Visiting Faculty, IHP Death and Dying bei World Learning

Reports to: Program Director, IHP Death & Dying

Salary Range: $28,000 - $32,000 (total pay for the semester, salary commensurate with experience)

Anticipated Start Date: July 6, 2026

Term of Employment: approximately 5-6 months

Apply by: March 1, 2026

Base of Designation/Remote Eligible: Travel required to New York City (USA), Ghana, Mexico, and Indonesia.

Conditional on Enrollment

To apply: Please click on Apply above or visit https://worldlearning.applicantpro.com/jobs/ to submit your application via the online system by uploading the following required items: letter of interest and CV (including the contact information of three academic references). Your letter of interest should address the questions listed further below.

Overview

School for International Training (SIT) seeks a Visiting Faculty member to join an interdisciplinary team of faculty and country coordinators leading IHP's Death & Dying: Perspectives, Practices, and Policies program in Fall 2026. Each semester term enrolls approximately 15-32 students from leading U.S. colleges and universities to engage in interdisciplinary, comparative studies on the meanings of death in four different countries. The Visiting Faculty travels with students to each location for the full duration of the semester. Please note that the following itinerary reflects tentative future semesters, but itineraries are contingent on conditions in each country and program needs: Fall 2026 (late August to mid-December): New York City (USA), Ghana, Mexico, and Indonesia

IHP death & dying: perspectives, practices, & policies

Death and Dying is a comparative study abroad program that examines perspectives on death and dying in different cultural contexts across four different countries. It is an interdisciplinary semester that draws on anthropology, sociology, public health, cultural and area studies, arts, and humanities. Its mission is to provide undergraduate students from leading U.S. colleges and universities with an intensive experiential learning-based exposure to how cultural practices, social policies, and creative communities confront and celebrate death. Students learn how to "read a cemetery" and interact with deathcare workers, dark tourism operators, community organizers, and spiritual leaders to understand death and dying on a neighborhood and national scale. Through formal courses led by visiting and local faculty, homestays with local families, guest lectures by in-country academics, local politicians and policy makers, site visits and meetings with NGOs, and neighborhood organizations and community activists, students will develop a nuanced understanding of what death means within a community that exists within a specific socio-political context.

IHP's learning model is grounded in critical inquiry and analysis but attempts to bring those skills to bear on particular places and themes. It also helps students learn how to interact with a variety of local actors representing different perspectives, practices, and policies around death and dying.

More information on IHP and our Death & Dying program (including more detailed itineraries and course descriptions) can be found at: IHP Death & Dying: Perspectives, Practices, & Policies

Responsibilities

We are seeking a visiting faculty member who will:

• Teach two of four courses, depending on area of Expertise:
  • Project Death: Community Engagement and Ethical Inquiry
  • Sociology of Death: Deaths that Count and Lives that Matter
  • See IHP Death & Dying: Perspectives, Practices, and Policies for details
• Facilitate student learning through briefings, debriefings, and processing of non-lecture program components.
• Provide timely feedback on assignments.
• Participate in all country program activities including guest speakers, site visits, and other non-lecture components.
• Work with the Provost's Office, Associate Deans, Program Director, and Country Coordinators, to ensure that any academic, administrative, and student affairs associated with the program are resolved.
• Take appropriate measures to protect the health and safety of students in partnership with SIT Student Affairs and local staff.
• Ensure that all students travelling on the official group flights are checked-in and through immigration.
• Collect all receipts for all expenses incurred and complete expense reports in a timely manner according to World Learning financial policies and guidelines.
• Other duties as assigned.

Requirements

Required Experience/Education:

• Terminal degree (PhD or equivalent; All But Dissertation considered) in anthropology, sociology, social work, philosophy, theology, cultural or area studies, literature, or other field relevant to critical death studies.
• Experience teaching at the college level and a strong commitment to experiential and inclusive learning, including non-didactic methods that promote critical thinking and field-based research, discussion, and self-reflection.
• Experience living and working abroad, ideally in at least one of the program countries listed above (preferred).
• Qualitative research experience in a social science or liberal arts discipline.
• Advanced study, scholarship, professional experience, and/or advocacy work adjacent to the program themes.

Required Behaviors

• Must be able to meet the physical, emotional maturity, and mental health demands as well as possess the personal qualities - patience, adaptability, collegiality, cross-cultural competence, and organization - needed to be part of an intensive, team-oriented study abroad program that covers four countries in one semester.
• The ability and desire to support and communicate with students throughout the study abroad experience both in and outside of the classroom.

Vaccination is strongly recommended for all employees in our U.S. offices except for those receiving medical or religious exemptions. If boosters are subsequently recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), then employees and faculty will be recommended to receive the booster within thirty (30) days of their eligibility.

Letter of Interest:

Traveling with college-aged students for an entire semester, guiding their learning and field research in cities and rural environments, as well as conducting classroom discussions and small-group seminars, presents unique challenges, and demands unique qualities of faculty members. Please consider this point carefully in your letter of interest, paying special attention to how you would handle the conceptual, pedagogical, intercultural, and interpersonal demands of this program.

What in your academic background and work experience has prepared you to step into this role? What specifically interests you about this visiting faculty opportunity as opposed to a more traditional academic position?

Benefits:

Travel insurance provided outside of home base and subject to plan terms.