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The Department of French and Francophone Studies at Bates College invites applications for a full-time, two-year visiting assistant professor position, to begin July 2026. We seek an outstanding scholar with strong commitments to excellent undergraduate teaching and mentorship in a liberal arts context. The successful candidate will have demonstrable excellence in Francophone literature, film, and culture, with preference given to Sub-Saharan Africa; additional expertise in the Caribbean or North America is also welcome. The research and teaching interests of the successful candidate should combine two or more of the following topics: environmental humanities, ecopoetics, urbanization, immigration, or afrofuturism.

The position carries a standard five-course annual teaching load. The successful applicant should demonstrate native or near native fluency in French and will teach French language courses at all levels, offer a range of Francophone literature, cinema, and culture courses, and a seminar related to their specialty; and might teach a cross-listed course taught in English with Environmental Studies. We welcome approaches that engage students in critical inquiry with questions of gender, race, migration, colonialism and postcoloniality, urbanization, and ecocriticism. We seek outstanding teacher-scholars who have demonstrated success in innovative, inclusive, and rigorous pedagogy to engage students with the Francophone world today.

Review of applications will begin on February 23rd, 2026. Applications should include a cover letter and a curriculum vitae. We also ask for a teaching statement that describes how the applicant meets Bates’ standards of excellence in terms of inclusive and evidence-based pedagogy, and a research plan that speaks to the current and future promise of a candidate’s professional work. Bates students come from a diversity of educational and socioeconomic backgrounds, and we are committed to each student’s success. Thus, candidates may choose to share evidence of their skills and experience supporting a diverse student body in the teaching and/or research statements. We encourage applications from individuals from historically marginalized groups and from those who may have followed non-traditional pathways to higher education due to societal, economic, or academic circumstances. The search committee will request letters of recommendation from three referees for short-listed candidates. Employment is contingent upon successful completion of a background check and verification of degree.

Bates College is a small residential liberal arts college (1800 students) in Lewiston, Maine—a diverse and growing community roughly 45 minutes from the state’s largest city, 2 ½ hours north of Boston, and 4 ½ hours south of Montreal. The city and surrounding area have a long francophone history through immigration from Canada in the 19th century as well as more recent new Mainers from the Francophone African diaspora.Visiting faculty’s scholarship and creative work at Bates are robustly supported with access to competitive internal grant opportunities, and a well-staffed external grants office. Support for developing Community-engaged learning courses through the Harward Center and pedagogical development and innovation is further buttressed by the Center for Inclusive Teaching and Learning.

Educational access and racial justice are central to Bates’ history and mission and our faculty-led initiatives reflect this commitment.

A PhD in French or Francophone Studies is required by the time of appointment. 

About https://www.bates.edu/

Founded in 1855, Bates is one of the nation’s leading liberal arts colleges, with a long history of commitments to principles of human dignity and diversity.Since its inception, Bates has been a coeducational, nonsectarian, residential college with special commitments to academic rigor and to programs and opportunities by qualified learners of all backgrounds. Historically, Bates students and graduates have linked education with service, leadership, and obligations beyond themselves.Bates has highly competitive admission, graduates over 90% of its entering students, and over half of its alumni earn graduate degrees. Bates has 1,700 students, 200 faculty members and 550 staff and administrative employees.The College is proud of its strong involvements in the Lewiston-Auburn communities, Maine’s second largest urban area, with a population of approximately 65,000. Bates is located on a beautiful, 109-acre, traditional New England campus in Lewiston, Maine, a lively small city enjoying an exciting economic and cultural revitalization. With an engaged citizenry, lively arts scene, and historic downtown, this walkable city is 35 miles north of Portland, 140 miles north of Boston, and 340 miles north of New York City.

Connections working at https://www.bates.edu/