University Writing Program > About > Teaching Opportunities

Teaching Opportunities

The University Writing Program has opportunities for faculty as well as PhD and graduate students.

Faculty

The UWP is running two searches for multiple positions beginning in 2023-2024. Applications are now closed.

Johns Hopkins is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer.

Teaching Fellowships

The University Writing Program invites recent Johns Hopkins PhDs and current graduate students with teaching experience to apply for one-year teaching fellowships.

All teaching fellows participate in a pedagogy workshop in the fall and teach first-year writing in the spring.

The workshop—Teaching Writing Workshop—considers the big questions about writing – what is it, how does it work, and how can I teach it? – and invites participants to explore their answers to these questions as they design their course for the spring and their personal teaching statements. Alongside faculty, participants in the workshop discuss the scholarship and practice of writing studies and inclusive pedagogy as they draft, workshop, and revise writing assignments, syllabi, and pedagogical approaches in the actual classroom.

The workshop meets once a week and can be taken for credit, should graduate students be so inclined, but need not be. We imagine this workshop as both a way to invite participants into its new vision for the teaching of writing and as a significant professional development opportunity for both postdocs and graduate students.

The Positions

Postdoctoral teaching fellows are appointed for one year, with the possibility of a second year. They join UWP colleagues in the intellectual and pedagogical work of UWP—the Teaching Writing Workshop, tutoring, teaching, and potentially conducting research—and are welcome participants in UWP faculty meetings.

Salary and benefits begin on July 1 and run through June 30 of the next year; the PhD defense must take place before July 1. Applications are due March 1.

Summary of duties for new and returning postdoctoral fellows:

In the fall, first-year postdoctoral fellows will participate in the Teaching Writing Workshop, tutor in the Writing Center for two hours per week and take on one supplemental project (see full description for details.) In the fall of their second year of the fellowship, returning postdoctoral fellows may tutor eight hours per week in the Writing Center, teach one class, or take on a supplemental project and tutor five hours per week in the Writing Center. All postdoctoral fellows will teach three sections of Reintroduction to Writing in the spring.

For more information, including how to apply, download the Postdoc Fellow Position Full Description (pdf).

Teaching fellows who are graduate students are appointed for one year and paid on a 9-month version of the full 12-month Krieger funding with standard graduate student benefits; home departments are invited to “top up” the funding through the summer. Responsibilities include: 

  • Participate in the fall pedagogy workshop (first-time instructors) 
  • Tutor in the Writing Center for 2 hours per week in the fall (first-time instructors) 
  • Tutor in the Writing Center for 8 hours per week or teach one section of first-year writing in the fall (returning instructors) 
  • Teach one section of first-year writing in the spring 

Postdocs and graduate students, in the fall of their first year with the UWP, will participate in a community of pedagogical practice, the Teaching Writing Workshop. The Workshop, together with a few hours of Writing Center tutoring and/or (for postdocs only) a supplemental project, will replace teaching in that semester. The Teaching Writing Workshop is designed to introduce participants to the ideas and teaching practices of the field of writing studies, as well as the vision and approach of the UWP specifically, and to offer a space for participants to design their subsequent spring semester first-year writing courses. The workshop will meet on a typical graduate seminar schedule of one 2+ hour meeting per week, and it will include faculty, postdoc, and graduate student participants. It may be taken for credit, should graduate students be so inclined, but it need not be. The workshop considers the big questions about writing – what is it, how does it work, and how can I teach it? – and invites participants to apply their answers to these questions through the design of writing assignments, course syllabi, and thoughtful, inclusive pedagogical techniques. The courses that participants design in the fall will be what they teach in the spring, and the program encourages innovative approaches including multimodal and public writing, community engagement, and more. The UWP imagines this workshop as both a way to invite participants into its new vision for the teaching of writing and as a significant professional development opportunity for both postdocs and graduate students.

How to Apply for Fellowships

Applications are due March 1. (A reminder to grad students: please see your adviser before applying.) Please include:

  • Cover letter describing your background as a teacher and writer and (for postdocs only) articulating your interest and preferences regarding a supplemental project for the fall semester  
  • Curriculum vitae
  • A course proposal, consisting of two course descriptions, one of a course you have taught and the other of a writing course you can imagine teaching with us, as well as any (brief) additional text or material that will contextualize the course descriptions. The course you can imagine teaching with us should be informed by the goals of our Reintroduction to Writing course. For more information review our curriculum and examples of course descriptions.
  • Writing sample of no more than 5–7 pages (excerpts are fine)

Please send your application to uwp@jhu.edu. Questions about the application process can be directed to Matt Pavesich (mpavesi2@jhu.edu) or Anne-Elizabeth Brodsky (aembrodsky@jhu.edu).