Assistant Editor

Job Description:

Brown University Library seeks to hire a creative, highly organized, and enthusiastic individual for the position of Assistant Editor, Brown University Digital Publications. Widely recognized as accessible, intentional, and inclusive, Brown University Digital Publications — launched with generous support from the Mellon Foundation with additional support from the National Endowment for the Humanities — is helping to set the standards for the future of scholarship in the digital age. This is an exciting opportunity to join an innovative, expanding program committed to integrating diversity, equity, and social justice into the practice and production of digital publications for both scholarly audiences and the wider public. Landmark publications include Furnace and Fugue: A Digital Edition of Michael Maier’s Atalanta fugiens (1618) with Scholarly Commentary (University of Virginia Press, 2020), recipient of the 2022 Roy Rosenzweig Prize for Creativity in Digital History by the American Historical Association; Brown University’s Slavery and Justice Report with Commentary on Context and Impact (2021); Shadow Plays: Virtual Realities in an Analog World (Stanford University Press, 2022); A New Vision for Islamic Pasts and Futures (MIT Press, 2022); and the 13-volume series Race & … in America. Thirteen other works are currently in development and represent a broad disciplinary range. BUDP also partners with the MIT Press to produce On Seeing, a multimodal book series exploring understudied questions at the intersection of visual culture and subjects such as race, care, decolonization, privilege, and precarity.

The Assistant Editor will work as part of a multi-skilled team of experts to develop complex born-digital scholarship intended for publication with leading academic presses. In close collaboration with the Director, the Assistant Editor will play a key role in supporting humanities scholars in the creation of new scholarly forms that present research and advance arguments in ways not achievable in a conventional print format, whether through multimedia enhancements or interactive engagement with research materials. The Assistant Editor will help conceptualize, research, and administer multimodal monograph projects by building rapport and working effectively with a wide range of collaborators, including but not limited to Brown faculty researchers, undergraduate and graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, designers and technological developers, and university press staff. The Assistant Editor will contribute to the acquisitions process, undertake developmental editing, and copyediting as needed, manage timelines and budgets, and assist in the preparation of archival and multimedia assets for individual projects while working on multiple projects simultaneously. The Assistant Editor will take a proactive, critically engaged approach to digital content development, continuously looking for ways to support underrepresented voices and perspectives. The Assistant Editor will help administer national training workshops such as Born-Digital Scholarly Publishing: Resources and Roadmaps, an NEH Institute on Advanced Topics in the Digital Humanities; and will participate in relevant meetings and events across and beyond the Brown campus.

The Assistant Editor will report to the Director of Brown University Digital Publications, part of Brown’s Center for Digital Scholarship at the University Library. The position is hybrid eligible.

Education and Experience

• Bachelor's degree in a humanities or humanistic social sciences discipline; advanced degree preferred
• 3-5 years of digital project management and/or scholarly editorial experience

• ​​Excellent copyediting skills, familiarity with style guides (CMOS preferred), and a firm grasp of rules of grammar and style; experience working for a publisher or for an academic journal preferred
• Knowledge of Microsoft Word and Excel; familiarity with one or more digital publishing platforms, such as Fulcrum, Manifold, PubPub, Scalar, or WordPress, preferred
• Outstanding oral and written communication skills with exceptional interpersonal abilities
• Demonstrated initiative, flexibility, and ability to work creatively and effectively both independently and as a team member
• Ability to set priorities, juggle competing demands, and meet deadlines

• Must be highly organized and detail-oriented
• Demonstrated commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice, and understanding of the contributions a diverse workforce brings to the workplace
• demonstrated interest in communicating humanities scholarship to non-specialist audiences

All offers of employment are contingent upon a criminal background check and education verification satisfactory to Brown.

The best consideration date for external candidates will be December 20, 2024. We will be on break from December 20, 2024 through January 3, 2025. We will begin reviewing applications during the week of January 6, 2025.

Benefits of Working at Brown:

Information on the Benefits of Working at Brown can be found here.

Recruiting Start Date:

2024-11-08

Job Posting Title:

Assistant Editor

Department:

University Library

Grade:

Grade 10

Worker Type:

Employee

Worker Sub-Type:

Regular

Time Type:

Full time

Scheduled Weekly Hours:

37.5

Position Work Location:

Hybrid Eligible

Submission Guidelines:

Please note that in order to be considered an applicant for any staff position at Brown University you must submit an application form for each position for which you believe you are qualified. Applications are not kept on file for future positions. Please include a cover letter and resume with each position application.

Still Have Questions?

If you have any questions you may contact [email protected].

EEO Statement:

Brown University is an E-Verify Employer.

As an EEO/AA employer, Brown University provides equal opportunity and prohibits discrimination, harassment and retaliation based upon a person’s race, color, religion, sex, age, national or ethnic origin, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or any other characteristic protected under applicable law, and caste, which is protected by our University policies.