Visiting Scholar Faculty Position in SLIS

Located in Bostons historic Fenway area Simmons University has a strong tradition of empowering women and challenging traditional gender roles. Simmons was founded for equality 125 years ago as one of the first higher education institutions dedicated to helping women become leaders. Today our university continues to grow and evolve and now offers Bostons only womens undergraduate program and graduate programs open to all.

Youre joining our community at an especially exciting time as we continue to innovate for the future. Simmons recently launched a sixschool academic structure that leverages our expert faculty and longstanding expertise in professions that make our communities stronger. In addition we continue to highlight our highvalue education proposition that is delivering greater ROI to students and putting them on the fast track to career growth and success. Youll find that people who work here truly believe in our mission of preparing students to become social justiceoriented leaders who excel in their professions and their communities. This commitment and pride make for a dynamic workplace.

As a university that values diversity equity and inclusion Simmons encourages applications from all underrepresented groups. Simmons is committed to creating developing promoting and enhancing inclusive hiring practicesat all levels for all positionsensuring diverse talent pools and the delivery of a consistent positive candidate experience. Simmons is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to continuing to develop a more diverse faculty staff student body and curriculum.

Simmons Universitys School of Library and Information Science (SLIS) seeks outstanding scholars and teachers to fill a twoyear Visiting Scholar faculty position to start in Fall 2025.

The Allen Smith Visiting Scholar Position celebrates the life of Professor Allen Smith who taught at SLIS for 31 years from 1978 until his passing in 2008. Smith regularly taught courses in reference humanities and oral history. He was well known for his diverse interests ranging from his expertise as a farrier to his definitive writing on the Appalachian dulcimer. Upon his passing a visiting scholars fellowship was endowed to bring respected scholars from the broad areas of reference humanities and oral history to come to SLIS and share their expertise.

In keeping with the vision of the Allen Smith endowment applicants should be able to teach one or more of the following courses:

• LIS 407 Information Services Behaviors & Ethics
• LIS 408 User Instruction and Information Literacy
• LIS 433 Oral History
• LIS 4XX Reference and Information Services

The Visiting Scholar will have the unique opportunity to propose a new course that aligns with Dr. Allen Smiths areas of focus thereby contributing to our institutions academic growth and diversity. Candidates will be expected to teach conduct research contribute to curriculum development and provide service to the School the University and the information professions. Experience designing and delivering online courses in an asynchronous environment is highly desirable as is the ability to teach in our facetoface program. Opportunities to teach include masters and doctoral level courses and facetoface in Boston and at the SLIS West program in Greenfield Massachusetts.

Requirements: Applicants must hold a doctoral degree in library and information science information studies or an appropriately related field.. We seek colleagues who can demonstrate excellence in teaching have a viable research agenda and show the potential for leadership in scholarship and professional service.
Benefits: This position is funded by the Allen Smith Endowment. The successful candidate may be eligible for moving costs and/or a housing allowance.
For further information please email Sanda Erdelez at

Instructions to Applicants: Please upload all applicable application materials (e.g. resume/cv cover letter writing sample teaching philosophy etc.) in the Application Materials box on page 2 (My Experience) of this application. Documents can be uploaded individually or as a combined document (e.g. PDF).

Simmons University is committed to inclusive excellence in all aspects of an individuals community experience. As a university committed to diversity equity and inclusion Simmons encourages applications from all underrepresented groups. Simmons is committed to creating developing promoting and enhancing inclusive hiring practicesat all levels for all positionsensuring diverse talent pools and the delivery of a consistent positive candidate experience. Simmons is an equal opportunity employer and is committed to continuing to develop a more diverse faculty staff student body and curriculum.