Professor And Head, Oklahoma Oral History Research Program

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The following employment opportunity is currently available in the OSU Library.
For more information, contact Jackie German at 405-744-6324.

The Oklahoma State University Library seeks applicants for a tenured Full Professor position to lead its newly established Oklahoma Oral History Research Program. The Program will incorporate the Library's existing oral history projects and will develop new projects exploring the lives and contributions of Oklahomans from all walks of life. Past projects have included documenting the experience of women in the Oklahoma Dust Bowl and women who worked in traditionally male occupations during WWII. Current projects include documenting the experiences of alumni of Oklahoma State University; women who currently serve or in the past served as legislators in the Oklahoma Legislature; and living inductees in the Oklahoma Women's Hall of Fame. Program staff provide technical and practical expertise to those engaged in oral history practice on the OSU campus, teach continuing education classes for lifelong learners, guest lecture in undergraduate and graduate courses, serve as speakers and moderators at professional conferences, and are working with numerous extant oral history collections in the Library's Department of Special Collections and University Archives. The position is one of a cluster of three senior hires (in English, History and the Library) designated to launch a new interdisciplinary Center for Oklahoma Studies.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

The Head of the Oklahoma Oral History Research Program will provide general administrative leadership for the Program and serve as professional oral historian, participating in research and teaching endeavors in support of OSU's Center for Oklahoma Studies and its mission within a land-grant institution. We seek an individual with an established reputation for oral history scholarship and practice who can conceptualize and lead a comprehensive oral history program in an academic setting and who can develop and execute oral history projects with a focus on Oklahoma. The successful candidate will work collaboratively with English, History and other faculty associated with the Center for Oklahoma Studies and will report to the Associate Dean of Libraries who has developed the Library's oral history projects thus far.

The Oklahoma Oral History Research Program currently consists of two library faculty working full time on oral history projects with other library faculty contributing on various oral history projects. In addition to the Head position, the Library is also recruiting a history librarian who will have a 40% assignment to the Oklahoma Oral History Research Program.

• Responsibilities will include maintaining a strong record of scholarly publications and public presentations;
• long-range planning;
• supervising Program personnel;
• monitoring sources of outside funding through grants and contracts;
• developing outreach projects such as workshops and symposia;
• keeping abreast of trends in technology which have application within the oral history field;
• teaching oral history methodology in special academic courses and professional workshops;
• and serving as a consultant on oral history methodology to faculty and students.

QUALIFICATIONS:

REQUIRED:

• Extensive and progressively significant and relevant professional experience in an academic or public oral history program;
• working knowledge of current oral history technology;
• strong demonstrated commitment to the oral history profession;
• the ability to build successful working relationships with a wide variety of people;
• a record of significant contributions to the advancement of oral history practice and/or theory and recognition by peers on the national level, enabling the applicant to be appointed at the level of full professor;
• and an ALA-accredited MLS or an advanced degree in Public History with an archives emphasis, or an advanced degree in a closely related discipline.

PREFERRED:

• Experience in a land-grant institution;
• a record of developing successful grant projects and proposals;
• experience providing digital access to oral history materials;
• a record of administrative or supervisory experience;
• and experience directing graduate student research.

SALARY:

$85,000 for 12 months. Social security; health and life insurance; retirement benefits available under state system and TIAA/CREF; 11 holidays; 22 days of vacation and 22 days of sick leave.

APPLICATION DEADLINE:

Application review begins on March 3, 2008, and continues until position is filled.

APPLY TO:

Send cover letter, resume, and names and addresses of three professional references to:

Jackie German, Administrative Officer
Edmon Low Library
Oklahoma State University
Stillwater, OK 74078-1071
405-744-6324
jackie.german@okstate.edu

Applicants invited for on-campus interviews will be required to make a presentation to the faculty.

Oklahoma State University is a comprehensive research and land-grant university offering more than 200 academic programs with state, national, and international impact. The Stillwater campus enrolls 22,000 students. The Library, with holdings of more than 2.7 million volumes and documents, is a member of the Association of Research Libraries and the Greater Western Library Alliance, and participates in the OCLC system as a member of AMIGOS. It uses the Voyager library management system and administers systems for a consortium of eleven other Oklahoma libraries. The Library is a regional depository for the Federal Depository Library program as well as a Patent and Trademark Library. Librarians hold academic rank.

Oklahoma State University is an AA/EEO/E-Verify employer committed to diversity.

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