2023/2024 Assistant or Associate Professor of Teaching in Korean Language (Director of the Korean Language Program)

2023/2024 Assistant or Associate Professor of Teaching in Korean Language (Director of the Korean Language Program)

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Application deadline: November 27, 2023

Date of posting: September 27, 2023

 

The Department of Asian Studies at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, invites applications for a tenure-track position in the field of Korean applied linguistics to serve as Director of the Korean Language Program, with the possibility of appointment at the Assistant Professor of Teaching or Associate Professor of Teaching rank., commencing July 1, 2024.

The successful candidate will have responsibility for teaching courses in Korean language, developing curriculum in Korean language and culture, and directing a large and growing Korean language program. Preference will be given to candidates with experience teaching in and coordinating a Korean language program at the post-secondary level in North America.

 

Requirements include: advanced proficiency in Korean; a Ph.D. in either Korean Language and Linguistics, Korean Applied Linguistics, Korean language pedagogy, or a closely related field; exceptional organizational and leadership skills; evidence of substantial experience and excellent teaching ability in Korean for both heritage and non-heritage learners at the post-secondary level in North America; experience preparing teaching materials independently or collaboratively; and a strong track record of full participation in team work and program affairs. Individuals with experience in community outreach, program coordination and design, and teaching innovative Content-Based Instruction (CBI) curriculum for advanced learners of Korean are particularly encouraged to apply.

We seek an exceptional teacher with a track record of employing innovative pedagogies, such as community-based learning, flexible and/or online learning. The successful candidate will be expected to maintain an excellent record of teaching, service, and educational leadership.

Candidates must have a Ph.D. in a relevant field or expect to have successfully defended the dissertation before July 1, 2024. The normal teaching load of an Assistant or Associate Professor of Teaching is six 3-credit courses over the academic year. Courses will range from first- to fourth-year undergraduate courses and the bulk of the annual teaching load will be courses in Korean Language for both heritage and non-heritage learners. The successful candidate will be expected to work closely with other tenure-stream Asian Studies faculty in Korean Studies. Further information about the Department can be found on its website, asia.ubc.ca.

This is a tenure-track position in the Educational Leadership stream. A successful candidate hired at the Assistant Professor rank will be reviewed for reappointment, tenure, and promotion in subsequent years, in accordance with the Collective Agreement. For a description of the Educational Leadership stream ranks and criteria for reappointment and promotion, visit: http://www.hr.ubc.ca/faculty-relations/collective-agreements/appointment-faculty/.

The application dossier should include:

  1. Application letter;
  2. Curriculum vitae;
  3. Statement of teaching philosophy;
  4. Complete transcripts of one’s post-secondary education;
  5. A one-page statement about your experience working with a diverse student body and your contributions or potential contributions to creating/advancing a culture of equity and inclusion;
  6. Evidence of teaching effectiveness (e.g., sample course syllabi, course evaluations, and any other evidence of teaching effectiveness)
  7. Links to two sample teaching videos (from different levels, or else from heritage and non-heritage classes), uploaded to YouTube (or equivalent platform) as unlisted videos
  8. Lesson plans for each of the lessons shown in the sample teaching videos

Other hiring information:

The starting salary for the position will be commensurate with qualifications and experience. This position is subject to final budgetary approval.

The deadline for receipt of complete applications is November 27, 2023. The anticipated start date of employment is July 1, 2024.

Applicants with questions about the position or who have technical difficulties are welcome to contact asia.jobsearch@ubc.ca.
All application materials should be submitted electronically through the Department’s careers website, https://asia.ubc.ca/department/careers/ by November 27, 2023. Inquiries may be sent to asia.jobsearch@ubc.ca.

Equity and diversity are essential to academic excellence. An open and diverse community fosters the inclusion of voices that have been underrepresented or discouraged. We encourage applications from members of groups that have been marginalized on any grounds enumerated under the B.C. Human Rights Code, including sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, racialization, disability, political belief, religion, marital or family status, age, and/or status as a First Nation, Métis, Inuit, or Indigenous person. All qualified persons are encouraged to apply; however, Canadian citizens and permanent residents of Canada will be given priority.

Jazbaatan Da Kinara (Coastline of Emotions) by Gurinder Mann (2023)

Publication title: Jazbaatan Da Kinara (Coastline of Emotions)

Publication year: 2023

Author: Gurinder Mann

About the book

Jazbaatan Da Kinara (Coastline of Emotions) is Gurinder Mann’s debut book, where he will take you on a journey of heart felt emotions through Punjabi poetry. These poems touch upon various topics, issues, and sentiments, and uses the tools of imagery, metaphor, and personification to illustrate emotions on the broad range of subjects presented.

