Assistant Professor

Online applications must be received before 11:59pm on:

November 2, 2025

If a date is not listed above, review the Applicant Instructions below for more details.

Available Title(s):

270-NN_FACULTY - Assistant Professor

Business Title:

Assistant Professor

Employee Type:

Faculty9 Month - Summer

The Opportunity:

The Department of Anthropology at Washington State University (WSU) invites applications for a permanent, full-time, nine-month, tenure-track Assistant Professor position on the flagship campus in Pullman, WA, with a specialty in cultural anthropology focused on health, well-being, and/or human-environment interactions. We seek applicantswho have active research programs with a focus on living people, and who can make a strong contribution to graduate and undergraduate education in anthropology. It is anticipated that the successful candidate will begin the appointment on August 16, 2026.

Job Duties: Our new colleague will be expected to teach face-to-face and/or online courses, meaningfully contribute to enhancing the research reputation of the department, take an active role working with graduate students, and make service contributions to the department, college, university, and profession. This is a 9-month academic appointment teaching twelve (12) credit hours per year.

Annual Salary: $72,000-$82,000 per nine-month academic year. | In accordance with RCW 49.58.110, the above salary reflects the full salary range for this position. Individual placement within the range is based on the candidate’s current experience, education, skills, and abilities related to the position.

Benefits: WSU offers a comprehensive benefits package which includes paid sick and vacation leave; paid holidays; medical, dental, life and disability insurance package for employees and dependents; retirement; deferred compensation and optional supplemental retirement accounts. For a more detailed summary of benefits offered by WSU for Faculty please review the summary of benefits for WSU Faculty and Total Compensation.

Required Qualifications:

• Earned doctorate in anthropology or an appropriate, related discipline by the beginning of the appointment.

• An active research program in cultural anthropology that focuses on health or well-being, broadly conceived, of living people.

• A commitment to innovative and systematic mixed- or multi-method research.

• Commitment to collaborations with communities and interdisciplinary teams.

• Research with potential for real-world applications that engage and address community needs.

• Demonstrated record of or potential to achieve a record of research accomplishment.

• Demonstrated potential to establish and maintain an externally funded research program.

• Demonstrated record of or potential to successfully teach and mentor students at the graduate and undergraduate levels.

• Research program that lends itself to student collaborations.

• Research and related teaching that complements or extends current departmental strengths.

• Demonstrated record of supporting, or potential to support, access and opportunity in research, teaching, and service in alignment with WSU’s land grant mission.

About WSU Pullman: Washington State University is a land grant, multiple-campus Research 1 institution. This position will serve on the Pullman campus, which has an enrollment of around 20,000 students and is located in Southeastern Washington on the homelands of the Nimíipuu (Nez Perce) Tribe and Palus people. Located 80 miles south of metropolitan Spokane, Pullman is also a quick drive away from the scenic Idaho panhandle and Moscow Mountain. The rolling hills of the Palouse offer a wide range of activities and a true four-season climate. The area provides ample opportunity to enjoy the cultural and academic hub of both Washington State University and the University of Idaho, in the neighboring town of Moscow, Idaho. For more information about the region, please see https://pullmanchamber.com.

About College of Arts and Sciences:

Encompassing more than 19 departments, schools, and programs, and 19 centers, institutes, museums, and research stations across five campuses statewide, the College of Arts & Sciences (CAS) is the heart of WSU. Together over 700 CAS faculty and staff deliver more than 50% of WSU’s total undergraduate and graduate instruction, including the vast majority of WSU’s core curriculum. We drive disciplinary and transdisciplinary research, scholarship, and creative activities across the arts, humanities, social sciences, sciences and mathematics. The College of Arts & Sciences seeks to lead a reimagining of WSU’s land-grant mission for the 21st century, expanding the boundaries of creativity and discovery while simultaneously recognizing more completely our obligations to the State and the communities we serve.  For more about the College of Arts & Sciences at WSU, please see https://cas.wsu.edu.

