Assistant Professor (Tenure-Track) - World Languages and Cultures

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Position Title:Assistant Professor (Tenure-Track) - World Languages and Cultures
Job Category:Faculty
Employment Type:Regular
Job Profile:Assistant Professor
Job Duties:
Attention:
The Department of World Languages and Cultures in the College of Letters and Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater seeks an Assistant Professor.
Job Summary:
The Department of World Languages and Cultures at UW-Whitewater seeks a dedicated educator, scholar and colleague to join our faculty. This position carries a 24-credit annual teaching load with an emphasis on high-impact instructional practices, student success, research, and professional service. The successful candidate will be able to teach professional Spanish and translation — including translation across languages — along with Spanish language and grammar courses for second-language learners, heritage speakers, and mixed classrooms as part of the Spanish major, the Spanish minor, the Professional Spanish minor, the Spanish BSE major and minor, and the broader World Languages and Cultures curriculum. The approved standards for promotion and tenure at the time of initial contract are the standards that will be used for promotion and tenure. If there are revisions to department or college standards, a faculty member can request (in writing to the department chair) to have the revised standards applied.
Workplace Expectations:
● Please see the link below regarding the workplace expectations at UW-Whitewater. We believe that by adhering to these expectations, we develop a university community in which all students, staff and faculty feel valued and supported.
○ UWW Workplace Expectations
Key Job Responsibilities:
Teaching & Instructional Expectations
Course Load: Deliver 24 credits of instruction per academic year in Spanish and World Languages and Cultures. The anticipated rotation includes translation coursework in Spanish and across languages (Introduction to Spanish Translation, and Translation and Interpretation in the World Languages); Spanish for the professions courses (such as Spanish for Business); Spanish Conversation; and Spanish grammar and language courses at any level from 141 through 326 as departmental need requires. (UW-Whitewater Teaching Responsibilities and Workload Policy)
Office Hours for Students: Maintain at least five office hours for students each week during the academic year (departments and/or colleges may have additional requirements). These office hours for students should be consistent to provide accessible student support and academic advising/mentoring. For faculty who teach a portion or all courses online, the modality of the office hours for students should be proportionate to the modality of the courses taught unless the department or college has additional requirements.
Advising/mentoring: Use Navigate for all advising/mentoring notes.
Communication: Maintain professional and timely responsiveness to student, colleague, and administrator inquiries via Navigate, Canvas, email and telephone, generally within 24–48 business hours while on contract. When off contract, use the “out of office” feature in Outlook to let individuals know who to contact in your absence.
Administrative Compliance: Ensure the punctual submission of course syllabi at the start of each term, ensuring they meet all University and system-wide requirements (UWW Syllabi Reqs).
Contribute to curriculum development, including the development of new professional Spanish courses and support for the WLC major with French and German emphases planned for AY 2027-2028.
Student Success: Professional Spanish courses are capped at 24 students. Faculty are expected to use that scale to work closely and individually with students, building the highly engaged classroom community that supports the success of all students.
Accessibility: Select and develop instructional materials that are Title II (ADA) compliant. All digital course content, textbooks, and media must be accessible to students with disabilities to ensure an equitable learning environment.
Research, Scholarship & Creative Activity
Maintain an active scholarly agenda that contributes to the field of translation studies, professional Spanish, Hispanic linguistics, Heritage Spanish, or a related area of Spanish studies.
Disseminate research through peer-reviewed publications, conference presentations, or professional exhibitions per department and college standards.
Seek opportunities to involve undergraduate students in research initiatives.
Service & Engagement
Participate in departmental, college, and university-level meetings and committee work.
Participate in professional and public service.
Contribute to program assessment and development.
Engage in professional outreach and service that aligns with the University Mission Statement and the Wisconsin Idea.
Lead the department in developing a formal internship process and other career-oriented programming that connects World Languages and Cultures students with regional employers.
Build collaborations across campus — including, for example, the College of Business and Economics, the university’s artificial intelligence programs, and other departments and disciplines— that strengthen professional Spanish offerings and student career pathways.
Carry a regular departmental advising load and support student recruitment and retention in the Spanish and Professional Spanish programs.
Participate in at least one graduation ceremony each academic year.
Department:
COLS | World Languages and Cultures
The Department of World Languages and Cultures offers majors and minors in French, German, Japanese Studies, and Spanish, together with coursework in ASL and Arabic. The Spanish program enrolls approximately 50 majors and 150 minors and is the department’s largest program. The Spanish program has a well-established Peninsular, Latin American, and Latinx literature and culture curriculum, as well as a robust language curriculum for both second-language and heritage learners. The Professional Spanish minor anchors a career-oriented curriculum that includes Spanish for Business, Legal Spanish, Spanish for Educators, Spanish for Health Professionals, Spanish Translation and Interpretation, and a travel study course to Costa Rica co-taught with Social Work.
The department maintains a strong heritage Spanish program and serves a notably high proportion of the university’s underrepresented minority students. Faculty collaborate regularly with Latinx Studies, Community-Based Learning, and Study Abroad, and the department is rebuilding its translation offerings — including World Languages and Cultures: Translation and Interpretation, which serves majors and minors across all department languages — with an emphasis on the work of cultural brokering that translation now requires in the age of artificial intelligence.
Compensation:
Well-qualified candidates can expect a minimum starting annual salary of $60,000 commensurate with the candidate's education, related experience, and qualifications.
UW System employees receive an excellent benefit package. To learn more about the UW System’s comprehensive benefit package, review the UW System Employee Benefits Brochure.
Required Qualifications:
Terminal degree (Ph.D., Ed.D., or equivalent) in Spanish, translation studies, Hispanic linguistics, or a related discipline by the time of appointment. ABD candidates may apply but must have their degree completed by the