_Airaksinen