What are the responsibilities and job description for the Professor & Department Head of Anthropology, Fall 2025 position at University of Tennessee?
The Department of Anthropologyat the University of Tennessee Knoxville, the flagship campus of the University of Tennessee system, invites applicants for the position of department head with open sub-disciplinary specialization to begin August 1, 2025. Qualifications of the ideal candidate will include a demonstrated record of commitment to, and appreciation for the distinct strengths and needs of anthropology’s subfields, specifically Archaeology, Biological Anthropology, and Cultural Anthropology, as well as multidisciplinary research.
We are looking for an individual with a distinguished record of research, excellent teaching, and relevant service or administrative experience. Strong leadership skills and the ability to work effectively, collaboratively, and inclusively with colleagues, staff, and students of diverse backgrounds are especially important. The successful candidate will oversee a department with tenure- and non-tenure track faculty, 11 staff, 60 graduate students, and approximately 400 undergraduate majors and minors.
The successful candidate will facilitate and strengthen a vision for the Anthropology Department and its different programs as well as broaden the Department’s participation at the campus, discipline, and community levels. The Anthropology Department is in an exciting period of growth and increased international attention and requires engaged and innovative leadership moving forward. Our tenure-line faculty has grown over the last three years, with new hires in all three subdisciplines. Historically known for its unparalleled strength in forensic anthropology with the Forensic Anthropology Center, we also enjoy a strong international reputation in archaeology and cultural anthropology, as well as the innovative Disasters, Displacement and Human Rights program. We have a thriving forensic anthropology concentration and recently introduced archaeology concentration and are in the process of building a cultural anthropology concentration. Finally, the Knoxville campus of the University of Tennessee is seeking candidates who have the ability to contribute in meaningful ways to the diversity and intercultural goals of the University.
Duties and Responsibilities :
The head is responsible for care of the academic program through recruitment and development of the faculty, including recommendations for hiring, promotion, and salary increases; assignment of courses; assignment of office space; development and review of the curriculum; encouragement and support of faculty teaching and research; encouragement and support of faculty in departmental and university service; representation of the department in the college and university and in the community outside the university.
The head is also responsible for support of the academic program through employment and supervision of support staff personnel, management of departmental physical facilities and equipment, preparation and defense of the departmental budget, and authorization of expenditures from the departmental budget. Finally, the department head is responsible for endowment funds in the department and working with the College Advancement Office to cultivate donors in support of the department mission.
The head is supported by staff to accomplish these responsibilities. New heads receive training from the College of Arts and Sciences and mentorship from other heads in the Division of Social Sciences.
Required Qualifications :
The candidate must have a PhD, research, teaching and service credentials, and be eligible to serve at the rank of Full Professor in the Department of Anthropology. The candidate must demonstrate evidence of leadership on committees, in departmental or program administration, on association boards, or the professional equivalent.
