Position Title: Adjunct Faculty, Humanities /Social Sciences, Bard Sequence Program (Plainfield, NJ)

About the Bard Early Colleges and the Bard Sequence

The Bard Early Colleges (BEC) are founded on the belief that many high school–age students are eager and ready for the intellectual challenges of a college education. The Bard Early Colleges act on this belief by providing younger scholars with a tuition-free, credit-bearing college course of study in the liberal arts following the 9th and 10th grades. Students are taught by college faculty in seminar classes and earn college credits up to an associate in arts (A.A.) degree from Bard College, concurrently with a high school diploma. Now in its second decade, the Bard Early College network serves over 2,850 students in campuses in New York City, New York; Newark, New Jersey; New Orleans, Louisiana; Cleveland, Ohio; and Baltimore, Maryland.

Bard invites applications on a rolling basis for a dynamic individual who seeks to teach Bard Sequence Seminar at Plainfield High School. Through partnerships between Bard College and public high schools and school systems, the Bard Sequence allows students in the 11th and 12th grades to take Bard College’s signature interdisciplinary humanities “Great Books” Seminar Sequence on site at their schools, taught by an instructor selected and trained by Bard. The Bard Sequence offers students earlier exposure to college study and the opportunity to earn 12 Bard College credits over four semesters. The majority of Bard Sequence students are first generation college students. In the 2021-22 academic year more than 85% of Bard Sequence students identified as Black/African American and 10% as Latinx/Hispanic.

Position Description:

Teach one or two sections of Bard Sequence First Year Seminar to high school juniors at Plainfield High School.  One section of the class Seminar will meet Mondays and Wednesdays from 3-4:30pm and the second will meet Tuesdays and Thursdays 3-4:30pm.

Key responsibilities:

The Bard Sequence instructor will teach one or  two sections of Bard’s First Year Seminar in the Spring of 2024 at Plainfield High School. The responsibility of a Bard Sequence faculty member is to teach Bard College’s signature humanities seminar course (“The Bard Sequence”) to students enrolled in high school at a partner public school. Instructors will have access to curricular resources, professional development, and a community of instructors teaching the course.

Bard Sequence faculty are required to participate in pre-course training and ongoing professional development to aid in the teaching of the dual enrollment courses. This professional development is overseen by the Director of the Bard Sequence and the Bard Early Colleges, Bard College’s Early College division.  Bard Sequence faculty report to the Director of the Bard Sequence.

The Bard Sequence instructor is required to make a rigorous college curriculum accessible to high school students by balancing supporting and challenging students. The Sequence instructor will be observed and evaluated by the Director of the Bard Sequence to ensure standards for rigor and support are being met.

Criminal Background Checks: Faculty member must provide a criminal history background check, with fingerprinting and that said check indicates that no criminal history record information exists on file in either the Identification Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation or the State Bureau of Identification which would disqualify said employee from employment.

Location: In person, Plainfield High School, 950 Park Avenue, Plainfield, NJ 07060

Position Type: Adjunct Faculty in the Humanities

Expected Start Date:

The faculty member will be expected to start on and follow the Plainfield High School’s academic calendar. The Spring semester begins on February 3, 2024 and ends on June 27, 2024.

Salary: $7,500 per section taught

A successful candidate will:

• Demonstrate a strong  commitment to equity and social justice and a desire to open up opportunities for historically marginalized students.
• Be comfortable teaching a curriculum that blends “classic” works of literature and philosophy with more contemporary art, literature, music, and theory that speaks to 21st century students.
• Have a Ph.D. or other terminal degree in a humanities related field including history, literature, philosophy, theater, sociology, anthropology, political science or another related field; Masters and ABD candidates will be considered.
• Have experience teaching at both high school and college levels (desired)
• Understand cultural differences and purposefully help to uplift ideas from underrepresented groups.
• Be committed to providing students with the support and scaffolds that they need to succeed in a college setting.
• Please note that strong applicants will be asked to provide a classroom demonstration of their teaching either virtually or in person.  A good demo lesson should elicit engagement, active participation, and analytical thinking from high school-age students in a classroom setting.