The World History Association is developing a major curricular project on History for the 21st Century, aimed at improving History survey courses.

The WHA is currently hiring an Assistant Director for the History for the 21st Century Project.

The ad from the World History Association on H-Net reads:

Call for Applications: Assistant Director of History for the 21st Century

History for the 21^st Century (“H/21”) is a collaborative, faculty-led initiative of the World History Association with a central mission of enabling college and university faculty to effectively introduce students to the historical thinking necessary for fostering an equitable and sustainable world. Most colleges and universities offer General Education history courses at the first-year level that aim to help students to understand their lives in historical perspective, to make mature decisions today, and to gain intellectual tools to build on that understanding throughout their lives. Recent years have seen changes in the focus and preparation of students, innovations in educational technology and pedagogies, new curricular requirements, and new ethical and ecological imperatives. The goal of History for the 21st Century is to support educators in adapting to this new environment through a faculty-led collaborative effort focusing centrally on General Education history courses. Our goal is to offer free, student-centered, inquiry-driven, and user-friendly materials for the General Education history classroom. These materials will enable students to see themselves (and their ancestors) within historical narratives that provide meaning for their present and for their future. For the first phase of this project, these materials will take the form of roughly 20 free, digitally available teaching units (called Modules Ready to Educate, or MREs) that help teach both historical skills and content.

Within this context, H/21 aims to focus on:

• introductory college courses, since these are the highest impact courses and are often the only history course history (or, indeed, course in the humanities) that non-majors ever take.
• both the world history and American history frameworks.
• engaging students in active learning within large-class settings (H/21 is not focused on small seminars or cross-disciplinary ‘first-year experience’ programs).
• producing materials including content, primary sources, activities, and assessment tools that faculty can adapt to the particular courses they offer.
• engaging with the diverse range of human experiences, including going beyond standard historical narratives and centering peoples commonly de-centered in or absent from those narratives.
• producing materials that are peer reviewed by content experts, vetted by experienced educators, and can be revised based on future evidence.
• producing materials that are available to faculty and students at no charge.

Position Description

The Assistant Director of History for the 21^st Century will support the Director in the production of the MREs. Their central responsibilities will include the design of digital MREs, the project’s website, and interactive portal(s) for faculty; liaising with authors (who will also be practicing historians) to ensure conformity of skills, language, and depth of content across the MREs; assisting to secure copyright permissions; and assisting to organize public events and training workshops. The Assistant Director should also be capable of producing MREs of their own based on best practices in history pedagogy and up-to-date scholarship in the discipline.

This two-year position will be the rough equivalent of a half-time job with compensation based on experience. There may be a possibility for extension after the first two years. The Assistant Director will report directly to the Director but will also attend and participate in Executive Council meetings. There is no fixed location for work.

Minimum Qualifications

• Two years of experience teaching at the postsecondary level
• A MA or PhD in History, with a demonstrated expertise in a coherently defined research project
• Experience in digital humanities, including website construction and digital design
• Experience with student-centered, inquiry-based, active learning

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience producing independent syllabuses and lesson plans for large history courses at the postsecondary level
• Experience in teaching introductory world history or General Education history courses at the postsecondary level
• Ability to work positively, productively, and collegially with a diverse range of scholars
• Experience with training educators
• Experience with event organizing
• Demonstrated ability to see complex projects (including research projects) to their completion

Application

To apply, submit a cover letter, CV, and sample syllabus by March 1^st to info@history21.com. For questions, contact Jesse Spohnholz, Director, at spohnhoj@wsu.edu