Assistant/Associate Professor of Public Policy, Non-Tenure Track

Assistant/Associate Professor of Public Policy, Non-Tenure Track

Position Summary
The University of Alabama School of Leadership and Policy (SLP) invites applications for multiple renewable contract faculty positions in Public Policy, at the rank of assistant or associate professor, beginning August 2027. We seek teachers and mentors who will prepare students to analyze, shape, and carry out public policy. The SLP will open its doors for classes in fall 2027 as the first new college-level unit established at The University of Alabama in 60 years; as a new school, the SLP offers faculty a rare opportunity to help build a curriculum and set of programs from the ground up.

Detailed Position Information
These are teaching- and student-focused appointments in the undergraduate and graduate public policy programs. Preparation for this role can come from academic training alone or from a combination of academic training and practical experience. We expect to hire multiple faculty into these positions and understand that an individual candidate may not meet all of the preferences below. We will build a faculty whose strengths are complementary.
Beyond classroom teaching, faculty in these positions will support students directly and will build the school's relationships with the organizations that host and hire them. This work may include career advising and mentoring, supervision of the public policy capstone and student internships, development of experiential learning programs and courses, identifying capstone clients and internship sites, and connecting students to employers. Assignments are made by the department chair or dean and will reflect the needs of the school and the strengths of each faculty member.
Research is not a condition of these appointments and carries no weight in evaluation, reappointment, or promotion.
Rank at appointment will reflect the candidate's qualifications and experience. Appointments are for a three-year term and are renewable. Reappointment depends on documented performance, continued departmental need, and continued availability of funding. Renewable contract faculty are eligible for promotion in rank.
We offer a competitive salary and relocation assistance.

Minimum Qualifications
Candidates must hold either a doctorate or other terminal degree in a relevant field, or a master's degree combined with a record of professional accomplishment in public policy. Relevant doctoral fields include public policy, public administration, economics, political science, and related disciplines in the social sciences. We also welcome candidates whose doctoral training lies elsewhere but whose research and teaching bear directly on public policy.
All candidates must demonstrate strong potential for undergraduate and graduate teaching and for mentoring students. Candidates applying at the associate professor rank should present a record of teaching and professional accomplishment appropriate to that rank.

Preferred Qualifications
Teaching. Applicants should demonstrate the potential to teach in the SLP's public policy curriculum at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Courses include Economics of Public Policy, Policy Analysis and Evaluation, Research Methods in Public Policy, Values in Public Policy, Communicating Public Policy, the Policymaking Process, and Leadership in Public Policy. Experience directing or teaching a capstone course in public policy, or demonstrated aptitude for doing so, is particularly valuable. Successful candidates will help build out the curriculum by developing additional courses that reflect their own expertise and areas of specialization.
Policy expertise. We welcome candidates whose expertise bears on the policy challenges facing Alabama and its communities. That expertise may have been developed through scholarship, professional practice, or both.
Analytic preparation. We are particularly interested in candidates prepared to teach the analytic core of the curriculum, including policy analysis and evaluation, economics for public policy, and the research methods sequence.
Professional experience. Candidates whose qualifications are based on practical experience should have led the design, adoption, implementation, or evaluation of public policy in government, the military, the nonprofit sector, or private industry.
Mentoring. We seek candidates who are committed to student development and who show evidence of it, whether through teaching, advising, supervising, coaching, or developing junior colleagues.
Program building. We value candidates who have created something and run it, whether a course sequence, an internship or fellowship program, a training curriculum, or an applied learning program.

Questions may be directed to Dr. Joseph L. Smith at View email address on click.appcast.io.

About the Division/College/School
The School of Leadership and Policy (SLP) is the first new college-level unit established at The University of Alabama in 60 years, created to build on the University's history of educating effective leaders and policymakers. UA President Dr. Peter J. Mohler is committed to establishing a nationally recognized institution dedicated to advancing leadership and policy education for the next generation of changemakers. The SLP faculty will blend tenure-track and contract faculty with professors of pp (BA and MPP) and organizational leadership (BA), with plans to add an online BA and in-person and online master's degrees in organizational leadership.
The SLP focuses on leadership across sectors, not partisan politics. Its interdisciplinary, practice-oriented curriculum emphasizes skills, not ideology: ethics, collaboration, data literacy, communication, economic analysis, systems thinking, public problem-solving, and evidence-based practice. The SLP will prepare students of all backgrounds to become effective leaders, policymakers, and public servants who contribute to the social, economic, and civic well-being of Alabama and the nation. Students will be exposed to multiple viewpoints and will engage directly with public institutions, nonprofit organizations, and the private sector through internships, policy labs, and community-based projects, developing the perspective and skills needed to address complex challenges with practical solutions.
As a new school, the SLP offers faculty a rare opportunity: the chance to help build a curriculum, a research culture, and a set of programs from the ground up. The SLP will bring together faculty across leadership and public policy, whose research and teaching will regularly reach practitioners: elected officials, civil servants, and business and nonprofit leaders working to solve real problems. The SLP will be housed in the historic Farrah Hall, now undergoing a $40M renovation to create modern classrooms, offices, and labs.

About the University

The University of Alabama is located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, named one of Travel + Leisure’s 25 Best College Towns and Cities in the U.S. As one of the nation’s premier universities, UA offers bachelor’s, master's and doctoral degrees in nearly 200 fields of study. With more than 1,400 acres of tree‑lined academic core campus and over 300 state‑of‑the art facilities, UA has been ranked among the most beautiful and most impressive college campuses in the South, in the state of Alabama and in the nation.

In Fall 2023, the Capstone set a new enrollment record with more than 39,000 students, including more than 8,200 in the freshman class. The current enrollment includes students from every county in Alabama, every state in the nation and 92 countries around the world. More than 1,100 National Merit Scholars are currently enrolled, making UA one of the largest enrolling institutions of the scholars in the country.