Recruit

The Department of Social Welfare in the Luskin School of Public Affairs at UCLA invites applications for a full-time, tenure-track Assistant Professor with an anticipated start date of July 1, 2024. Tenure-track faculty have an annual service period of nine months from the end of September through mid-June. We seek a scholar who studies social policy as it pertains to any of the following areas: age, race, income inequality, immigration, social security, child and family welfare, community development, poverty, and/or housing. We welcome scholarship that draws on an intersectional lens and novel empirical approaches toward understanding the impact of social policies on marginalized populations. We are also interested in scholarship that evaluates the effectiveness of social policies on ameliorating poverty and related social problems.

Applicants must have earned a PhD in social work/social welfare or a related social science discipline by the date of hire and hold an MSW degree. The successful candidate will be prepared to conduct quality research, teach and mentor at the graduate (MSW and PhD) and undergraduate levels, participate in service to the university and profession, and promote a diverse and inclusive community of faculty, staff, and students. We seek a colleague whose research agenda aligns with our mission of advancing knowledge, practice, and policy for a just society and who shares a commitment to placing their knowledge at the service of students and communities. Applicants with specific short- and long-term plans towards thought leadership and have a penchant for policy analysis using a critical lens will be given serious consideration. Applicants should be prepared to teach courses in foundations of social policy, advanced social policy, as well as research methods, advanced practice, and/or human behavior.

UCLA is consistently ranked among the top research universities across the nation and the world. The Department of Social Welfare is ranked within the top nine schools of social work nationally and is the only social work program in Southern California housed in a major public research university. The Department of Social Welfare has the unique advantage of being situated in an interdisciplinary School of Public Affairs along with highly ranked departments of Urban Planning and Public Policy. The Department has experienced dynamic growth in the past five years. In 2020, we launched our strategic plan establishing three areas of concentration in the MSW program and joined a school-wide undergraduate major in public affairs. Our current faculty includes 17 tenured and tenure-track professors (with room to add), 9 field education faculty, 3 adjunct faculty, 8 full time staff members, and numerous lecturers. The Social Welfare Department has approximately 200 MSW students (growing to 250 by Fall 2025) and 40 PhD students. In addition to our MSW and PhD programs, we offer a post-MSW school social work credential, public child welfare and public behavioral health training programs, and a summer leadership institute. We also have joint degree programs with Asian American Studies, Law, Public Health, and Public Policy. The Luskin School has several dynamic research centers whose work illuminates contemporary policies, such as the Latino Policy and Politics Institute, the Institute on Inequality and Democracy, and the Center of Policy Research on Aging, as well as others across campus.

Over the past decade we have hired over 15 new tenure and tenure-track and field education faculty and we continue to grow. We currently have two endowed chairs. Our faculty and students are highly productive, garnering prestigious and large-scale grants, crafting influential scholarly publications, and engaging in research that impacts the lives of citizens in California and across the globe. Our interdisciplinary faculty are experts in aging, school safety, activism and organizing, civic engagement, intersectionality, criminal justice, immigrant communities, LGBTQ+ health and wellness, child welfare, harm reduction, and numerous other cutting-edge topics. Our field education and adjunct faculty are highly respected and integral to our training program.

The posted UC salary scales set the minimum pay determined by rank and/or step at appointment. See Table(s) 1. The salary range for this position is $70,900 - $92,800. “Off-scale salaries” and other components of pay, i.e., a salary that is higher than the published system-wide salary at the designated rank and step, are offered when necessary to meet competitive conditions.

Early applications are encouraged. To ensure full consideration, please submit applications by Oct 15, 2023. Interested candidates should apply through UC Recruit: https://recruit.apo.ucla.edu/JPF08686.

Please Submit:

1. A cover letter
2. A curriculum vitae
3. A statement describing existing and intended contributions to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI statement)
4. Names and contact information for three references
5. Reference check authorization release form

To inquire further about the position, contact the Search Committee Chair, Dr. Lené Levy-Storms: llstorms@ucla.edu.

The University of California is committed to creating and maintaining a community dedicated to the advancement, application, and transmission of knowledge and creative endeavors through academic excellence, where all individuals who participate in University programs and activities can work and learn together in a safe and secure environment, free of violence, harassment, bullying and other demeaning behavior, discrimination, exploitation, or intimidation. With this commitment as well as a commitment to addressing all forms of academic misconduct, UCLA conducts targeted employment reference checks for finalists to whom departments or other hiring units would like to extend formal offers of appointment into Academic Senate faculty positions. The targeted employment reference checks involve contacting the finalists’ current and prior places of employment to ask whether there have been substantiated findings of misconduct that would violate the University’s Faculty Code of Conduct. To implement this process, UCLA requires all applicants for Academic Senate faculty positions to complete, sign, and upload the form entitled “Authorization to Release Information” into RECRUIT as part of their application. If the applicant does not include the signed authorization to release information with the application materials, the application will be considered incomplete. As with any incomplete application, the application will not receive further consideration. Although all applicants for faculty recruitment must complete the entire application, only finalists (i.e., those to whom the department or other hiring unit would like to extend a formal offer) considered for Academic Senate faculty positions will be subject to targeted employment reference checks.

As a University employee, you will be required to comply with all applicable University policies and/or collective bargaining agreements, as may be amended from time to time. Federal, state, or local government directives may impose additional requirements.

The University of California is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age or protected veteran status. For the complete University of California nondiscrimination and affirmative action policy, see: UC Nondiscrimination & Affirmative Action Policy.