LINGUIST List 9.810

Sat May 30 1998

Jobs: Syntax/Language acquisition, General

Editor for this issue: Anthony Rodrigues Aristar <aristarlinguistlist.org>

Directory

  • Lois Stanford, Syntax and language acquisition
  • Donna Jo Napoli, General Linguistic Jobs

    Message 1: Syntax and language acquisition

     Date: Fri, 29 May 1998 15:21:51 -0600
    From: Lois Stanford <lstanformaildrop.srv.ualberta.ca>
    Subject: Syntax and language acquisition


    POSITION AVAILABLE University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada

    The Department of Linguistics, University of Alberta, invites applications for a position as an eight-month Visiting Assistant Professor in the area of syntax and language acquisition. The appointment will commence 1 September 1998 and end 30 April 1999. The ideal candidate will have demonstrated excellence in teaching and an active research program. The position will involve teaching primarily at the undergraduate level, and may be renewable in 1999/2000 pending budget approval. The Department of Linguistics has a strong commitment to empirical and experimental approaches to linguistic research. Department members are engaged in ongoing research projects, many grant-funded, in experimental phonetics and phonology, discourse processing, lexical semantics, and the study of the phonological, morphological, and semantic aspects of the mental lexicon. The Department offers the BA, MSc, and PhD degrees, prides itself on its excellent teaching, and provides a lively and stimulating intellectual environment to graduate and undergraduate students and faculty. The current eight-month salary at the University of Alberta is $25,000 Cdn plus travel expenses. In accordance with Canadian Immigration requirements, this announcement is directed to Canadian citizens and permanent residents. If suitable Canadian citizens or permanent residents cannot be found, other individuals will be considered. The University of Alberta is committed to the principle of equity in employment. As an employer we welcome diversity in the workplace and encourage applications from all qualified women and men, including Aboriginal peoples, persons with disabilities, and members of visible minorities. A letter of application, curriculum vitae, and the manes and addresses of three referees should be sent by 10 July 1998 to: Lois M Stanford, Chair Department of Linguistics 4-32 Assiniboia Hall University of Alberta Edmonton AB Canada T6G 2E7 (ph: 403 492 3459 fax: 403 492 0806 e-mail: lois.stanfordualberta.ca)



    Lois M. Stanford, Chair Department of Linguistics University of Alberta

    Message 2: General Linguistic Jobs

     Date: Sat, 30 May 1998 13:19:05 EDT
    From: Donna Jo Napoli <dnapoli1swarthmore.edu>
    Subject: General Linguistic Jobs


    Jobs for Linguists. Swarthmore College has applied for an NSF grant to set up a Linguistics Forum. We will hear on August 1, 1998, whether or not we get the funding. If we do, we will have positions for one Ph.D. in Linguistics and two BAs or MAs in Linguistics starting in Sept., 1998, and running for two years with the possibility of an extension depending on further funding. We are now accepting applications for these positions with the understanding that funding is pending. The Linguistics Forum will be an on-line educational forum for Kindergarten through 12th grade students and their teachers. These people will write in to our web site with questions about language. The questions will be posted on a bulletin board, where linguist volunteers will select questions to answer. The answers will come back to the Linguistics Forum staff (physically located at Swarthmore College) and we will then make sure that they are appropriate for the age child/ classroom they are intended for. All answers should be designed to lead the child to the answer if possible, through reasoning and experimentation. And all answers should be designed so that the child can bring an activity back for sharing in his or her classroom. Any questions that volunteer linguists do not answer will be answered by the Forum staff (the three people we will hire plus various faculty at Swarthmore College). The staff of the Forum must have a solid foundation in linguistics (we won't consider anyone without at least a BA in Linguistics proper). But the staff must also have: 1) clear communicative skills 2) creativity and vision 3) comfort dealing with the internet 4) interest across the board in theoretical and applied linguistics 5) comfort dealing with children 6) high tolerance for frustration All three staff members we hire will be involved both with answering questions and in designing the Forum. Part of our job over the first two years will be to define our niche and to communicate that clearly to the public. The potential of the Forum is huge, and we need staff that can envision that potential and help realize it. The Ph.D. will teach one course at Swarthmore College each academic year. In the fall of 1998, that course will probably be Morphology. In the fall of 1999, that course will probably be Historical & Comparative Linguistics. For this reason, the person must be a generativist (because that's the kind of department we have at Swarthmore). However, the person need not be a specialist in either morphology or historical work, but simply have a firm grounding in it. The person will have the option of working for only the 9 academic months the first year, or for working 12 months with a 1 month vacation in the summer. During the second year, however, the person must work for 12 months with just 1 month vacation. The first year academic salary will be $45,000. The summer salary (should the person decide to work in the summer) will be $10,000. One of the BAs will be our web master and should have experience in system administration, programming, and the internet. This person will write and maintain software, connect us with existing web resources, inform us of these resources, set up a holding tank for the questions that come in, design the archives for our answers, and basically build the structure of the Forum. Skills in Unix/Linux will be helpful. One of the BAs will be our jack-of-all-trades, responsible for outreach to the public and desk-top publishing as well as administrative duties. This person will handle all printed materials, publicity, schedules of meetings with teachers and organizations, and so on. While the above descriptions make the two BA positions sound quite distinct, in fact, the separation and sharing of duties will depend on the particular people we hire -- so please consider the above descriptions as fluid. Both BAs will be on a 12-month contract, with one summer month vacation, salary being between $25k and $30k depending on duties.

    If you want to apply, here's what you must do.

    (1) There is a Math Forum analogous to the Linguistics Forum we are proposing. You must take the internet tour of the Math Forum: http://forum.swarthmore.edu/dr.math/office_help/ Once you have done that tour, answer these two questions: (a) What are the strengths and weakness of the Math Forum? (b) How would you design a Linguistics Forum? Your answers can be detailed or not, but they should not be longer than 3 double-spaced pages each please. Send us those answers as part of your initial application.

    2) Please send a c.v. that includes your e-mail address if you have one (we will communicate with you only by e-mail if you have an e-mail address), your educational history, a description of your computer and internet experience, and a description of your experience with children K-12. If you are not yet up to speed on the internet, tell us whether or not you are willing to get up to speed on it before August and how you plan to do that.

    3) Please have three letters of recommendation sent and send us the names of these recommenders with their e-mail addresses. At least one recommendation should be from a linguistics professor. At most one can be from a child aged K-12 that you have taught or tutored.

    4) If you have a Ph.D. in linguistics, send three papers on linguistics that you have written which show the breadth of your interests in the field. If you have a BA or MA in linguistics, send one paper in any area of linguistics.

    Swarthmore is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Women and Minorities are encouraged to apply. Primary or secondary teaching experience is a plus.

    All materials must be sent in hard copy form by August 10, 1998 to the Forum Director: Donna Jo Napoli Linguistics Swarthmore College Swarthmore, PA 19081 Do not send these materials by e-mail. However, if you have questions and absolutely need a response before you can apply, please address them by e-mail to dnapoli1swarthmore.edu.



    Donna Jo Napoli Prof. and Chair Linguistics Swarthmore College Swarthmore, PA 19081 USA (610) 328-8422 (610) 328-6558 - home fax (610) 328-7323 dnapoli1swarthmore.edu