Job Description

The Leadership in Education Department in the College of Education and Human Development (CEHD) at the University of Massachusetts Boston seeks applicants for a tenure-track Assistant/Associate Professor to begin September 1, 2026, in the Educational Leadership for Social Justice Program. We are specifically looking for a collaborative, equity-minded, scholar whose research agenda focuses on transformative and culturally sustaining leadership particularly as it relates to the development, implementation, and/or continuous improvement of community schools. Of particular interest are candidates whose teaching, research, and service will advance our college mission and the commitments outlined in our university strategic plan (page 11).

Preferred qualifications include one or more of the following: (1) scholarly expertise in university-assisted community schools, which are two-way research, mentoring, and resource partnerships with the goal of promoting educational equity within a community-focused learning environment; (2) interest in serving in a leadership role that helps us advance our efforts in co-creating community schools; (3) teaching experience at the graduate level; (4) experience teaching and/or leading at the PreK-12 level in urban public schools. The position also offers opportunities for collaboration with UMass Boston’s Collaborative of Asian American, Native American, Latino, and African American Institutes (CANALA - UMass Boston (umb.edu).

Faculty are responsible for teaching, research, and service that enhance the CEHD’s community-engaged mission. The college faculty and leadership recognize that the scholarly work of faculty often includes the integration of teaching, research, and service. Other responsibilities include: 1) teaching graduate courses in the Educational Leadership for Social Justice Program, 2) conducting research that is relevant to the field of educational leadership, particularly in community schools, 3) advising master’s and CAGS students as well as maintaining and reviewing students’ capstone portfolios and serving on dissertation committees in the Leadership in Education Department, and 4) contributing service to university, college, departmental, and program committees, to professional associations, and to local, national, and/or international communities.

The department and CEHD are especially interested in candidates who: 1) take a critically conscious, equity-minded, and asset-based approach to advancing social justice in education through their scholarship, teaching, and service and 2) are committed to strengthening the capacity of educational leaders in schools and community-based organizations to contribute to organizational change in education.

The Educational Leadership for Social Justice program’s mission is to develop effective educational leaders who support the transformation and design of schools and community organizations at all levels, while confronting the inequities of educational systems and addressing social justice issues on various levels: personal, institutional, and societal. The program’s goals are to provide practical and theoretical experiences and knowledge by focusing on Eight Leadership Tenets  that examine the beliefs and values that impact learning. The program, offering master’s degrees and Certificates of Advanced Graduate Study (CAGS), is housed in the Leadership in Education Department that includes doctoral programs in Higher Education and Urban Education Leadership and Policy Studies.

The College of Education and Human Development at UMass Boston is ranked the top public college of education in the state of Massachusetts (U.S. News and World Report, 2025) and is guided by our core values of social justice, community engagement and academic excellence. Its Department of Leadership in Education is home to cohort-based M.Ed., CAGS, PhD, and EdD programs that are highly regarded in the region and nation. Currently, CEHD is leading UMass Boston’s efforts in co-creating the Ruth Batson Academy, a Boston Public School, as Massachusetts’s first university-assisted community school. In collaboration with the City of Boston, Boston Public Schools, and the school, we expect the Ruth Batson Academy to serve as a model for other university-assisted community schools in the region.

UMass Boston is an urban public research university with a teaching soul, whose impact is both local and global. We are the third most diverse university in the country - more than 60% of our undergraduate students come from minoritized communities and groups and more than half of our students are the first in their families to attend a college or university. Thus, our students come to us from richly diverse life experiences and backgrounds; they bring to our classrooms and research settings the robust range of perspectives growing out of the socio-cultural, economic, and historical contexts in which they have lived, along with the challenges they encounter, engage, and strive to overcome. We invite applications from candidates who reflect the diverse life experiences of our student body, who appreciate that students bring their holistic selves into the academic setting, and who recognize and articulate how their own life experiences and backgrounds have shaped their journeys, practices, and commitments as researchers, scholars, and educators.

Application instructions:

To apply, submit the following materials online: 1) a cover letter that describes how the applicant’s teaching, research and service relate to the above description of the position and our program mission, 2) a current curriculum vitae, 3) three samples of scholarship published in academic venues such as peer-reviewed journals, academic books, and conference proceedings or scholarly artifacts in the form of reports, digital publications, blog posts, policy briefs, among other products, and 4) names and contact information for three academic references. Only finalists for the position will be asked to submit letters of recommendation.

Application review will begin October 6th and continue until the position is filled. 

UMass Boston is committed to the full inclusion of all qualified individuals. As part of this commitment, we will ensure that persons with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodations for the hiring process. If reasonable accommodation is needed, please contact HRDirect@umb.edu or 617-287-5150.

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