Job Description

Cornerstone University invites applications for a full-time, open rank faculty position in American history and American political thought. This is a full-time, benefits-eligible teaching appointment with rank (Assistant, Associate, or Full Professor) commensurate with qualifications and experience.

The successful candidate will teach in two complementary settings: the University's Cornerstone Core™ - the general education curriculum, which introduces all undergraduates to the ideas and institutions that have shaped Western civilization and the American experience, and the newly established Honors Program, which provides academically advanced students with a rigorous, seminar-based engagement with primary texts in history, philosophy, political theory, and theology. The core of Cornerstone University is defined and driven by its Christ-centered mission and Biblical confession.

This position reflects Cornerstone's conviction that a genuinely liberal education must be rooted in a beautiful and sophisticated Christian Worldview and an understanding of the American Founding, the constitutional tradition, and the Christian intellectual heritage that informed both.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Teaching

• Teach undergraduate courses in the Cornerstone Core’s™ pillar of The Wisdom of the American Experience. These courses focus on American history, the American Founding and constitutional principles, American political thought, and primary texts in Cornerstone’s Great Works Canon of the American Experience™.
• Teach Honors Program seminars organized around primary texts drawn from the Western and American intellectual traditions, including documents of the Founding era, classical and Christian sources of political philosophy, and works on constitutional theory and democratic governance.
• Develop and deliver courses integrating Christian worldview with historical, political, and civic content.
• Maintain a standard teaching load consistent with University policy, with the possibility of reduced load for scholarship or program development.
• Teach a range of course formats including large lecture, discussion seminar, and online modalities as appropriate and required.

Curriculum and Program Development

• Collaborate to develop and refine curriculum in the Cornerstone Core™ and Honors Program.
• Contribute to the design of interdisciplinary sequences in the Honors Program that draw connections across history, theology, literature, and political thought.
• Assist in building a coherent curricular vision for civic and constitutional literacy across the University.

Scholarship and Professional Engagement

• Maintain an active record of scholarship appropriate to rank, including research, publication, conference participation, or public writing that advances the fields of American history, political thought, or Christian worldview studies.
• Engage in public intellectual life consistent with the University's mission, including writing for broader audiences, media engagement, or participation in relevant civic and academic forums.

Service

• Participate in departmental and University-wide faculty contributions to excellence in teaching, learning, and curricular development and design.
• Contribute to student advising, mentoring, and co-curricular programming aligned with the University's mission.
• Engage with the broader Grand Rapids community in ways that reflect Cornerstone's mission commitment.
• All Cornerstone University and WCSG employees will regularly interact with students in a variety of projects, activities, and settings. As such all employees are expected to serve as Christian leaders and mentors by effectively living a gospel-centered lifestyle, ministering and discipling through a biblical worldview.

• Other duties as assigned.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES

Required

• Earned doctorate (Ph.D.) in American history, political science, political philosophy, American studies, or a closely related field. ABD candidates will be considered with a firm completion timeline.
• Demonstrated teaching effectiveness at the undergraduate level.
• Substantive expertise in one or more of the following areas: American history; American political thought and constitutional theory; the American Founding; the history of ideas in the Western tradition.
• Demonstrated commitment to the Christian Worldview integration of Christian faith and academic inquiry.
• Ability to work with a diverse range of stakeholders – high school and college students, university faculty, administration, enrollment …).

Preferred

• Experience teaching in a general education or core curriculum context.
• Experience teaching in a Great Books, honors, or seminar-based program.
• Scholarly or professional expertise in constitutional theory, natural law, or the intellectual sources of the American Founding.
• Record of public scholarship, op-ed writing, or civic engagement that extends academic work into broader audiences.
• Experience with curriculum design and assessment in a liberal arts or faith-based setting that delivers education via on campus and online modalities.

Content Areas of Particular Interest

While candidates with broad training in American history or political thought are encouraged to apply, Cornerstone is especially interested in scholars whose work engages the following areas:

• The American Founding: the intellectual, philosophical, and theological sources of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Federalist tradition.
• Constitutional history and theory: the development of constitutionalism in America, the structure of republican government, and the relationship between law, liberty, and ordered society.
• American political thought: the tradition from the Puritans through the Founders, Lincoln, and into the modern and current era, including debates over liberty, equality, justice, and democratic self-governance.
• Christian political philosophy: the relationship between Christian faith and civic life, including classical and Reformed contributions to political theory, natural law, and just governance.
• The Western intellectual tradition as it informs American identity, civic culture, and constitutional democracy.

ESSENTIAL QUALIFICATIONS

A personal relationship with Jesus Christ and an active Christian commitment.

A theology that supports the values and mission of Cornerstone University core commitments evidenced by an ability to affirm and sign the university’s doctrinal statement, “The Cornerstone Confession.”

• Four other foundational pillars, along with the university’s mission and confession, form Cornerstone’s Core Commitments.
  • The Cornerstone Christian World View
  • The Cornerstone Academic Vision
  • The Cornerstone Beautiful Christian Community
  • The Marriage and Human Sexuality Position Statement

These core commitments convey who we are, what we believe and how we live and work together in community. Employees are expected to faithfully attend an evangelical and biblical church whose core beliefs and practices are consistent with Cornerstone’s confession and core commitments.

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