"Assistant Professor of Syntax and Artificial Intelligence"

Assistant Professor of Syntax and Artificial Intelligence

The Department of Linguistics in the College of Arts and Sciences at The Ohio State University seeks to hire a tenure-track faculty member at the rank of Assistant Professor who specializes in syntactic theory, with additional interest in artificial intelligence. We are interested in candidates who apply a mathematically rigorous (e.g., logical or statistical) approach to hypothesizing about empirical syntactic data. While theoretical syntax is the primary focus of the position, we welcome applications from candidates whose research engages with large language models (LLMs) -- particularly as related to evaluating the possibilities and limitations of LLMs in connection with syntactic architecture or issues of syntactic processing or learnability.

Performance Objectives

The prospective hire will:

• Develop and maintain a productive, high-quality research program;
• Provide high-quality supervision of graduate and undergraduate research;
• Develop and teach high-quality graduate and undergraduate courses in syntax and other area(s) of expertise, including potentially in the departments general education curriculum;
• Support departmental operations through administrative roles and/or service on committees as assigned; and
• Contribute to the scholarly community via peer reviewing and/or other professional service.

Education and Experience Requirements

Required: A Ph.D. in Linguistics or doctoral degree in a related field is required prior to the start position date of August 15, 2026. ABDs are welcome to apply.

Desired: Ideal candidates will complement other areas of expertise in the department, methodologically and/or in terms of secondary specialization. The linguistic comprehension of LLMs is an active area of research in our department, offering the potential for collaboration. Other areas of particular interest are semantics/pragmatics, linguistic typology, morphology, and psycholinguistics. Ideal candidates will have the potential to strengthen the departments existing collaborations across units and colleges and/or to foster new ones.

How to Apply

Application period closes November 1, 2025. Inquiries may be directed to Andrea Sims at sims.120@osu.edu. Application materials submitted in Workday must include:

• Attachment 1: Cover Letter: 1-2 page letter, which should include a brief summary of your academic background and why you are interested in this opportunity.
• Attachment 2: CV (Curriculum Vitae): Detailed overview of your scholarly experience, including your research experience, teaching and mentoring experience, service, funding, and publications.
• Attachment 3: Research Statement: 1-3 page summary of your past research accomplishments, current work/research, and proposal for your future research plan as a faculty member.
• Attachment 4: Teaching Statement: 1-2 page summary of your approaches, experience, accomplishments and philosophy regarding your teaching, learning, and mentoring, and how you plan to contribute to the departments programs of study as a faculty member.
• Attachment 5: A writing sample.

Candidates selected to move forward in the process will be asked to provide three letters of reference.