Assistant Professor - Director of Forensics - Department of Communication Studies

Assistant Professor
- Director of Forensics
- Department of Communication Studies #27-10

Job no: 561468
Work type: Instructional Faculty – Tenured/Tenure-Track
Location: Northridge
Categories: Unit 3 - CFA
- California Faculty Association, Tenured/Tenure-Track, Full Time, Faculty
- Communications/Journalism, On-site (work in-person at business location)

Faculty Hire Number: 27-10

Effective Date of Appointment: Fall 2027(Subject to Budgetary Approval)

Anticipated Hiring Range: $88,000 to $95,000 (Dependent upon qualifications)

CSUN is committed to achieving excellence through teaching, scholarship, learning and inclusion. Our values include a respect for all people, building partnerships with the community and the encouragement of innovation, experimentation, and creativity. CSUN strives to cultivate a community in which a diverse population can learn and work in an atmosphere of civility and respect. CSUN is especially interested in candidates who make contributions to equity and inclusion in the pursuit of excellence for all members of the university community.

As a Hispanic-serving Institution (HSI), inclusiveness and diversity are integral to CSUN’s commitment to excellence in teaching, research, and engagement. As of Fall 2025, CSUN enrolls 36,960 students, where 57.5% are Latinx, 18.4% are White, 8.5% are Asian-American, 5.5% are Black/African American, 0.1% are Native American, and 0.1% are Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander.

The department of Communication Studies at California State University, Northridge (CSUN) is seeking a tenure-track faculty member as a Director of Forensics at the rank of Assistant Professor.

The successful candidate will teach undergraduate and graduate courses in the department. The ideal candidate will remain active in the discipline, continue to develop expertise in evidence-backed debate and forensics pedagogy, and maintain a scholarly agenda that results in publication or equivalent contributions.

We seek a candidate with demonstrated experience or clear potential for teaching, mentoring, advising, and organizing programs that foster equity, inclusion, and representation, especially in relation to CSUN’s diverse student population. The candidate should demonstrate experience coaching evidence-backed debate formats, including but not limited to NDT/CEDA Policy debate, Collegiate Advocacy Research Debate, Lincoln-Douglas, and/or Public Forum, as well as the ability or potential for Individual Events coaching, contribute to public debate programming, collaborate with urban debate leagues (UDL) or traditionally underserved student populations, and engagement with inclusive pedagogical practices.

The candidate will also demonstrate the ability to coordinate operations, logistics, and supervision of forensics travel.

In addition to teaching, the position requires weekly office hours, attending faculty meetings, participation in assessment of student learning, and service to the department, college, and university. The successful candidate may be required to teach on weekdays, evenings, weekends, and/or online, travel with the forensics team, and will be held to the standards and requirements of the college and department in which he/she/they is/are housed for recommending tenure and promotion.

Given CSUN’s commitment to excellence in teaching, research, and engagement in a diverse environment, the successful candidate will help the Department achieve equitable academic outcomes for all students through teaching, student mentorship, scholarship, and service.

Faculty success at CSUN is measured by the following criteria: professional responsibilities, teaching effectiveness, contributions to one’s field of study, and service to the University and Community.

The standard teaching assignment is 12 units (4 courses per semester). However, new faculty members in their first two years teach 9 units per semester (3 courses). The successful candidate will be expected to join faculty and staff in a commitment to active learning, to assessment of learning outcomes, and to multiple teaching and learning modalities, including face-to-face, online,…