Professor of Practice in Public Policy or Organizational Leadership - Renewable Contract - 530633

Job Description

Job Description

Department/Organization
225101 - School of Leadership & Policy

Rank
Professor

Position Summary
The University of Alabama School of Leadership and Policy (SLP) invites applications for one or more Professor of Practice positions in Public Policy or Organizational Leadership, beginning August 2027. We seek accomplished professionals who will bring the lessons of their work experience into the classroom. 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 appointments are for leaders who have built distinguished careers outside academia and now want to prepare the next generation. Professors of Practice will provide practice-oriented teaching that complements the work of the SLP's tenure-track and renewable contract faculty. 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, Professors of Practice 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 student internships, development of experiential learning programs and courses, identification of internship sites, recruitment of community organizations to serve as capstone course clients, and connections between students and employers. Capstone courses pair teams of students with these client organizations to address real-world challenges in public policy or organizational leadership. In Organizational Leadership, this work may also include teaching in executive leadership programs. Assignments will reflect the needs of the school and the strengths of each faculty member.
Research is not a condition of these appointments. Professor of Practice appointments are made only at the rank of full professor and do not carry a promotion path.
Appointments are for a three-year term and are renewable. Reappointment depends on documented meritorious performance of assigned duties, satisfactory service to the school, continued need, and continued availability of funding.
We offer a competitive salary and relocation assistance.

Minimum Qualifications
Candidates must have significant professional experience and a record of distinction in their profession in the public, private, nonprofit, or military sector, outside academia.
All candidates must demonstrate the capacity for effective, practice-oriented teaching at the undergraduate level, and for mentoring students.

Preferred Qualifications
Teaching in Public Policy. Applicants for Public Policy positions should demonstrate the ability 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 is particularly valuable. Teaching in Organizational Leadership. Applicants for Organizational Leadership positions should demonstrate the ability to teach in the SLP's leadership curriculum. Courses include Foundations of Leadership, Team Dynamics, Ethics in Leadership, and the Capstone in Organizational Leadership. Experience in executive education or leadership development is particularly valuable. Teaching experience. Teaching experience may have been gained in a university or in professional settings such as government agencies, legislatures, the military, corporations, or nonprofit organizations, including through training, executive education, or professional instruction. Successful candidates will help build out the curriculum by developing additional courses that reflect their own expertise and experience. Professional experience. Public Policy candidates should have led the design, adoption, implementation, or evaluation of public policy. Organizational Leadership candidates should have led organizations, major units, or significant change efforts. In both cases, candidates should have reached a senior level in their field. We welcome candidates whose experience bears on the challenges facing Alabama and its communities. 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. We value candidates who bring a network of contacts who can serve as employers, internship hosts, capstone clients, and guest speakers. 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 a leadership development program.

Instructions and Required Materials for Application
Applicants should submit a cover letter that identifies the position (Public Policy or Organizational Leadership) and explains how their professional experience prepares them to teach and mentor students in that field. Applicants should also submit a curriculum vitae or resume, a statement of teaching interests (one to two pages), contact information for three references, and a transcript for their highest degree (need not be official at this time). The statement of teaching interests should identify the courses the applicant is prepared to teach and describe how they would bring professional practice into the classroom, along with any prior teaching, training, or coaching experience. Applicants may also submit up to three samples of professional work (e.g., reports, testimony, or training curricula) and any available evidence of teaching or training effectiveness.

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.

UA was recently recognized as a Top Producing Institution of Fulbright U.S. students for the seventh time in nine years, as well as a Top Producing Institution of Fulbright U.S. Scholars for the first time. UA is one of only 12 universities in the nation to receive both honors.

For reasons like this, the University made Forbes list of America’s Top Colleges for 2023 and Time magazine’s list of Top 50 Best Colleges for Future Leaders. It also made Princeton Review’s list of Top Value Colleges.

UA is also designated among the top doctoral research universities in the United States in the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. One of the fastest growing major research institutions in the nation, UA saw a 21% increase in sponsored awards in the 2023 fiscal year.

Since 2015, UA has invested over $1.1 billion in the physical campus, adding more than 2.55 million gross square feet of space, over 150 new research-intensive faculty, signature research areas (e.g., “The Alabama Research Institutes”), and a growing number of partnerships with industry and with state and federal agencies.

The University employs nearly 2,100 faculty and over 4,500 staff, with 52 UA researchers included in the National Academy of Inventors. An additional 40 current faculty have received the NSF CAREER Award, the nation’s most prestigious recognition of top performing young scientists in disciplines ranging from nanoscience and engineering to biological sciences.

Background Investigation and EEO Statement
Background Investigation Statement: Prior to hiring, the final candidate(s) must successfully pass a pre-employment background investigation and information obtained from social media and other internet sources. A prior conviction reported as a result of the background investigation DOES NOT automatically disqualify a candidate from consideration for this position. A candidate with a prior conviction or negative behavioral red flags will receive an individualized review of the prior conviction or negative behavioral red flags before a hiring decision is made.

Equal Employment Opportunity: The University of Alabama is an Equal Employment/Equal Educational Opportunity Institution. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment or volunteer status without regard to any legally protected basis and will not be discriminated against because of their protected status. Applicants and employees of this institution are protected under Federal law from discrimination on several bases. More information is available in the EEOC’s Know Your Rights: Workplace (-06/22-088_EEOC_KnowYourRights6.12ScreenRdr.pdf) discrimination is illegal poster.

The University of Alabama affirms its longstanding commitment to institutional neutrality, free speech, and academic freedom.