The Penguin Book of Korean Short Stories edited by Bruce Fulton (2023)

Publication title: The Penguin Book of Korean Short Stories

Publication year: 2023

Author:  Introduced by Kwon Youngmin, edited by Bruce Fulton

About the book

Journeying through Korea’s dramatic recent past, from the Japanese occupation and colonial era to the devastating war between north and south and the rapid, disorienting urbanization of later decades, The Penguin Book of Korean Short Stories captures a hundred years of vivid storytelling.

Here are peddlers and donkeys travelling across moonlit fields; artists drinking and debating in the tea-houses of 1920s Seoul; soldiers fighting for survival; exiles from the war who can never go home again; and lonely men and women searching for connection in the dizzying modern city. The collection features stories by some of Korea’s greatest writers, including Pak Wanso, O Chonghui and Cho Chongnae, as well as many brilliant contemporary voices, such as P’yon Hyeyong, Han Yujoo and Kim Aeran. Curated by Bruce Fulton, this is a volume that will surprise, unsettle and delight.

Togani by Gong Ji-young, translated by Bruce Fulton and Ju-Chan Fulton (2023)

Publication title: Togani

Publication year: 2023

Author: Translated by Bruce Fulton and Ju-Chan Fulton; Series edited by Bruce Fulton

About the book

Atmospheric and fast-paced, this novel of manners set in a provincial South Korean city leads readers through the silent corridors of a school for hearing-impaired children and the city’s foggy back streets and murky centers of power to a stirring courtroom climax. Gong Ji-young’s Togani (The Crucible), published in Korean in 2009, is based on a historic case of child sexual abuse at a state-run institution. The novel went on to sell nearly a million copies and, along with a 2011 film adaptation directed by Hwang Dong-hyuk, prompted the South Korean National Assembly to pass the “Togani Laws” to provide greater legal protections for children and vulnerable adults under state care and harsher penalties for those convicted of their abuse. At a time when Korean popular culture drives cultural production worldwide, Togani reminds us of the power of fiction to effect meaningful societal change.

A story of courage in the face of corruption, Togani offers nuanced portraits of a failed young businessman seeking a new life as a teacher and his counterpart, a young woman committed to a career in human rights; a police officer of humble origins who rose through the ranks as he turns a blind eye to the abuse of students by the school’s administrators; and a hearing-impaired teenage girl, a victim of that abuse, who cares deeply for the other children at the school. The book testifies to the legacy of neo-Confucian class conflict, gender disparity, and the vulnerability of those near the bottom of the social ladder. It is a heart-wrenching and provocative work that helped bring about change to a system it dared to challenge.

2025 Asian Studies Summer Teaching Assistantships

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Application deadline: March 31, 2025

Date of Posting:          March 14, 2025

Courses
ASIA 110Introduction to Religions in Asia
ASIA 211Sex, Sexual Ethics, and Asian Religions
ASIA 305Asian Horror Cinema: National Nightmares and Specters of Trauma
ASIA 314Premodern Japan
ASIA 323History of Cantonese Worlds
ASIA 325Hong Kong Cinema
ASIA 326Critical Approaches to Manga and Anime
ASIA 327Korean Popular Music in Context
ASIA 330Muslims in Modern South Asia
ASIA 331Islam in South Asia (750-1750)
ASIA 338Modern India
ASIA 345Chinese Film Classics
ASIA 351Modern Chinese Fiction in Translation
ASIA 355History of Chinese Cinema
ASIA 356Korean Cinema
ASIA 359Afghan History
ASIA 361Modern Chinese Fiction in Translation II
ASIA 363Fiction and Film from Modern Taiwan
ASIA 365Punjabi Cinema
ASIA 366AModern Iranian Women Writers and Artists
ASIA 370The Sanskrit Cosmopolis: India and the World, 200-1500 CE
ASIA 375Global Chinese Cinemas
ASIA 380Modern Arabic Literature from the Middle East and North Africa in Translation
ASIA 393History of Iran from the Sasanians to the Safavids
ASIA 395Modern Persian Literature
ASIA 419Economic History of India
ASIA 428Mughal India
ASIA 456History and Culture of Taiwan

(Please note the course list is not comprehensive, and is an estimate at the time of this posting. Not all courses on the list will be assigned a TA. Language courses will also be available. The application form does not restrict applications to the contents of this list.)

