Download Department of History University of Pittsburgh

ANDREW W. MELLON CHAIR
The Andrew W. Mellon Chair is an endowed position that provides an
opportunity for its holder to undertake significant initiatives in historical
scholarship, with departmental, decanal, and wider institutional support.
The professorship carries a substantial research-travel fund and a teaching
load of three courses per year. The vacancy arises from the retirement of
Professor Patrick Manning, President of the American Historical Association,
who has held the chair for the past decade.
As part of a strategic investment in the history of Asia in the world, the
Department wishes to appoint to the Mellon Chair a historian of Asia
broadly defined, to start in fall 2017 or as soon as possible thereafter. This
distinguished position enables an outstanding scholar (at the full or advanced
associate professor level) to provide intellectual leadership within the
graduate, undergraduate, and research programs in Asian history and
the department more broadly.
Over the past five years, the department has recruited a series of outstanding
early and mid-career Asianists:
Raja Adal (modern Japan, Asia, and world)
Vincent Leung (intellectual history of early China)
Ruth Mostern (Song China; environmental, spatial, digital, and world)
James Pickett (Central and South Asia, 18th to 20th centuries)
WORLD HISTORY CENTER
Founded in 2008, the World History Center supports research, teaching,
and international collaboration on the global past, with attention to policies
for the global future. Within the Department of History, the World History
Center has aided the transformation of undergraduate and graduate teaching
curricula and furthered faculty engagement in transnational, transregional, and
global subjects and perspectives. The center has established multidisciplinary
collaborations within the University, nationally, and globally. The center
sponsors research and travel awards for faculty and graduate students and
one full-year graduate fellowship. It also hosts postdoctoral fellows in world
history, world history of science, and big data; visiting scholars; and national
and international conferences. The projects and collaborations of the
World History Center include the Collaborative for Historical Information
and Analysis, the Alliance for Learning in World History, NOGWHISTO
(Network of Global and World History Organizations) and its affiliates.
In the University, the World History Center collaborates closely with the
Global Studies Center and the University Center for International Studies,
home to six area and thematic studies centers, four of which have been
designated National Resource Centers (NRC) by the U.S. Department
of Education.
ASIAN STUDIES AT PITT
We expect to advertise at least one further position in Asian history
in the near future.
DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY
Department of History
University of Pittsburgh
The Department of History in the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of
Arts and Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh seeks to appoint
a distinguished historian of Asia to the Andrew W. Mellon Chair.
This brochure introduces you to this endowed position,
the Department of History, Asian Studies at the University,
and the wider University and city of Pittsburgh.
Over the past decade, the department of circa 30 T/TS-faculty has adopted a
distinctive collective mission, within which regional, transnational, and world
historical approaches flourish in highly productive dialogue. Faculty and
graduate students produce research that is at once regionally grounded and
globally aware, fusing foreign language expertise and in-depth fieldwork and
archival exploration with sustained attention to large-scale world historical
contexts. The program––a pioneer in the historical discipline’s “transnational
turn”––promotes research in small-scale dynamics and regional developments
as well as large-scale patterns and global change. The highly selective graduate
program is committed to training area specialists with a global perspective,
emphasizing comparative, cross-cultural, transnational, and world historical
approaches. Generous funding through teaching and research fellowships
supports doctoral studies. Graduate students
Wesley W. Posvar Hall
participate in international exchanges,
including with the International Institute
of Social History, Amsterdam.
The placement rate ranks among
the highest of comparable schools.
ASIAN STUDIES CENTER
Founded in 1969, the Asian Studies Center is Western Pennsylvania’s regional
resource for research, teaching, learning, and building connections about Asia.
It is widely recognized as one of the best and most comprehensive in the
country for programs in Chinese and Japanese language and culture studies,
with growing strengths in Korean and South Asian Studies.
Through more than one hundred affiliated faculty across multiple disciplines,
it fosters multidisciplinary academic programming, research, and community
engagement in China, Japan, Korea, South Asia, and Southeast Asia Studies.
The center is nationally recognized as one of the best and most
comprehensive in research, public service, and teaching about East Asia.
The East Asian Library houses one of the most prominent collections
of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean media from books and periodicals, to
microfilms, multimedia resources, and online databases. The library ranks
13th in size among the 80 East Asian libraries in North America. Area Studies
councils exist for all three countries.
South Asia Studies has been identified as an area of strategic growth by the
center. South Asia Studies benefits from the University’s membership in the
American Institute of India Studies; the University Center for the Performing
Arts of India; and community engagement from the ninth-largest Indian
population in the U.S. The center will begin a three-year initiative in 2016–17
on South Asian Studies focused on a special speaker series, community events,
and new faculty hires.