About the Department of Anthropology:

The Department of Anthropology is an academic unit located in the College of Arts and Sciences. Anthropology’s 16 faculty members conduct research, support courses and mentorship, and provide service at WSU’s campuses in Pullman and Vancouver. The department offers the BA at WSU’s Pullman and Vancouver campuses, and to its Global campus, and teaches courses in support of a minor and certificate in American Indian Studies. Partnering with the School of Biological Sciences, we also offer a BA in Human Biology at Pullman and Vancouver. With faculty and specialties and graduate degree tracks in cultural anthropology, biological anthropology, and archaeology, the department offers the M.A. and Ph.D. in anthropology in each of these areas of emphasis, supporting a graduate program with approximately forty students. For more about the Department of Anthropology, its faculty, graduate students and programs, please see https://anthro.wsu.edu/.

WSU acknowledges that its locations statewide are on the homelands of Native American peoples, who have lived in this region and have been caretakers of the land from time immemorial. The Morrill Act of 1862 established our land-grant institution by providing public and federal lands that are traced back to the disposition of Indigenous lands, often taken by coercive and violent acts, and the disregard of treaties. For that, we extend our deepest apologies. We owe our deepest gratitude to the Native peoples of this region and maintain our commitment towards reconciliation. And as a land-grant institution, WSU is deeply committed to the land-grant mission, its Memorandums of Understanding with Native tribes in the region, and a tradition of service to society. To read the full WSU land acknowledgement, please see https://wsu.edu/about/wsu-land-acknowledgement/.

Application Instructions: Applicants must upload the following required documents to their online application. Application materials should clearly communicate how the applicant meets all required qualifications and additional requirements.

• A cover letter, not to exceed three pages, addressing qualifications for this position as well as a response to the following prompt:

  • As a land-grant university, we have a commitment to ensure access and opportunity in all aspects of our work. The successful candidate for this faculty position will have the experiences, knowledge, and skills to build their research/scholarship/creative practice, pedagogy, curriculum, and service in ways that reflect and enhance this commitment. Using the job announcement for this position, please list and explain up to three areas of responsibility you see as related to fulfilling this mission.

• Curriculum vitae. 

• Names, addresses, and contact information of at least three references who can address your history of and potential for excellence in research, teaching, and service (letters and selected publications will be requested at a later time).

Inquiries should be directed to Professor Robert Quinlan ([email protected]). 

External candidates, upload all documents in the “Application Document” section of your application.
Current WSU Employees (internal candidates), before starting your Workday application, please use these instructions to update your education and experience in your worker profile in Workday. Internal candidates, upload all documents in the “Resume/Cover Letter” section of your application.

Documents may be submitted as one file or separate files. Applicants are encouraged to upload as a PDF, if possible.

Professional reference contact information will be requested later in the recruitment process through Workday.

Background Check: This position has been designated by the department to require a background check because it requires access to children or vulnerable adults as defined by RCW 74.34, engages in law enforcement, requires security clearance, interacts with WSU students in a counseling or advising capacity, has access to personal identifying and/or financial information, unsupervised access to university buildings/property, or other business-related need. A background check will not be completed until an initial determination of qualification for employment has been made.

Full time

Washington State University encourages all qualified candidates to apply, including members of the military and veterans, and persons with disabilities.

WSU employs only U.S. citizens and lawfully authorized non-U.S. citizens. All new employees must show employment eligibility verification as required by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

WSU is committed to providing access and reasonable accommodation in its services, programs, activities, education and employment for individuals with disabilities. To request disability accommodation in the application process, contact Human Resource Services: 509-335-4521 (v), Washington State TDD Relay Service: Voice Callers: 1-800-833-6384; TDD Callers: 1-800-833-6388, 509-335-1259(f), or [email protected].

Notice of Non-Discrimination

In matters of admission, employment, housing or services, or in the educational programs or activities it operates, WSU does not discriminate or permit discrimination by any member of its community against any individual on the basis of sex, race, color, national or ethnic origin, physical disability, mental disability, sensory disability, use of a trained service animal, age, religion, creed, genetic information, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, protected veteran status, honorably discharged veteran, member of the military, or immigration or citizenship status except as authorized by federal or state law, regulation, or government contract.

Inquiries about the application of federal and state laws and regulations (including inquiries regarding the application of Title IX, ADA/Section 504, and implementing regulations), as well as reports and complaints of discrimination and harassment, can be made verbally or in writing to WSU’s Compliance and Civil Rights, the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights, or both.

More information, resources, and contact information are available here: https://ccr.wsu.edu/notice-of-nondiscrimination/