Required qualifications:

  • High level of fluency in the language/subject to be taught
  • Ability to prepare teaching materials
  • Training or previous experience in language teaching in the relevant language desirable

Period of Employment:

Term 1:      May 13 – July 1, 2025
Term 2:     July 2 – August 24, 2025
NOTE: All teaching assistantships for the 2025 Summer session will be 192 hours per course unless otherwise noted.

General nature of the duties: 

Preparation of and instruction in the language laboratory, discussion periods, tutorial sessions, review sessions and lectures; teaching ; keeping class records; setting, marking and providing feedback on examinations, tests and assignments; holding office hours; invigilating exams and assisting instructors to conduct oral exams; management and maintenance of a website and Canvas; duplicating materials; ordering and obtaining AV equipment; demonstrating procedures or setting up demonstrations.

Current salary: 

Graduate Teaching Assistant I (Doctoral) or equivalent $40.16/hour
Graduate Teaching Assistant II (Masters) or equivalent$38.65/hour
Undergraduate Teaching Assistant (UTA1)$26.40/hour

Application Procedure:

If you are interested and think that you qualify, please fill out an application here: https://asia.air.arts.ubc.ca/ta-form-2025-s/

The deadline for submission is March 31, 2025.

Please note that generally it is impossible to make firm decisions about appointments until the enrollments are known at the end of the registration period.

Equity and diversity are essential to academic excellence. An open and diverse community fosters the inclusion of voices that have been underrepresented or discouraged. We encourage applications from members of groups that have been marginalized on any grounds enumerated under the B.C. Human Rights Code, including sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, racialization, disability, political belief, religion, marital or family status, age, and/or status as a First Nation, Metis, Inuit, or Indigenous person.

In Search of Liberty: Lin Yusheng’s Life and Thought by Josephine Chiu-Duke (2023)

Publication title: In Search of Liberty: Lin Yusheng’s Life and Thought

Publication year: 2023

Author: Dr. Josephine Chiu-Duke

About the book

Professor Lin Yu-sheng (1934-2022) was one of the leading scholars in modern Chinese intellectual history. His 1979 English book, The Crisis of Chinese Consciousness is a systematic study of radical anti-traditionalism in the May Fourth Era (1915-1927). It was translated into Chinese, Japanese and Korean in the 1980s and had a great impact throughout East Asia, especially on academic and cultural circles in Taiwan and China.

Professor Lin’s research primarily focused on modern and contemporary Chinese intellectual history and all his life he illuminated the concepts of liberty, rationality, democracy, and the rule of law for Chinese readers. In Search of Liberty is a comprehensive intellectual biography. The first half covers his early life and intellectual quest to understand the essence of classical liberalism under the guidance of Friedrich Hayek and Hannah Arendt who had a deep influence on him. The second half is an in depth investigation of his thought, a critical discussion of his works, and an exploration of his major themes and arguments. This study points out their logical connection, substantial significance, and great relevance to the modern world.

A Korean Confucian’s Advice on How to Be Moral: Tasan Chŏng Yagyong’s Reading of the Zhongyong by Don Baker (2023)

Publication title: A Korean Confucian’s Advice on How to Be Moral: Tasan Chŏng Yagyong’s Reading of the Zhongyong

Publication year: 2023

Author: Translated, annotated and with an introduction by Dr. Don Baker

About the book

Tasan Chŏng Yagyong (1762–1836) is one of the most creative thinkers Korea has ever produced, one of the country’s first Christians, and a leading scholar in Confucian philosophy. Born in a staunchly Neo-Confucian society, in his early twenties he encountered writings by Catholic missionaries in China and was fascinated. However, when he later learned that the Catholic Church condemned the Confucian practice of placing a spirit tablet on a family altar to honor past generations, he left the small Catholic community he had helped found and ostensibly returned to the Neo-Confucian fold. Nevertheless, the Christian ideas he studied in his youth influenced his thinking for the rest of his life, stimulating him to look at Neo-Confucianism with a critical eye and suggest new solutions to problems Confucian scholars had been addressing for centuries. A Korean Confucian’s Advice on How to Be Moral is an annotated translation of Tasan’s commentaries on the Confucian classic Zhongyong (usually translated as The Doctrine of the Mean) in which he applies both Confucianism and Christianity to the question of how to best develop a moral character.

