London - Spring 2014
- Position available: Visiting Faculty/Director
- Appointment for: Spring 2014
- Program: London & Florence: Arts in Context
- Location: London, England
- Application deadline: March 31, 2012
- See the program pages for London & Florence: Arts in Context
General framework of the program
The ACM London & Florence: Arts in Context program seeks to give students the ability to read a city, with its architecture and its art serving as texts that recount the history of its economy, polity, and community. Immersed in arts and culture, of both the present and the past in London and Florence, students learn how to view works of art in situ and how to understand them in the social, political, economic and aesthetic contexts in which these works were created.
Students will live and study in two urban environments that have continued to fascinate visitors and scholars alike for their ongoing vitality over many centuries. While they learn about the past and how each city came to foster such extraordinary creativity in the arts, students will become temporary residents of a living, thriving urban environment. Students will see how each city works, day to day, even while they investigate how each city has functioned in the past as an artistic center.
By traveling its cityscape, patronizing its theatres, visiting its museums, its public spaces and marketplaces, students will develop a sense of the ongoing vitality of both London and Florence. Each city will become for students a living laboratory, a text to be read and understood. Emphasizing arts in context, the course offerings at each site provide an interdisciplinary panorama of the arts and history as well as contrasts between the two cities.
The program enrolls up to 20 students in each of two seven-week segments, with one group beginning in London and the other in Florence, then switching sites at the end of the seven weeks. Standard course offerings include history, Italian language, and art history (in Florence) as well as theater and drama and urban history (in London).
The overall learning goals of the program are:
- To convey to students an understanding of the cultural heritage and present-day complexities of two European cities, London and Florence;
- To enhance students' critical thinking skills and specifically their ability to “read” a city through its artistic media;
- To develop students' intercultural awareness in both an English-speaking milieu and in a culture where English is not the medium of communication.
In London, students enroll in two courses, "London as a Visual Text," taught by a local faculty member, and a course taught by the Visiting Faculty/Director, which typically centers on London’s rich theater and drama opportunities. In Florence, students enroll in Italian language, history, and art history courses.
Specific duties of the Visiting Faculty/Director
The Visiting Faculty/Director in London is expected to teach one course in his/her area of expertise in each of the two segments. Typically this course has focused on theatre and drama, with regular theatre attendance built into the course's structure. This course is intended to complement the "London as a Visual Text" course, and to address specifically the opportunities afforded by study in London.
In addition, as the Program Director, he/she is responsible for the on-site orientation when students first arrive, oversees program financial operations, works with local faculty and staff to plan and participate in program-sponsored site visits and excursions, assists students to adapt to life in London, and handles any emergencies that may arise.
The Visiting Faculty/Director will attend the ACM annual conference for program directors and faculty as well as an orientation session in preparation for his/her time abroad.
Compensation
The faculty member will continue to receive his/her salary and benefits through the home college. In addition, ACM will provide round-trip airfare between the home school and London as well as shipping and housing allowances. Candidates may also apply to ACM for additional travel funds to cover the transportation expenses of a spouse/domestic partner and up to two dependent children (under 18) who will accompany the faculty member and live with him/her for the duration of the program. (ACM will reimburse the home college at the rate of one-half the salary of the faculty member for the period of the assignment.)
Application criteria
Any faculty member at an ACM college is eligible to apply, although priority will be given to a faculty member whose disciplinary expertise is relevant to the program curriculum. It is also to useful have some experience with off-campus study, as the Visiting Faculty/Director serves as an academic advisor for program participants and may be called upon to handle a variety of student-related issues as students become adjusted to their surroundings.
Application procedures
Interested faculty should contact Carol Dickerman, ACM Director of International Study Programs.
Applications should include:
- A letter describing the applicant's background and interest in the program, outlining goals related to teaching and in working with students and detailing how the applicant would contribute to achieving the program's overall mission and learning goals.
- A brief description of the proposed course and how it too would contribute to the program's mission and learning goals.
- Summary of teaching evaluations.
- A curriculum vitae.
- A letter from the chief academic officer endorsing the application.
Selection will be made in consultation with the London/Florence Program Faculty Advisory Committee. The application deadline is March 31, 2012. The letter of application and supporting materials should be sent, in electronic form, to acm@acm.edu.