Food studies/material culture studies position
Maria Velazquez
Dillard University, classified by the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education as a balanced arts and sciences/professional institution, invites applications for the position of Ray Charles Endowed Chair in African American Material Culture. The University is located in the culturally rich and diverse city of New Orleans, Louisiana.
Job Description:
The position will be at the assistant or associate level. The Chair will report to the Vice President for Academic Affairs. The Endowed Chair position is established as a central part of the University’s program in African American Material Culture supported by the Ray Charles Foundation.
Individuals with exceptional credentials, and visionary leadership are invited to apply. The successful candidate will serve as Dillard University’s Ray Charles Endowed Chair in African American Material Culture. This is a community-centric position, and he/she will serve as the strategic thinker and leader in fostering excellence and providing leadership for faculty, students and the community by establishing, maintaining and strengthening a nationally recognized program that will serve as the center for the study, preservation and proliferation (through publication) of culinary studies in the southeast.
This position offers a unique and exciting opportunity in its role and capacity for outreach dimensions to a community audience that will enable Dillard to bring to light the traditions/practices of African American daily life by exploring the historical/cultural context of food preparation within the African American community in the south.
The Endowed Chair in African American Material Culture shall develop, implement and oversee a material culture program that will make the university a premier institution in the area. The successful candidate shall: introduce a lecture series with a focus on New Orleans’ distinct cuisines; offer freshmen students a lesson on New Orleans cuisines through the Center for the First Year Experience; form a partnership between the School of Humanities and campus food service company—Sodexo-- to offer hands-on cooking lessons to students with a focus on New Orleans cuisines; collaborate with the Office of Community Relations to conduct a series of health expos featuring healthy food demonstrations; and work with faculty & students to create a living history for publication of local home cooks.
Department of American Studies
mvel...@umd.edu
maria.i....@gmail.com