About JMU:

Mission
We are a community committed to preparing students to be educated and enlightened citizens who lead productive and meaningful lives.

Vision
To be the national model for the engaged university: engaged with ideas and the world.

Who We Are
Located in the heart of Virginia’s beautiful Shenandoah Valley, the city of Harrisonburg is approximately 120 miles from Washington, D.C. and Richmond, VA. With a population of just over 53,000, Harrisonburg is one of the most diverse communities in the Commonwealth of Virginia. JMU is a selective, public institution with a growing national reputation for offering experiences that lead to an outstanding education and inclusive environment for students, faculty and staff. The student body includes approximately 20,000 undergraduate and 1,900 graduate students, with over 1,000 full-time instructional faculty.

JMU offers thriving programs in the liberal arts, science and technology, and professional disciplines at the undergraduate, master’s and doctoral levels. The university is committed to expanding diversity, fostering equity and inclusion, and supporting superlative teaching and scholarship. JMU has achieved national recognition for the high quality of its academic programs, focus on maintaining strong student/faculty interaction, and innovative faculty research.



General Information:

The School of Communication Studies at James Madison University invites applications for a tenure-track Health Communication faculty member. Employment begins in August 2025. We seek candidates who can bring innovative teaching, engaged and applied scholarship, and practical experiences to the undergraduate and graduate classrooms and contribute to the intellectual climate of the School. We are particularly interested in candidates with expertise in health communication in one or more of the following areas: global health, culture and health, health inequalities, health disparities, health advocacy, and the health of marginalized populations. Furthermore, we are seeking a candidate who can teach introductory and/or advanced research methods courses in their area of expertise.




Duties and Responsibilities:

Applicants must be able to teach in the health communication concentration (undergraduate and graduate), conduct research in their area of expertise, and engage in service to the School, college and university.  Teaching will include a variety of health communication courses at the graduate and undergraduate levels focusing on topics such as global health, culture and health, health inequalities, health disparities, health advocacy, and the health of marginalized populations. We seek a candidate who can teach introductory and/or advanced research methods courses in their area of expertise. We offer several undergraduate and graduate research methodology classes (including qualitative, quantitative, critical, rhetorical, and others). Candidates may also have the opportunity to teach human communication courses that contribute to the General Education program or other courses related to expertise. The course load for tenure-track faculty is a 3-3 teaching load.



Qualifications:

A Ph.D. in communication or a related field is preferred at appointment, and ABD applicants are encouraged to apply.  Ph.D. must be in hand within one year of the start date.

Candidates must demonstrate evidence of teaching excellence and possess a record of continued or promising scholarly productivity. 

Preference will be given to candidates who can mentor a diverse population of students and have experience teaching or researching issues of interest to students of underrepresented and minority populations. 

Preference will be given to candidates with professional or applied experience.

Research or applied scholarship is required to be consistent with the standards of an R2 university.



Additional Posting Information:

The School provides a solid foundation for faculty creativity, collaboration, research, and teaching. Our student and faculty diversity is rapidly increasing: We excel in global education and community engagement, and we have a demonstrated commitment to creating a culture of inclusivity. We are especially interested in applicants who have a demonstrated commitment to building an equitable and diverse scholarly environment.

The School cultivates a socially and culturally diverse intellectual community that recognizes how historical, political, and social structures are embedded in processes and studies of communication. Diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice are core values championed by the school. We believe that preparing our students to contribute to a more equitable community is essential, and we incorporate this belief into our curriculum, practices, and policies. We reject racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, ageism, and xenophobia in all forms and seek to cultivate learning environments free from expressions of hate and harm. As a School, we work together to create a learning community that better equips us all to build more just communities.