The School of Civic Leadership at The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin), in partnership with the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Study of Core Texts and Ideas and supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities, invites applications for full-time tenured faculty positions at the associate or full professor level in the Great Books, with a field in literature. Exceptional candidates will be eligible for endowed chairs and professorships. Successful candidates’ primary appointments will be in the School of Civic Leadership, with affiliations in the Thomas Jefferson Center. The possibility of partial appointments in the disciplinary department may also be explored. Appointments will begin in Fall 2027.
Successful candidates will combine teaching in the School’s discussion-based Great Books curriculum, centered on close reading of primary texts, with teaching in the University’s core curriculum. Courses are conducted as small seminars and discussion sections in which students engage directly with foundational, wisdom-seeking works in and between a range of disciplines: political thought, philosophy, literature, religious studies, history, and the liberal arts broadly. Instruction emphasizes careful textual analysis, sustained inquiry into enduring questions, and thoughtful conversation among students and faculty.
The School of Civic Leadership is a new interdisciplinary school at UT Austin dedicated to preparing students for leadership in a free society. Its dual mission is to equip students with the knowledge and aptitudes necessary to lead the public and private institutions of a free society, and to produce academic research at the highest levels of scholarly excellence.
The School of Civic Leadership is expanding its major offerings. In addition to the Civics Honors major, in Fall 2027 the School is starting a Great Books major in partnership with the Thomas Jefferson Center. It is developing a conceptually interdisciplinary PhD program in Civic Thought.
The Thomas Jefferson Center for the Study of Core Texts and Ideas, situated in the College of Liberal Arts, sustains the tradition of close reading of foundational texts through its Jefferson Scholars Program, its Core Texts and Ideas Certificate, and endeavors such as the Civic Thought Initiative. Its work is to help students become more reflective about their own beliefs, more capacious in their sympathies, and better prepared to engage in civil and respectful dialogue.
We seek outstanding candidates with a Ph.D. in a field related to the Great Books whose pedagogy and scholarship speak to the School of Civic Leadership’s core mission of educating citizens for freedom in its multiple senses: economic, political, and intellectual. We are especially interested in work on the literature of the modern period, from the early modern era to the present, read as wisdom-seeking inquiry into enduring human questions, and we welcome work across the full range of modern literary form — drama, lyric and narrative poetry, the novel, the essay, and philosophical and political prose — in English and the other modern languages. More broadly, we are interested in work that inquires into expressions of Western civilization that have become central to the American civic experience: the roots of the West in Athens and Jerusalem; Roman law; American letters; works of literature, art, architecture, music, and science; reflections on politics and civic life; and moral reflection.
Ideal candidates will (1) demonstrate a commitment to the pedagogical idiom of discussion oriented toward clarifying fundamental questions, along with evidence of exceptional teaching, (2) have excellent records of scholarship with robust research agendas, (3) show a readiness to contribute to the intellectual life, governance, and programmatic development of the School of Civic Leadership and the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Study of Core Texts and Ideas, and (4) show a readiness to teach in the University’s renewed core curriculum, focusing on the Great Questions of Human Life and inviting students into a deeper engagement in the pursuit of wisdom, and to build partnerships across the University, including with other relevant departments and programs.
The School of Civic Leadership and the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Study of Core Texts and Ideas invite applicants to submit a cover letter and curriculum vitae, along with the names of three recommenders; letters will be requested at a later stage. Cover letters should give a brief overview of the candidate’s research agenda, highlight areas of teaching competence, and concisely describe how the candidate would contribute to developing the School of Civic Leadership and the study of the Great Books at the University of Texas.
The University of Texas at Austin, as an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer, complies with all applicable federal and state laws regarding nondiscrimination and affirmative action. The University is committed to a policy of equal opportunity for all persons and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, disability, religion, or veteran status in employment, educational programs and activities, and admissions.
