First-Year Writing Seminar and Literature Core (Part-Time)
Boston College: Morrissey College of Arts & Sciences: English
Location: Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA
Description:
Please Note: We have begun to review applications for the 2026-27 academic year. This is part of an annual process that usually occurs every March. Please do not expect a response at other times of the year. We also anticipate there will be more openings to teach FWS than Lit Core. If you applied before this calendar year, you will receive a message asking you to reapply if you are still interested.
These courses we seek applicants for are the First-Year Writing Seminar (FWS) and Literature Core, which together form a key part of BC's Core Curriculum. They are designed to complement each other by helping students to develop essential skills for a liberal arts education. Some 1,600 students take FWS each year, and more than 2,000 enroll in the Literature Core.
FWS encourages students to understand why people write: not just for grades or to complete requirements but because writing is an intellectual and personal tool for living. In15-person workshop-centered seminars, students use writing to discover new insights, orient themselves to broader conversations, deepen their understanding of ideas, and create changes in service of the common good. Over the semester, students learn to write rhetorically, devising effective writing processes for a variety of purposes and audiences, including but not limited to, academic writing. Students also meet regularly with the instructor to make revision plans, learn to give and receive productive feedback to other writers, and develop skills for revising essays before submitting them for evaluation.
Literature Core is designed to introduce first-year students to the study of literature at the college level. The focus is on the appreciation of the extraordinary range of what counts as literature, and on what skills studying literature teaches. Each section is typically organized around a theme or topic, with a range of genres represented, diversity in the list of authors, and some effort to include at least one pre-1900 work. The learning outcomes for the course are focused on teaching mostly first-year students close-reading skills, ways of thinking about big questions, fostering intellectual community, and active learning in the classroom. We hope to spark students' engagement, make them see how literature can be a part of life, a "tool for living" and thinking. With such outcomes in mind, these courses should be broad in their conceptualization and not resemble a typical elective, which focuses on specific topics.
The expected per course rate (paid over 4 months) for this position is $8,055. This is the starting pay for new part-time instructors.
Qualifications:
MA or MFA is required. For Lit Core instructors, MFA, ABD or recent PhD is preferred. For FWS instructors, please note whether you have taken a course in composition theory/pedagogy in your cover letter.
