Statement from Steven J. Fluharty, Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences

I am pleased to announce that the School of Arts and Sciences will undertake a cluster search to fill multiple standing faculty positions in Asian American studies. The search will take place during the 2021-22 academic year, with the intention of having the new faculty join the School in the 2022-23 academic year.  The positions will be occupied by a mix of junior- and senior-level scholars in the social sciences and humanities, and will be focused on addressing pressing teaching needs in the social sciences within this field, building a long-term pipeline of faculty leaders for the undergraduate Asian American Studies Program, and enhancing the overall strength of the appointees’ home departments.

Understanding the Asian American experience is critical to our understanding of the American experience. This cluster search will allow the School to build its collective strength in Asian American studies and in the study of race and diversity more broadly. The search is the first major faculty recruitment effort in support of the School’s Inclusion and Anti-Racism Initiatives announced in late fall 2020. A core priority of these initiatives is to position Penn Arts and Sciences to contribute further to the achievement of social justice through research and teaching on race, diversity, and inequality.