[URPE] UMass Amherst Job Posting: ENDOWED CHAIR IN THE STUDY OF NONVIOLENT DIRECT ACTION AND CIVIL RESISTANCE

[Michael Ash]

Dear friends and colleagues,

I am pasting below a job posting for an extraordinary academic position at
UMass Amherst: an endowed chair in the study of nonviolent direct action
and civil resistance.  The home department will be selected to match the
qualifications of the scholar (could be an economist, sociologist,
psychologist, etc., etc.).  Please see the job posting for details and feel
free to circulate widely.

Best regards,
Michael Ash
Professor and Chair, Economics
UMass Amherst



ENDOWED CHAIR IN THE STUDY OF NONVIOLENT
DIRECT ACTION AND CIVIL RESISTANCE
The University of Massachusetts Amherst invites applications and
nominations for a visionary
scholar of distinction to serve as the inaugural holder of the Endowed
Chair in the Study of
Nonviolent Direct Action and Civil Resistance, a new faculty position
focused on the scientific study
of nonviolent direct action and civil resistance.
Nonviolent direct action refers to strategies and activities designed to
achieve social and political
change without the use of violence. Examples of nonviolent direct action
include collective
organizing, social movements, protests, sit-ins, vigils, consciousness
raising, and other forms of civil
disobedience and nonviolent resistance.  Proponents of nonviolent direct
action recognize the need
for active struggle to foster social and political change and use
nonviolent approaches as alternatives
 to passive acceptance of oppression and inequality, or the use of violent
confrontation, to achieve
social and political goals.  The activities of Mohandas K. Gandhi and
Martin Luther King, Jr. (and
others like them) provide good examples of the kinds of nonviolent direct
action on which the
chairholder should focus his/her scientific work.
The chairholder will provide national/international leadership to the study
of this critical topic. The
chairholder may be from any discipline, but her/his research methodology
must be scientific and
focused on large-scale social phenomena.
The appointment will be at the full or associate professor level. The
departmental home(s) of the
appointee will be determined based on the successful candidate’s scholarly
expertise. The position
will begin as soon as a qualified candidate has been found.
The candidate is expected to become an integral member of the Psychology of
Peace and Violence
Program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and should be interested
in interdisciplinary
collaboration, scholarship, and training of graduate students on issues
involving peace, conflicts of
interest, nonviolent direct action, and civil resistance. The Psychology of
Peace and Violence Program
adds to scientific knowledge of how to resolve conflict between groups,
promotes reconciliation,
and builds peace through cooperation (www.umass.edu/peacepsychology).
Beyond her/his primary affiliation with the Psychology of Peace and
Violence Program, the
chairholder will find many other supportive colleagues here at the
University of Massachusetts
Amherst (UMass Amherst) and within the wider region.  For example, at UMass
Amherst, the
chairholder may affiliate with the Development and Peacebuilding Program of
the Political Economy
Research Institute, the Social Inequality and Justice Initiative of the
Center for Public Policy and
Administration, the Institute for Holocaust, Genocide, and Memory Studies,
and/or the Feinberg
Papers Project.
QUALIFICATIONS: a Ph.D. and a proven record as a scholar of the scientific
study of peace,
non-violent direct action, and civil resistance as well as exceptional
promise to serve as a national/
international leader in advancing this study at UMass Amherst and beyond
are required; a
proven record of inclusive and multi-cultural skills in teaching, research,
and/or service is strongly
preferred.
RANK AND SALARY: Commensurate with experience and qualifications.
NOMINATIONS AND APPLICATIONS: Review of applications will begin on March 5,
2012 but
the committee will continue to accept applications until the position has
been filled. Applications
comprising a cover letter expressing interest and describing research
program, a vitae and a list
of at least three references should be sent to Kelly Smiaroski at:
ksmiaroski at provost.umass.edu
or Kelly Smiaroski, Office of the Provost, 373 Whitmore Administration
Building, University of
Massachusetts, 181 President’s Avenue, Amherst, MA 01003-9313. Electronic
submissions strongly
preferred.
The University of Massachusetts Amherst is an Affirmative Action/Equal
Opportunity employer. It is strongly
committed to increasing the diversity of faculty, students, and curriculum,
and particularly encourages
applications from women and minorities.
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: text/html
Size: 5594 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/pipermail/urpe-announcements/attachments/20120208/f27696db/attachment.txt>