The Institute of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ISEEES) is seeking a new Director, effective July 1, 2024. This is a five-year position, with possibility of one five-year extension at the end of the first term. We invite applications from tenured Berkeley faculty who are highly qualified and willing to serve. The candidate should have a well-established research and professional reputation as well as leadership and administrative abilities.
About the Institute of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies
The Institute of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies serves as the focal point at the University of California, Berkeley for students and faculty who conduct research and teaching on the geographic region encompassing Russia, Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. ISEEES's mission is to support research, graduate training, and a broad array of scholarly and public programs—such as conferences, guest lectures, faculty and graduate student seminars, and occasional publications. ISEEES hosts numerous visiting scholars and visiting student researchers from our world area. Currently the Institute has approximately 40 core UCB faculty members and 75 affiliated graduate students.
ISEEES traces its roots back to the UC system-wide Institute of Slavic Studies, established in 1948. A stand-alone Center for Slavic and East European Studies was founded at Berkeley in 1957. The Institute of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies was established in 2000 and is the administering unit of the Armenian Studies Program, the Hertelendy Graduate Fellowship in Hungarian Studies, and the Peter N. Kujachich Endowment in Serbian and Montenegrin Studies.
ISEEES is a U.S. Department of Education Title VI National Resource Center and Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) Fellowship center for Russia, Eastern Europe, and Eurasia—a distinction for which it has successfully competed since the inception of the Title VI program in 1957. Title VI funding allows ISEEES to support less commonly taught languages at Berkeley, to offer an active program of public outreach, and to support graduate and undergraduate students to learn the languages of our world area.
Since 2020, ISEEES is part of Global, International & Area Studies (GIAS), a research cluster composed of the following autonomous units: the Canadian Studies Program (CSP); the Center for African Studies (CAS); the Center for Latin American Studies (CLAS); the Center for Middle Eastern Studies (CMES); the Institute for South Asia Studies (ISAS); the
Institute of European Studies (IES); the Institute of International Studies (IIS); and the Institute of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies (ISEEES). The new ISEEES director will represent ISEEES on the GIAS faculty board.
Qualifications
Applicants must be a tenured Berkeley faculty member and should demonstrate the following criteria:
- A distinguished record of scholarship in the field of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian studies or related fields, broadly conceived, and competence in a language of the region;
- Leadership qualities to provide a forward-looking vision;
- The willingness and competence to engage in fundraising efforts and grant applications in order to sustain and expand financial resources;
- The capacity to foster program development and innovative interdisciplinary research in Slavic, East European, and Eurasian studies;
- The ability to promote outreach to the campus, policy-making constituents, and the general public;
- Dedication to the principles of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, and commitment to UC Berkeley's Principles of Community
Application Process
Candidates interested in the position are requested to send a statement of interest with a brief description of a vision for ISEEES (max. 2 pages) and a CV (max. 2 pages)—in one pdf as an e-mail attachment—to Gia White at gia@berkeley.edu, with subject line “Directorship, Institute of Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies,” by February 7, 2024. All suitable candidates for the position will be contacted by the chair of the search advisory committee. Interviews for the position will take place in March 2024.