Written as a dialogue with King Chŏngjo, (r. 1776–1800) these texts reveal how Tasan interpreted his Confucian tradition, particularly its understanding of how human beings could cultivate morality, while the king’s questions illustrate the mainstream Neo-Confucianism Tasan was reacting against. Tasan challenged the non-theistic standard, insisting that living a moral life is not easy and that we need to be motivated to exert the effort necessary to overcome our selfish tendencies. He had abandoned his faith by the time he wrote these commentaries but, influenced by Catholic works and determined to find a more effective way to live a moral life than non-theistic Neo-Confucianism provided, Tasan constructed a Confucian philosophy of moral improvement centered on belief in God. This translation, helpfully annotated for context and analysis, is an exploration of early Korean engagement with the West and a powerful guide to all those interested in Confucianism, Christianity, and morality.

Death of a Crow translated by Christina Yi (2022)

Publication title: Death of a Crow

Publication year: 2022

Author: Kim Sok-pom, translated by Christina Yi

About the book

Kim Sok-pom (b. 1925) is widely considered one of the most important zainichi (literally, “resident in Japan”) Korean writers of his generation. His seminal short story collection Death of a Crow (Karasu no shi) features three interlinked stories about the April 3 Incident of 1948 on Cheju Island and two texts centered on the history of zainichi Koreans. Published by Seoul Selection, the English translation is part of a larger Korean Diaspora Literature series supported by the Literature Translation Institute of Korea; other titles in the series include Lee Yangji’s Nabi T’aryǒng and Other Stories; Kim Tal-su’s The Trial of Pak Tal and Other Stories; and Yang Seok-il’s Blood and Bones.

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Tenure-stream Assistant or Associate Professor in Punjabi Language, Literature, and Culture

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Application deadline: December 31, 2022

Date of posting: November 14, 2022

 

The Department of Asian Studies at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, invites applications for a tenure-stream Assistant or Associate Professor in the field of in Punjabi language, literature, and culture. Preference will be given to candidates with research and teaching expertise in literature, film/media, popular culture, or language pedagogy. Applicants are expected to have full professional proficiency in English and Punjabi. Experience in interdisciplinary research, pedagogical innovation, program building, or community outreach will be a plus.

Candidates must have a Ph.D. in a relevant field or expect to have successfully defended the dissertation before July 1, 2023. The successful candidate will be expected to demonstrate excellence in research, teaching at the undergraduate and graduate levels, and to maintain an active program of research, publication, teaching, graduate supervision, and service. The successful candidate will work closely with colleagues in the department specializing in South Asia, and with future hires in the field. Further information about the Department can be found on its website, www.asia.ubc.ca.

The application dossier should include:

  • a letter of application;
  • a curriculum vitae;
  • a 1-page statement of teaching philosophy
  • a 1-page statement identifying the applicant’s contributions, or potential contributions, to diversity, and ability to work with a culturally diverse student body;
  • one writing sample (maximum 30 pages);
  • evidence of teaching effectiveness (course evaluations, any other evidence of teaching effectiveness, and two sample course syllabi, preferably one at the undergraduate-level and one at the graduate-level); and
  • names and contact information of three referees who could provide confidential letters of recommendation should the candidate be long- or short-listed.

The deadline for receipt of complete applications is December 31, 2022. The anticipated start date of employment is July 1, 2023.

This position is subject to final budgetary approval. Salary will be commensurate with qualifications and experience.

All application materials should be submitted electronically through the Department’s careers website, https://asia.ubc.ca/department/careers/ by December 31, 2022.  Inquiries may be sent to asia.jobsearch@ubc.ca.

Equity and diversity are essential to academic excellence. An open and diverse community fosters the inclusion of voices that have been underrepresented or discouraged. We encourage applications from members of groups that have been marginalized on any grounds enumerated under the B.C. Human Rights Code, including sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, racialization, disability, political belief, religion, marital or family status, age, and/or status as a First Nation, Métis, Inuit, or Indigenous person. All qualified persons are encouraged to apply; however, Canadian citizens and permanent residents of Canada will be given priority.

Given the uncertainty caused by the global COVID-19 pandemic, applicants must be prepared to conduct interviews remotely if circumstances require. A successful applicant may be asked to consider an offer containing a deadline without having been able to make an in-person visit to campus if travel and other restrictions are still in place.