Postdoctoral position in linguistics and formal epistemology @ CMU

Carnegie Mellon University, with the generous support of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, is pleased to accept applications for two A.W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowships in the Humanities for the 2011-2013 academic years. These fellowships are designed to foster the academic careers of scholars who have recently received their Ph.D. degrees by permitting them to pursue their research while gaining mentored experience as teachers and members of one of Carnegie Mellon’s four humanities departments (English, History, Modern Languages, and Philosophy) in which they will be housed.

The Department of Philosophy seeks candidates whose research focuses on semantics or pragmatics of natural languages from the perspective of linguistics, philosophy, logic or computer science. Candidates whose work is of relevance to the research directions of the department’s Center for Formal Epistemology are particularly encouraged to apply. Information about the Center can be found at: http://www.formalepistemology.org

Terms of appointment
Fellows will teach two courses in their home department(s) in each year of their residency. They will have the opportunity to teach in their existing areas of expertise to prepare themselves for a competitive academic job market. Fellows will be encouraged to take part in the many cross-departmental colloquia, conferences, or seminars though the university’s Humanities Center, the Center for the Arts in Society, and the undergraduate Humanities Scholars Program.

A 2011–2013 Fellow will receive an annual stipend of $50,000 plus benefits, an annual research allowance of $2,500, and, for the first year of the appointment, three summer months salary.

Application and selection process
Applicants for the 2011–2013 fellowships must have completed a Ph.D. no earlier than January 1, 2009. Candidates who do not yet hold a Ph.D. but expect to by June 30, 2011 should supply a letter from their home institution corroborating such a schedule.

Applications for the 2011–2013 fellowships must be received in the Administrator's office by November 19, 2010. Incomplete dossiers will not be reviewed. Candidates should submit a cover letter, CV, personal statement (of no longer than 2000 words) outlining their complete research (including dissertation), work in progress, professional goals and plans for publication, proposed major field(s) of teaching, and the Carnegie Mellon department in which you would want to be based, and three letters of reference. (Note: reference letters may be sent with the candidate’s application materials in sealed signed envelopes or directly by the referees.)

Fellowship applications and departmental requests to house a fellow will be evaluated by Carnegie Mellon’s Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship Advisory Committee, in consultation with the Dean and Associate Dean of the College of Humanities & Social Sciences. Strong fellowship applications will be circulated to relevant departments.

Should you have questions, please direct them to hssdean@andrew.cmu.edu.

All application materials and other correspondence should be addressed to:
Administrator, A.W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowships
College of Humanities and Social Sciences
Office of the Dean
Carnegie Mellon University
Baker Hall 154
5000 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213