Assistant Professor, Archaeology

Western Washington University with over 15000 students in seven colleges and the graduate school is nationally recognized for its educational programs students and faculty. The campus is located in Bellingham Washington a coastal community of 90000 overlooking Bellingham Bay the San Juan Islands and the North Cascades Mountain range. The city lies 90 miles north of Seattle and 60 miles south of Vancouver British Columbia. Western has additional sites in Anacortes Bremerton Everett Port Angeles and Poulsbo. Western is recognized nationally for its successes such as being named one of the top public masters-granting institutions in the Pacific Northwest for 25 years in a row by U.S. News & World Report.

Western Washington University is committed to achieving excellence through advancing inclusive success increasing our Washington impact and focusing on transformational education grounded in the liberal arts and sciences and based on innovative scholarship research and creative activity. Westerns greatest strength is the outstanding students faculty staff and alumni/ae who make up its community. Western supports an inclusive governance structure for all and provides a learning and working environment in which everyone can pursuit of this excellence individual employees are expected to establish and maintain productive and effective inclusive working relationships amongst diverse populations including staff faculty administration student and external constituents. Further individual employees are expected to have the ability to operationalize sustainability concepts (economic societal environmental) into all aspects of performing their job duties.

The Department of Anthropology invites applications for a full-time tenure-track Assistant Professor position in Archaeology to begin in September 2026. The ideal candidate will have a Ph.D. or ABD at the time of application and will have a strong foundation in the archaeology of western North America with a preference for Pacific Northwest (including the Salish Sea Northwest Coast and/or the Columbia and Fraser Plateau regions). The methodological specialty within archaeology is open. The Department is committed to maintaining a strong four fields approach to teaching and scholarship.

The ideal candidate is an Archaeologist whose research builds upon the departments existing strengths in collaborative and inclusive archaeology research that focuses on community engagement with implications for education heritage management and repatriation. We are especially interested in candidates with a track record in developing programs in partnership with descendant communities and that implement archaeological methods to address issues that are relevant to those outside the field. The Department of Anthropology is dedicated to the implementation of archaeology to address issues affecting local communities and populations incorporating experiential learning collaborative research and local/regional partnerships. The successful candidate will contribute to these areas and demonstrate how their active field or laboratory research program in archaeology could involve both undergraduate and graduate students. Teaching responsibilities include Introduction to Archaeology Archaeological Methods and Theory Cultural Resource Management Lab Methods in Archaeology and courses developed in their own specialty.

The Department of Anthropology is committed to advancing diversity in all areas of faculty effort including scholarship instruction and engagement. The successful candidate will be expected to fulfill teaching and mentoring responsibilities that provide equitable and inclusive learning environments for all students. Candidates should address at least one of the topical areas outlined above in their cover letter indicating how their past experiences current interests and activities and/or future goals would promote a learning environment that values and supports inclusion.

The successful candidate will build and maintain a research program involving both undergraduate and graduate students and will collaborate with researchers in and beyond the department and program.

Required qualifications:

• Ph.D. or ABD at time of application in Anthropological Archaeology or related field. If ABD all degree requirements must be completed by June 15^th of the first year of employment (e.g. June 15 2027).
• Evidence of the ability to develop and sustain an externally funded research program
• Teaching experience with a demonstrated ability to create an active and effective learning environment in university-level courses in Archaeology/Anthropology
• Demonstrated ability and commitment to cultivating learning environments that are equitable and inclusive of students with diverse social identities and backgrounds

• Experience in and commitment to community-based and collaborative archaeological practice including work conducted in partnership with descendant communities
• Archaeological research experience in the Pacific Northwest including the Northwest Coast Salish Sea and/or the Columbia and Fraser Plateau regions
• Expertise in lithics zooarchaeology ethnobotany geophysics or geoarchaeology with the ability to set up and manage labs/comparative collections
• Interest and expertise in archaeological ethics repatriation and cultural Patrimony
• Interest and ability to mentor and support the success of graduate students
• Post-doctoral research or relevant professional experience

Salary

Bargaining Unit

United Faculty of Western Washington

Application Instructions

A cover letter and curriculum vitae are required and should address your experience related to the position responsibilities and the required and preferred qualifications.

You will be asked to provide contact information of three references. Please do not provide letters of recommendation; these will only be needed for semi-finalists and will be automatically requested from the references via the PageUp system.

Also required is a separate statement addressing how you would fulfill teaching and mentoring responsibilities that provide equitable and inclusive learning environments for all students. You may draw upon your personal as well as professional experience in developing this statement. For more information about Westerns commitment to and work on equity inclusion and diversity please see Western Presidents page on Advancing Inclusion and Diversity.

Application review begins March 15 2026; position is open until filled.

Western Washington University (WWU) is an equal opportunity compliance with applicable laws WWU does not discriminate on the basis of race ethnicity color national origin age citizenship or immigration status pregnancy use of protective leave genetic status sex sexual orientation gender identity gender expression marital status creed religion veteran or military status disability or the use of a trained guide dog or service animal (including a service animal in training) by a person with a disability or any other characteristic protected by federal state or local law in its programs or activities including employment admissions and educational programs. See WWUs Policies onProhibiting Discrimination Based on A Protected Class and Prohibiting Discrimination Based on Sex. Inquiries may be directed to the Office of Civil Rights and Title IX Compliance Title IX and ADA Coordinator Western Washington University Old Main 126 (MS 9021) 516 High Street Bellingham WA 98225; 360.650.3307 (voice) or 711 (Washington Relay);

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