Description
The Association for Asian Studies (AAS) is searching for an Editor for its online academic teaching journal, Education About Asia (EAA). This is an independent contractor, part-time, remote position, with a maximum annual commitment of 360 hours (an average of 30 hours per month). The budget for this position is reviewed by the AAS Board of Directors on an annual basis. Pending annual budget approval, the Editor will be provided with a three-year contract, renewable one time. Applicants must be eligible to work in the U.S. The Editor will receive pay of $45 per hour and it is anticipated that the position will begin in early 2025.
Since its launch in 1996, Education About Asia (EAA) has been the leading English-language journal dedicated to pedagogy in Asian studies. EAA draws on the expertise of teachers and scholars in Asian studies to offer pedagogical resources and insights on historical and contemporary Asia to precollegiate and college teachers, covering all disciplines and areas of Asia. For example, the current list of “Top 10” articles, accessed through the EAA online archive, spans time periods from the Tang Dynasty to the twenty-first century and includes topics such as an overview of the colonial era in the Philippines, exploring Indian culture through food, China’s Great Leap Forward, Pearl Harbor, and North Korea defectors. Via accessible, timely feature articles and essays, EAA provides teachers with background knowledge and up-to-date analyses they need to help their students understand Asia. It is highly regarded among educators and outreach professionals as a go-to source for high-quality, peer-reviewed articles, essays, reviews and practical classroom resources for use by students and teachers in secondary and post-secondary classrooms.
Formerly a print and online journal, published three times per year, EAA will relaunch in 2025 as an exclusively online journal, published two times per year. The AAS now seeks an innovative and dynamic editor to usher the journal into a new phase in its history. We seek someone with a clear vision of how to carry on the valuable work of the journal and improve its visibility and reach, while moving to a new, exclusively online format as a more accessible, and technologically enhanced resource. The new editor will put together an editorial advisory board with expertise that is broadly representative of the interests of EAA readers and will work closely with the AAS Publications Manager/EAA Managing Editor and other AAS staff to carry out a transformation of the journal and EAA website.
We seek an editor who, in addition to soliciting new content, will help to leverage the rich resources of the EAA archives through curated lists of EAA articles. Over the past year, the EAA online archives of over 2,000 articles have received close to 900,000 pageviews, representing close to 60% of all traffic to the AAS website. In addition, to take full advantage of EAA’s new online format, we seek an editor who can think creatively as to how additional digital media—such as videos, audio materials, and podcasts—can be developed and incorporated into the EAA website.
Duties
- Defining editorial policy and helping to shape the direction of the journal
- Choosing and working with a volunteer EAA Advisory Board
- Chairing EAA Advisory Board meetings (online, twice per year or as needed)
- Publicizing Calls for Submissions to solicit articles, essays, interviews, curriculum guides, reviews, and other content—with an emphasis on practical materials immediately applicable to classroom teaching and use
- Selecting peer reviewers and overseeing the peer review process
- Making final decisions on the acceptance and rejection of content
- Working closely with the AAS Publications Manager/EAA Managing Editor on all aspects of the journal (the AAS Publications Manager/EAA Managing Editor will be responsible for editing and proofreading submissions in conjunction with the Editor, and for adding content to the EAA website)
- Consulting with AAS staff on email blasts, social media, and other promotion
- Consulting occasionally with AAS staff on grant applications to help sustain the journal
- Helping to define the look and functionality of the EAA website
- Soliciting additional digital media (complementary audio and video material)
- Collaborating, where applicable, with the editor of the AAS Key Issues in Asian Studies and Asia Shorts book series to produce complementary materials for EAA
- Serving as an ex officio member of the AAS Editorial Board, reporting on the status of EAA at two online meetings a year (spring and fall)
- Attending the AAS Annual Conference in person each March (financial assistance for travel and accommodation is provided).
Knowledge of Asian Studies education organizations, such as The National Consortium for Teaching About Asia (NCTA) and ASIANetwork, is a plus.
Application
Applicants are requested to submit a CV and a letter detailing their interest in the position, relevant qualifications and experience, strategies for attracting high quality submissions, and vision for the EAA as a relaunched online-only journal. Please include the names and contact details of potential references in your application. We do not require reference letters at this time.
To apply, please e-mail Jan Bardsley, chair of the EAA Editor search committee, at bardsley@email.unc.edu, by Friday, December 20, 2024 using “EAA Editor Application” as the title of your email. If you have any questions, please e-mail AAS Publications Manager, Jon Wilson, at jwilson@asianstudies.org. The search committee will interview candidates via Zoom in January 2025.
Equal Opportunity
We encourage applications from all regardless of age, color, disability, ethnicity, gender, national origin, race, religion, sexual orientation, or status as a protected veteran.
