Society Studies

The Ohio State University•Columbus, OH

1d•Onsite

About The Position

The Department of East Asian Languages and Literatures at The Ohio State University is seeking a Tenure-Track Assistant Professor in Transnational World Language Studies, specializing in Transpacific AI/Technology/Society Studies. This role involves contributing to interdisciplinary research, innovative teaching, program development, community engagement, and service. The successful candidate will examine the global impact of AI and related technologies on society, humanities, and arts, with a focus on the Transpacific region. They will be expected to train graduate students in tech fluency, global media literacy, and intercultural competence. The position will enhance the department's strengths in media studies, digital humanities, performing arts, translation, and/or language pedagogy/linguistics. Research should be at the cutting edge of East Asian Studies in Transpacific contexts and technology studies, with disciplinary expertise in fields such as East Asian Languages and Literatures, Comparative Literature, Asian American Studies, Digital Humanities, Media Studies, Communications, History of Science, Science/Technology/Society, Human-Inspired AI, Computational Media, or Arts and Cultures. The role includes developing and teaching undergraduate and graduate courses, offering experiential learning, and preparing students for the future job market. The position is partially funded by a Mellon Foundation grant and involves participation in departmental activities, course creation, and mentorship. The successful candidate will also be a campus-wide resource on Transpacific AI-related policies and impacts, and will develop a faculty-led study abroad program.

Requirements

PhD in East Asian Languages and Literatures, Asian American Studies, Comparative Literature, Digital Humanities, Media Studies, Communications, History of Science, Science/Technology/Society, Computational Cultural Studies, Human-Inspired AI, Computational Media, Arts, and Cultures or related field required at time of appointment which is August 15, 2027.
ABDs welcome to apply.
Native or near-native fluency in at least one East Asian language (Chinese, Japanese, Korean).
Candidates must demonstrate achievement or strong promise of scholarly success.

Nice To Haves

Experience in and/or commitment to public-facing or community engaged scholarship, teaching and/or service.
Ability to customize AI tools for research and teaching.
Fluency in languages other than Chinese/Japanese/Korean spoken in the Transpacific region (e.g., Spanish, Portuguese, and South East Asian Languages).
East Asian language teaching experience at the college level.

Responsibilities

Research the social, cultural, artistic and/or linguistic impacts of new technologies in the Transpacific region.
Straddle quantitative approaches to AI tools with qualitative assessments of their validity, ethical underpinnings, and social responsiveness and utility in comparative contexts.
Advance the Mellon-funded Transforming World Languages at OSU initiative by collaborating with faculty and staff across disciplines, contributing to innovative programming, and creating new courses that strengthen students’ global fluency and intercultural competence.
Be a campus-wide resource on Transpacific AI-related policies/governance as well as social and cultural impacts of AI for different AI research clusters at The Ohio State University.
Develop and teach AI-related courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels in order to regularly update and offer our EALL AI major course; to contribute to existing undergraduate AI certificates (e.g., AI, Art, and Creativity (in development), AI Language and Mind; AI Ethics and Society); to support offer Transpacific and Comparative AI-centric classes as well as mesh with the AI initiatives in the Advanced Computing Center for the Arts and Design.
Develop a faculty-led study abroad program centered around AI technology and its impacts in East Asia with non-Mellon funding.
Offer AI-related professional development workshops for DEALL and other world languages faculty and graduate students.
Connect with East Asian/Transpacific AI initiatives in universities across East Asia and the Americas.