Open date: February 25, 2025
Deadline to apply: While the search remains open until the position is filled, interested applicants are asked to submit their complete application package by April 4, 2025.
The Faculty of Education invites internal candidates to apply for the Eleanor Rix Professorship in Rural Teacher Education.
The Faculty of Education invites internal candidates to apply for the Eleanor Rix Professorship in Rural Teacher Education. We are seeking a scholar who will work to better understand and respond to current challenges and opportunities that exist in rural education. In the context of this Professorship, rural education may be defined and constructed as education in rural or remote settings, and/or educational environments which experience differences based on geographical location, history, and traditions. All full-time tenure stream UBC Faculty of Education faculty members appointed on the Vancouver campus in either the Professoriate stream or the Educational Leadership stream at the rank of Assistant Professor*, Assistant Professor of Teaching*, Associate Professor, Associate Professor of Teaching, Professor, or Professor of Teaching are eligible to apply. The appointment of the Professorship is expected to start July 1, 2025, or as negotiated with the successful candidate.
*Note that faculty members in the rank of Assistant Professor or Assistant Professor of Teaching must, at the time of application, have been in the rank at UBC for 3+ years in order to be eligible to hold this honorific.
In line with our commitment to honouring the intent of the generous funder of this Professorship and the associated terms of reference, the appointee of this Professorship is charged with the following mandate:
- Respond to the increasingly diverse landscape of rural school districts in British Columbia and Canada, and determine how best to support educators and communities.
- Work with school boards to help create conditions needed to support teachers in rural settings across British Columbia and Canada.
- Create provincial networks of academic, educational, and community leaders that will assist in the recruitment and retention of teachers in rural communities.
- Explore innovative approaches to teaching and learning in rural settings, including through online and hybrid settings.
Interested applicants are asked to submit the following materials for consideration by the Dean, the Associate Dean, Research, and the advisory committee, for an appointment to this Professorship:
- Cover letter (maximum two pages, single-spaced);
- Curriculum vitae;
- Short biography (maximum one page, single-spaced) that highlights key achievements from your CV in relation to this position;
- Vision statement (maximum three pages, single-spaced) for the Professorship, indicating how you would implement the mandate described above and how you would assess the impact of the proposed Professorship activities and initiatives;
- EDID statement (maximum one page, single-spaced) that describes and documents your contributions to equity, diversity, inclusion, and decolonization (EDID) through your teaching, research or educational leadership, service, and community engagement, addressing the following three areas: (1) understanding of and knowledge about EDID, (2) track record in advancing EDID, and (3) future plans for EDID while holding this Professorship; and
- Two letters of reference (maximum two pages, single-spaced, each) that are signed, dated, and on letterhead. The references shall be as follows:
- One university-affiliated faculty member external to the UBC Faculty of Education;
- One non-university community member with whom you have worked on issues relevant to this Professorship.
All application materials must be submitted to the Office of the Dean via email (info.educ@ubc.ca) by the end of the day on April 4, 2025. The two confidential letters of reference must be sent by the referees to the same email.
Criteria for evaluation to be evidenced in the application materials shall include: (a) strong record of research or educational leadership related to the mandate of the Professorship, including successful grant funding where applicable; (b) demonstrated leadership and teaching in the area of rural teacher education or closely related areas; (c) awareness of contexts that impact rural communities and rural educators, including but not limited to community dynamics, globalization, (im)migration, the labour market, settler colonialism, and climate change; (d) awareness of community-oriented approaches to rural teacher education, including the Faculty of Education’s Rural and Remote Teacher Education Program; (e) ability to advocate for policy development and advancement in rural and remote education; and (f) awareness of equity, diversity, inclusion, and decolonization considerations relevant to rural education.
Shortlisted applicants will be asked to participate in an individual interview with the advisory committee, as well as provide a presentation followed by a question & answer session open to the Faculty of Education community. With the shortlisted applicants’ consent, their biographies and vision statements will be shared with the Faculty of Education community before the presentation.
Terms of the Professorship:
- The appointment will be for a three-year term.
- The Professorship holder must maintain active full-time tenure stream employment status in the UBC Faculty of Education Vancouver Point Grey campus at the rank of Assistant Professor, Assistant Professor of Teaching, Associate Professor, Associate Professor of Teaching, Professor, or Professor of Teaching during the term of the Professorship. Faculty members in the rank of Assistant Professor or Assistant Professor of Teaching must, at the time of application, have been in the rank at UBC for 3+ years in order to be eligible to hold this honorific.
- The Professorship holder will be provided with annual financial support of $30,000 per year to be directed to research or educational leadership activities, research assistant support, and programmatic initiatives that are associated with the Professorship. With approval and as permitted by the Faculty Workload Policy, funds can be used for teaching release at $15,000 per three-credit course (up to one course of teaching release per year). Release of funds is contingent on the approval of an annual budget prepared by the Professorship holder and continued availability of the endowment fund’s annual spending allocation.
- Implementation and oversight of the Chair, with respect to budget review and annual reporting, will be guided by the Faculty of Education’s Internal Search Procedures for Chairs and Professorships, the Office of Research in Education (ORE), and the Development and Alumni Engagement (DAE) office requirements for annual reports to donors who fund the Professorship.
Questions regarding this call for applications should be directed to Dr. Nancy Perry, Associate Dean, Research, at nancy.perry@ubc.ca.
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Equity and diversity are essential to academic excellence. An open and diverse community fosters the inclusion of voices that have been underrepresented or discouraged. We encourage applications from colleagues who are members of groups that have been marginalized on any grounds enumerated under the B.C. Human Rights Code, including sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, racialization, disability, political belief, religion, marital or family status, age, and/or status as a First Nation, Métis, Inuit, or Indigenous person.
