Introduction

San Francisco State University, Department of Special Education offers an exciting opportunity for a tenure-track Assistant Professor position in Special Education beginning August 2020. We seek a colleague whose teaching and research interests include a specialization on students with extensive support needs (i.e., moderate to severe disabilities). We are especially interested in qualified diverse candidates who can contribute, through their research, teaching, and service, to the excellence of the academic community.

The Department of Special Education was established in 1948 as the first such academic unit in the state of California. Through the decades, the Department provided leadership in the field with prominent faculty members in the areas of inclusive education, visual impairment, early childhood special education, autism spectrum, transition to work, orientation and mobility, and deaf education. In 1967, San Francisco State College began the Joint Doctoral Program (PhD) in Special Education with the University of California, Berkeley. The Joint PhD Program was the first such program approved in the state of California by the Joint Graduate Board and is now in its fifth decade. The program provides the opportunity for faculty members to mentor doctoral students in research, program model development, and train future university academicians. Now in its seventh decade, the Department of Special Education continues our commitment to professional preparation, research, and scholarship. Professional training is informed and enhanced by faculty who are leading researchers in their areas of specialization with a long history of successful funding through internal and external grants and contracts.

The mission of San Francisco State University is to create and maintain an environment for learning that promotes respect for and appreciation of scholarship, freedom, human diversity, and the cultural mosaic of the City of San Francisco and the Bay Area; to promote excellence in instruction and intellectual accomplishment; and to provide broadly accessible higher education for residents of the region and state, as well as the nation and world. To fulfill its mission, the University is committed to the following goals:

• Attracting, retaining and graduating a highly diverse student body
• Providing disciplinary and interdisciplinary liberal arts and professional education that is academically rigorous and intellectually challenging
• Providing curricula that reflect all dimensions of human diversity, and that encourage critical thinking and a commitment to social justice
• Recruiting, retaining and supporting a diverse faculty whose teaching demonstrates an active engagement with their individual fields of study and whose creative and scholarly work is an extension of the classroom, laboratory or studio
• Employing a staff and administration reflecting the diversity of our student community and the values of the campus;
• Fostering a collegial and cooperative intellectual environment that includes recognition and appreciation of differing viewpoints and promotes academic freedom within the University community; and
• Serving the communities with which its students and faculty are engaged.

Responsibilities: The position requires undergraduate and graduate teaching in extensive support needs (formerly Moderate/Severe Disabilities) and inclusive education, mentoring and advising undergraduate and graduate students, ongoing committee and service assignments, and developing an active ongoing scholarship program in a related area of study (e.g., inclusive education, quality education for students with extensive support needs, positive behavior supports, alternative/augmentative communication, family-school partnerships in special education, and systems change). A detailed position description is available at sped.sfsu.edu.

Qualifications:

Required:

• PhD or equivalent terminal degree in Special Education (emphasis on extensive support needs); Terminal degree must be completed by the first day of employment
• Record of working and communicating effectively with colleagues and students
• Minimum of two years teaching experience with students with extensive support needs in schools and related settings

Preferred:

• Demonstrated ability to teach courses in intervention methods for the full range of students with extensive support needs
• Demonstrated ability to supervise student field experiences
• Expertise in the education of students with extensive support needs, inclusive education, and the implementation of standards-based academic curricula in inclusive educational settings
• Knowledge and skills to effectively collaborate with families, general education practitioners, and other agencies providing services to children and students with extensive support needs
• Demonstrated leadership skills and documented commitment to research and innovation
• Record of teaching contributions in the areas of: special education, inclusive education, extensive support needs
• Active record of scholarship related to specialty area and evidence of external support and grant funding
• Demonstrated ability to incorporate inclusion, diversity, and educational equity in teaching, and scholarship
• Experience teaching and working closely with students from historically under-represented communities
• Oral and written communication skills in the English language at a level that comprehends and conveys information to and from students, colleagues, and others in an effective manner;
• Interpersonal orientation that encourages productive interactions with students, colleagues, and other campus stakeholders and promotes collegiality in department, college and university contexts
• Prior teaching experience in higher education with a large, diverse student body or in a multicultural setting
• Prior teaching experience teaching in fully online or hybrid formats
• Successful experience in the development and implementation of funded research, technical assistance, or personnel preparation grant projects

Rank and salary: Assistant Professor. Salary commensurate with qualifications and experience. The California State University (CSU) provides generous health, retirement and other benefits.

Application: Submit letter of interest, a current CV, a statement on how your teaching and scholarship align with the commitment of the Department of Special Education to foster an inclusive and diverse academic community; sample of scholarly papers; names and contact information of three references. Letters of recommendation upon request at a later date. Email documents to Jeanne Oh at joh2@sfsu.edu. Applications will be reviewed starting on September 16, 2019.

San Francisco State is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate against persons on the basis of race, religion, color, ancestry, age, disability, genetic information, gender, gender identity, gender expression, marital status, medical condition, National origin, sex, sexual orientation, covered veteran status, or any other protected status. Reasonable accommodations will be provided for qualified applicants with disabilities who self-disclose by contacting the Senior Human Resources Manager.

Contact Us: joh2@sfsu.edu

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