Details

Title Intellectual Vitality Postdoctoral Fellow

School Faculty of Arts and Sciences

Department/Area Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Ethics

Position Description

The Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Ethics ( ELSCE ) and Harvard College’s Office of Undergraduate ( OUE ) Education are seeking a Post-Doctoral Fellow who will work in the fields of humanities and social science under the direction of one or more professors on the university’s Intellectual Vitality efforts. The Fellow will contribute to developing civil discourse pedagogical materials, piloting approaches to adapt these tools to specific curricular needs, and to begin scaling up successful models across the College. The Fellow will collaborate closely with ELSCE’s Director of Pedagogy and the OUE’s Assistant Director of Pedagogy, Intellectual Vitality Initiatives. The Fellow’s working time will be divided equally between ELSCE and the OUE .

Research-based contributions include:

• Undertaking research in pedagogical literature and design civil discourse pedagogical tools for instructors in collaboration with the Edmond & Lily Safra Center for Ethics ( ELSCE ) and the Assistant Director of Pedagogy ( ADP )

• Collaborating with faculty and research staff to ensure alignment of tools to curricular needs in College programs departments, and with ELSCE to avoid duplication of efforts

• Collaborating with faculty and research staff to design and deliver seminars, workshops, and trainings across College curriculum and in Departmental courses

• Delivering a Spring 2025 seminar series in Gen Ed with pre-existing curriculum

• In collaboration with ADP and the Bok Center, present key civil discourse pedagogical tools / approaches to a selection of 25 Departmental Pedagogy Seminars (based on disciplinary need and fit)

• Partnering closely with instructors in area of expertise (e.g. Expos, sciences, etc.) to develop pedagogical tools that can be tested in those instructors’ courses.

• Partnering with faculty and research staff in areas of disciplinary fit to test Intellectual Vitality (IV)/Civil Discourse (CD) pedagogy tools in departmental courses.

• Partnering with OUE , ELSCE , and Bok Center to develop and implement teacher fellow trainings across Gen Ed courses

• Partnering with OUE , ELSCE , and Bok Center to scale up IV/CD teacher fellow training across the University

In addition to contributing to this work, the fellow will have time to work on their own independent research, under mentorship of ELSCE faculty director and other Center faculty affiliates. They are also encouraged to participate in Center activities, particularly those geared towards Fellows-in-Residence.

The fellowship may be renewable for a second year, contingent on program need, funding, and a satisfactory annual review.

Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis until the position is filled.

Basic Qualifications

• Terminal degree in a relevant field (if the successful candidate does not have a doctorate, the position will be adjusted from a Postdoc to a fellowship)

• At least 1 year of college-level teaching experience

  Additional Qualifications

Experience in designing and/or delivering civil disagreement pedagogical materials.

Special Instructions

Application Requirements

• Cover letter stating your background and interest in the Intellectual Vitality/Civil Discourse program. Please indicate when you are available to begin this position (it is not an AY25-26 fellowship – rather, applications are accepted on a rolling basis until the position is filled).

• CV

• Recent writing sample (up to 10,000 words)

• 2-3 letters of recommendation will be requested from finalists only

  Contact Information

124 Mt. Auburn St. Suite 520N Cambridge, MA 02138

Contact Email ethics_fellowships@fas.harvard.edu

Equal Opportunity Employer

We are an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, gender identity, sexual orientation, pregnancy and pregnancy-related conditions or any other characteristic protected by law.

Minimum Number of References Required

Maximum Number of References Allowed

Keywords

“fellowship”, “postdoctoral”, “civil disagreement”, “ethics”, “pedagogy”, “intellectual vitality”

Supplemental Questions