Director, Center for African Studies

University of Florida

The University of Florida’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences invites applications for the position of Director of the Center for African Studies. This is a tenure accruing position. The University of Florida is looking for an intellectual leader with a commitment to collaborative university-wide programs and the capacity to articulate a vision for the future of African Studies in the academy.

The University of Florida is a premier public research university located in Gainesville, Florida. Founded in 1853 as a public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant institution, UF is ranked #5 among public universities in the nation (U.S. News & World Report, 2022) and is a world-class institution of scholarship, learning, and public service. UF is home to 16 colleges, and to more than 200 research, service, and education centers, bureaus, and institutes. The university is among the nation’s most academically comprehensive and robust research institutions.

UF’s Center for African Studies is a National Resource Center for African Studies and one of the strongest in the nation. It is multidisciplinary in scope and receives funding from the U.S. Department of Education’s Title VI program. In addition to over 100 affiliate faculty from the 16 colleges, the Center is home to four full-time lecturers and six faculty with joint appointments in other departments. The Center’s purpose is to promote excellence in teaching and research about Africa in all disciplines at the University of Florida. It offers undergraduate education and supports graduate studies as essential for the development of a continuing community of Africanist scholars. The Center also disseminates knowledge about Africa to the wider community through an integrated outreach program, and maintains linkages with individuals and institutions on the African continent. Established programmatic strengths of the Center include: African languages and literatures, anthropology, history, politics and governance, religious and cultural studies, conservation and sustainable development, global health, science, and technology and innovation.

We seek an established scholar at the rank of Professor or advanced Associate Professor with a strong interest in advancing research and undergraduate and graduate education, and in promoting access to knowledge production in and about Africa on campus and within the wider community. Candidates for the Director position should demonstrate a strong record of program building and collaborative research across disciplines, experience with grant writing and administration, leadership experience, and national and international recognition as a scholar. Candidates should also have extensive academic contacts in Africa, and firm grounding in African area studies paradigms. Areas of expertise may include the humanities, social sciences, STEAM, or a combination thereof. The Director will hold a tenured appointment within an appropriate CLAS academic unit.

We anticipate that prospective candidates will demonstrate strong leadership and the capacity to build on the research, programmatic goals, and established connections to the African continent that have propelled the Center’s success over the past decades. Simultaneously, we seek candidates with visions and ideas that can move the Center in new directions that reflect emerging disciplinary and global issues and embody UF’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion on our campus and in our programs and curricula.