Western Washington University, with over 15,000 students in seven colleges and the graduate school, is nationally recognized for its educational programs, students and faculty. The campus is located in Bellingham, Washington, a coastal community of 90,000 overlooking Bellingham Bay, the San Juan Islands and the North Cascades Mountain range. The city lies 90 miles north of Seattle and 60 miles south of Vancouver, British Columbia. Western has additional sites in Anacortes, Bremerton, Everett, Port Angeles, and Poulsbo. Western is recognized nationally for its successes, such as being named one of the top public master's-granting institutions in the Pacific Northwest for 25 years in a row by U.S. News & World Report.

Western Washington University is committed to achieving excellence through advancing inclusive success, increasing our Washington impact, and focusing on transformational education grounded in the liberal arts and sciences and based on innovative scholarship, research, and creative activity. Western's greatest strength is the outstanding students, faculty, staff, and alumni/ae who make up its community. Western supports an inclusive governance structure for all and provides a learning and working environment in which everyone can thrive. In pursuit of this excellence, individual employees are expected to establish and maintain productive and effective inclusive working relationships amongst diverse populations including staff, faculty, administration, student, and external constituents. Further, individual employees are expected to have the ability to operationalize sustainability concepts (economic, societal, environmental) into all aspects of performing their job duties.

The Political Science department’s core mission is to help students understand and act more effectively in the world as engaged citizens. We contribute to the college, university, region, and state by examining critical questions about power and public life from local, national, transnational, global, and comparative perspectives. The Department of Political Science offers three Bachelor of Arts degrees: a BA in Political Science, a BA in Political Science/Social Studies, and BA in Economics/Political Science. We offer courses across the four main fields --Comparative Politics, International Relations, Political Theory and American Politics—as well as interdisciplinary and subfield options in areas such as Public Policy.

The department has 14 full time tenured/tenure track faculty members and several senior lecturers and affiliate members. In scholarship and teaching we examine politics at all levels: small groups, social and political organizations, towns and cities, economic systems, countries, nations, transnational flows, and the global system. We embrace a variety of approaches in our research and teaching – qualitative, quantitative, historical, institutional, theoretical, sociological, economic, and legal – and seek to combine conceptual and theoretical analyses with policy and practical orientations.

The Department of Political Science invites applications for a one-year Visiting Assistant/Associate Professor position in Comparative Politics beginning September 16th, 2026. We seek candidates who can contribute to our course offerings in any of the following regions: East Asia, Europe/EU, and/or the Middle East. We welcome applicants who combine a regional focus with comparative or international relations topics, such as security, conflict, nationalism, and party systems, to name a few. The candidate will be expected to teach two classes per quarter for three quarters; service and research are not required. Across the three quarters, we envision that candidates will offer one or two courses on regionally specific topics as well as four broader or more general topics that cross the field of comparative politics (and/or international relations).

The Department, the College, and the University value teaching and we expect you to be an effective teacher; to be current in your discipline; to engage students actively in their own learning, including discussion, writing, and analysis; and to maintain high standards regarding course content. We expect you to provide students with feedback on their course work and examinations, and to be available to students through regularly scheduled office hours. You will be expected to have your students evaluate your courses using the standard University evaluation forms and to make those evaluations available to the department chair and faculty for review.

• PhD in Political Science or ABD in Political Science.
• Demonstrated interest and engagement with the field of Comparative Politics, ability to teach in one of the regions specified above, and an ability to teach general topics that cross the field of comparative politics (and/or international relations).
• Demonstrated commitment to cultivating learning environments that are equitable and inclusive of students with diverse social identities and backgrounds
• Demonstrated successful experience teaching at the college or university level
• For appointment at the Visiting Associate Professor level (Visiting, non-tenure track), a research record and demonstrated evidence of successful teaching commensurate with standards for promotion to Associate Professor in the department.

Salary

$1214 to $1471 per credit, commensurate with experience and qualifications. We expect to offer a 2-2-2 teaching schedule of 4-5 credit courses. Additional courses may become available throughout the year. (Note—this is a teaching position with no service requirements).  

Bargaining Unit

 United Faculty of Western Washington

Application Instructions

Please submit the following materials to be considered for this position:

A cover letter addressing your experience related to the position and the required and preferred qualifications.  Cover letters should engage teaching strategies explicitly. Cover letters should demonstrate your commitment to cultivating learning environments that are equitable and inclusive of students with diverse social identities and backgrounds.

A curriculum vitae

Brief descriptions of courses you might offer and two sample syllabi. We encourage applicants to look at our regular course offerings and comment on possible courses they could offer.

Two sets of evaluations of your teaching from students in college or university courses.

Contact information for three references. Letters of recommendation will be required; please do not submit these. The Western PageUp application system will automatically send out the requests for these letters to your references.

Applications at the Visiting Associate Professor level should include evidence of an established research record and demonstrate successful teaching commensurate with standards for promotion to Associate Professor.

For priority consideration, applications are appreciated by April 13, 2026; applications will no longer be accepted after May 1, 2026.

Western Washington University (WWU) is an equal opportunity employer. In compliance with applicable laws, WWU does not discriminate on the basis of race, ethnicity, color, national origin, age, citizenship or immigration status, pregnancy, use of protective leave, genetic status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, marital status, creed, religion, veteran or military status, disability or the use of a trained guide dog or service animal (including a service animal in training) by a person with a disability, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law, in its programs or activities, including employment, admissions, and educational programs. See WWU’s Policies on Prohibiting Discrimination Based on A Protected Class and Prohibiting Discrimination Based on Sex. Inquiries may be directed to the Office of Civil Rights and Title IX Compliance, Title IX and ADA Coordinator, Western Washington University, Old Main 126 (MS 9021), 516 High Street, Bellingham, WA 98225; 360.650.3307 (voice) or 711 (Washington Relay); crtc@wwu.edu

WWU is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities upon request. To request this document in an alternate format or to request an accommodation, please contact Human Resources Disability Services, 360.650.3751 or 711 (Washington Relay).

Annual Security and Fire Safety Report: This report is provided pursuant to the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act ("The Clery Act"). It includes statistics for the previous three calendar years concerning reported crimes that occurred on Western's campus; in certain off-campus buildings or property owned or controlled by Western; and on public property within, or immediately adjacent to and accessible from, the campus. The report also includes institutional policies concerning campus security, such as policies concerning alcohol and drug use, crime prevention, the reporting of crimes, sexual assault, and other matters. You can obtain a copy of this report in printed or alternate formats by contacting the Office of Student Life at student.life@wwu.edu. The report can be found at: Annual Security and Fire Safety Report.

All new employees must comply with the immunization policy and show employment eligibility verification as required by the U.S. Citizen and Immigration Service before beginning work at WWU. A thorough background check will be conducted on all new hires and rehires, which includes a sexual misconduct background check.