THE KENNETH P. DIETRICH SCHOOL OF ARTS AND
SCIENCES constitutes the liberal arts core of the University of Pittsburgh,
enrolling more than 10,000 undergraduate and some 1,400 graduate students
in fall 2015. The Dietrich School aspires to translating the expertise of its
faculty into superb curricula and aims to provide a challenging education in
the liberal arts for the highly selective undergraduate and graduate students at
the University of Pittsburgh. The Dietrich School is a vibrant community of
learners committed to promoting diversity and the understanding of diversity
among faculty and students, and across curricula.
The Indo-Pacific Council coordinates and promotes the scholarly activities of
two dozen faculty members and their students whose research engages South
Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific Islands across departments at
the University.
Facts: The top three countries of origin of the circa 3,100 international
students at the University of Pittsburgh in 2015 were China, India, and Korea.
Pitt’s University Library System holds 6.8 million volumes. Over the past nine
years, Pitt has been one of only four public universities to have at least four
undergraduates named Rhodes Scholar.
Pitt offers extensive training in many of the languages of East, South, and
Southeast Asia. It also hosts a diverse and extensive array of pre-approved
study abroad programs, including to Japan, South Korea, China, Singapore,
Malaysia, and India. The center offers certificate programs, both graduate and
undergraduate. In 2014, the U.S. Department of Education designated the
center as a Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) fellowship-granting
institution for both graduate and undergraduate students.
Reputational Rankings
The 2016 edition of the Times Higher Education World University Rankings
of the world’s top 800 universities ranks the University of Pittsburgh among
the top 10 percent in teaching, top 20 percent in research, and top 10 percent
in citations.
CENTER FOR RUSSIAN AND
EAST EUROPEAN STUDIES
Scholars working on Eurasia benefit from the resources of this Title VI
National Resource Center (NRC) funded by the U.S. Department of Education. The interdisciplinary center supports research on the region as well as
student programs focused on foreign language acquisition, cultural immersion, and interdisciplinary area studies certificates to complement traditional
disciplinary degrees. Domestic and international partnerships support study
abroad programs, visits by scholars, and community engagement locally
as well as technical and economic development in the target region.
THE UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT THE
FOREFRONT OF RESEARCH
The University of Pittsburgh, founded in 1787, is one of the oldest
institutions of higher education in the United States and is internationally
recognized as a center of learning and research. Pitt is a member of the
Association of American Universities, a prestigious organization of 62
preeminent doctorate-granting research institutions in North America.
From research achievements to the quality of its academic programs, the
University of Pittsburgh ranks among the best in higher education.
Academic Performance Laboratory ranks Pitt 7th among U.S. public
universities (and 16th among all universities nationally) for quality and
quantity of scholarly publications.
POSITION ANNOUNCEMENT
Andrew W. Mellon Professor of History. The Department of History in
the Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences at the University of
Pittsburgh invites applications for an endowed chair, the Andrew W. Mellon
Professor of History. The appointment will begin with the 2017 fall term
or as soon as possible thereafter. As part of a strategic investment in the
history of Asia in the world, the department wishes to appoint a historian
of Asia broadly defined, whose work might focus on Western, Central,
East, Southeast, or South Asia, or the Indian Ocean World. We welcome
applications from single sub-region specialists as well as from scholars
whose work embraces trans-regional approaches. Applications are invited
from scholars at the level of advanced associate or full professor who have
demonstrated exceptional scholarship and teaching as well as leadership in
their field and the profession. Applicants should submit a letter of interest,
a complete C.V. including list of publications, and the names and contact
information of three academic referees to https://facultysearch.as.pitt.
edu/apply/index/MTUz. The review of applications will begin on
September 6, 2016, and continue until the position is filled. For informal
inquiries, please contact the chair of the search committee, Holger Hoock,
J. Carroll Amundson Professor, at: [email protected]. The University of
Pittsburgh is an AA/EOE and values equality of opportunity, human
dignity, and diversity.
The Princeton Review ranks Pitt among the most environmentally responsible
colleges in the United States and Canada.
Saviors of Our Cities: A Survey of Best College and University Civic Partnerships
ranks Pitt the top public university measured by schools’ economic and
developmental impacts on neighboring regions.
PITTSBURGH: OUR CITY, OUR CAMPUS
Pittsburgh is internationally recognized as a hub of education, culture, and
technology offering affordable urban living; racial and ethnic diversity; and a
thriving sports and arts community. Pittsburgh is an extraordinary American
city in so many respects. The striking geography of bridges and rivers. The
rich tapestry of 89 distinctive neighborhoods—including the University of
Pittsburgh’s own, Oakland—that give Pittsburgh its genuineness and warmth.
With a booming economy fueled by intellectual capital, Pittsburgh is a
globally renowned success story. It is home to major corporate and nonprofit
organizations, including eight Fortune 500 companies; research centers and
offices from powerhouses such as Google, Apple, Disney, and Microsoft; and
a variety of strong small businesses and non-profits. Combine this wealth of
opportunity with an affordable cost of living and it is no surprise that Forbes
Magazine ranked Pittsburgh one of the most livable and affordable cities
in the United States.
View of campus and downtown Pittsburgh