The Earlham College Border Studies Program is a liberal arts program based in Tucson, AZ that uses the transnational U.S.-Mexico border region as a critical context for unpacking contemporary global realities.  Students in the Border Studies Program undertake semester-long immersion education that involves academic classes, travel to communities across southern Arizona and on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border, homestays, and internships with local organizations involved with immigration, human rights, education, social justice, and environmental sustainability. 

The Spanish Language Program provides a critical component of BSP’s academic curriculum, as well as a bridge between BSP and the broader Tucson community.  Located some 60 miles north of the U.S. border with Mexico, Tucson is essentially a bilingual and multinational city, and BSP’s Spanish Language Program emphasizes the teaching of Spanish as a language of the borderlands and of the United States.  This involves not just a pedagogical approach that applies a decolonial analytic to challenge hegemonies of language and their intersections with broader questions of power, privilege and oppression; but also the cultivation of an ethic of language justice as a cornerstone of education, movement and community.  In addition to college-level classroom instruction, the BSP Spanish Language Program Director will therefore be responsible for organizing community language classes; facilitating the training of community language instructors; and promoting access to translation and interpretation by supporting student participation in Tucson’s Language Justice Collective.  In addition, the Spanish Language Program Director will join a team of three other full-time administrative faculty, who are collectively responsible for organizing and implementing all of the Border Studies Program’s logistics and curriculum.

RESPONSIBILITIES: 

Directing the Spanish Program (40%, approximately 16 hours per week)

Curriculum Development: Develop curricula each semester that meet the needs of incoming students.

• Assess students’ Spanish level prior to their arrival in the program using their application materials and telephone interviews
• Interview students once they arrive to Tucson to place them in the appropriate Spanish level
• Develop Spanish language curricula according to student levels, which range from beginner to native speaker

Instruction:  Assume primary responsibility for instruction of credit-bearing Spanish language course as well as the oversight of the community Spanish classes.

• Teach one content-based Spanish language course for all students
• Teach one Spanish language course targeted to either beginner, intermediate or advanced-level students
• Coordinate, alongside the Border Studies Instructor, meetings with advanced-level students who will take part in Tucson’s Language Justice Collective (LJC)
• Create assignments and interpretation practice sessions for students who will participate in the LJC
• Assess student writing on a weekly basis

Coordination and Supervision of Teaching Assistants:

• Create lesson plans with teaching assistant(s)
• Meet with and coach teaching assistants(s)

Assessment:

• Meet with students one-on-one two times throughout the semester, once in the middle and once at the end to assess their oral Spanish language progress

Co-Directing the Border Studies Program (40%, approximately 16 hours per week)

Attend weekly meetings with other BSP faculty and work as a team to keep the program running smoothly

• Work with other BSP faculty to develop curriculum each semester
• Plan orientation and wrap-up week with other BSP faculty
• Work with other BSP faculty to coordinate travel excursions
• Work as a team to conduct wellness checks with students throughout the semester

Travel Excursion Leader: Work with other BSP faculty and community members to plan and carry out travel excursions in the borderlands and Southern Mexico.

Administration (15%, approximately 6 hours per week)

Administrative duties may contain several of the following:

• Help to oversee and manage BSP facilities and equipment
• Complete monthly accounting
• Support with student services, including interviewing new applicants
• Support with advertising and student recruitment
• Maintain relationships with college contacts at affiliated universities
• Help plan meetings with outside constituents and stakeholders

Other Duties (5%, approximately 2 hours per week)

Professional development: Participate regularly in regional, national, or international professional development opportunities and networks.

Ad hoc assignments: Complete other duties as requested by Earlham College