Chicane & Latine Studies Postdoctoral Fellow in Puerto Rican Studies

The Puerto Rican Studies Hub (PRSH) is an initiative that seeks to foster collaborations between Puerto Rico and its diaspora. We understand our initiative as a hub because it catalyzes and enables interactions, dialogues, and solidarities on multiple scales. It brings together a range of voices, intellectual ecosystems, and practices to foster intellectual, cultural, and artistic production. We envision the PRSH as fertile ground for innovative partnerships and as a site for emergent and groundbreaking modes of knowledge production.

Because of the new migration patterns that Puerto Ricans have charted in the last two decades, the Midwest is an ideal region to decenter traditional spaces of Puerto Rican Studies and to jumpstart the conversation on a regional, national, and transnational scale. We do so while expanding the field of Puerto Rican Studies in diverse disciplines through fellowships, workshops, symposia, the arts, and lecture series.

The PRSH seeks a postdoctoral fellow who will advance their scholarly projects with opportunities to participate in the vibrant intellectual community at UW-Madison and fostering cross-campus exchange.

Fellows will be appointed for a fixed two-year term and are encouraged to expand their scholarship and research in Puerto Rican Studies.

We seek applicants with a PhD received within the last five years who are actively engaged in Puerto Rican Studies and committed to a career producing scholarship in the field. The fellowship welcomes research that explores themes including-but not necessarily limited to-disability, environment and sustainable futures, debt and corruption, cultural sustainability and resilience, community and economic development, mapping and digital storytelling, and/or Black Puerto Rico studies. We are interested in projects that engage with Puerto Rican life on the archipelago as well as in the United States, especially those that expand the scope and methodologies of Puerto Rican Studies through innovative, interdisciplinary, and socially engaged approaches.

The successful candidate will be required to teach one course during the second year of their fellowship. Fellows will have access to UW-Madison's libraries, dedicated office space, and health benefits. The fellowship begins in August 2026 and ends in July 2028.

Responsibilities

* Assist with PRSH programming.

* Participate in weekly Solidarity Ecosystem meetings with other fellows.

* Meet biweekly with a faculty mentor to support scholarly productivity.

* Teach one Puerto Rican Studies focused course during the second year of the fellowship.

• Appointments as postdoctoral fellows and postdoctoral trainees should be made only if it can be demonstrated that the appointee's activities are primarily for the benefit of the appointee's own learning and research. Otherwise, it is more appropriate to use an employment title such as researcher or scientist. Employment titles apply whenever the duties assigned are under the direct supervision and control of the employer and are primarily for the benefit of the University or granting agency. The work of individuals appointed as postdoctoral fellows or postdoctoral trainees should be independent or self-directed, subject only to such supervision as might be given by a teacher to a student.

• These criteria do not prevent the university of the extramural source of funds from receiving some benefit from the appointee's activities. Activities still may be of value to the extramural grantor, or may be useful internally to the university in satisfaction of other grant or contract requirements. The test is whether the work undertaken by the appointee is a necessary and relevant part of the appointee's learning program. However, the "primary benefit" test outlined above does forbid assigning tasks to the appointee which are unnecessary and irrelevant to the learning program or are repetitive beyond that which is necessary to achieve excellence in the activity, even if these tasks do not constitute the major portion of the appointee's activities. Except in rare cases, stipends paid to postdoctoral fellows or trainees are not excludable from gross income for purposes of income tax and thus are fully taxable. Since such stipends are not wages, however, the University will not withhold taxes from monthly stipend checks. Therefore, trainees and fellows may be required to pay estimated taxes on a quarterly basis.

College of Letters & Science, History, Puerto Rican Studies Hub

Year 1: $80,000

Year 2: $82,400

Candidates must have earned a PhD from an accredited PhD granting institution by the start of the fellowship or within the last 5 years.

Please note that successful applicants are responsible for ensuring their eligibility to work in the United States (i.e. a citizen or national of the United States, a lawful permanent resident, a foreign national authorized to work in the United States without need of employer sponsorship) on or before the effective date of appointment.

Qualified applicants should submit:
* Statement of Interest (2 pages maximum, single-spaced) describing how your research aligns with the mission of the Puerto Rican Studies Hub.
* Postdoctoral Project Narrative (3 pages maximum).
* Curriculum Vitae.
* One-page course proposal focused on Puerto Rican Studies suitable for the curriculum in the Chicanx/e and Latinx/e Studies Program (including references).
* Contact information for three potential references.

Click the "Apply" button to start the application process. Please compile all materials into a single PDF and upload in the attachment field.

The deadline to apply for this position is January 8, 2026 at 11:59PM.

Felix A. Rodriguez, Project Coordinator, prstudies.hub@wisc.edu.

Diversity is a source of strength, creativity, and innovation for UW-Madison. We value the contributions of each person and respect the profound ways their identity, culture, background, experience, status, abilities, and opinion enrich the university community. We commit ourselves to the pursuit of excellence in teaching, research, outreach, and diversity as inextricably linked goals.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison fulfills its public mission by creating a welcoming and inclusive community for people from every background - people who as students, faculty, and staff serve Wisconsin and the world.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to, including but not limited to, race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, age, pregnancy, disability, or status as a protected veteran and other bases as defined by federal regulations and UW System policies. We promote excellence by acknowledging skills and expertise from all backgrounds and encourage all qualified individuals to apply. For more information regarding applicant and employee rights and to view federal and state required postings, visit the Human Resources Workplace Poster website.

To request a disability or pregnancy-related accommodation for any step in the hiring process (e.g., application, interview, pre-employment testing, etc.), please contact the Divisional Disability Representative (DDR) in the division you are applying to. Please make your request as soon as possible to help the university respond most effectively to you.

Employment may require a criminal background check. It may also require your references to answer questions regarding misconduct, including sexual violence and sexual harassment.

The University of Wisconsin System will not reveal the identities of applicants who request confidentiality in writing, except that the identity of the successful candidate will be released. See Wis. Stat. sec. 19.36(7).

The Annual Security and Fire Safety Report contains current campus safety and disciplinary policies, crime statistics for the previous 3 calendar years, and on-campus student housing fire safety policies and fire statistics for the previous 3 calendar years. UW-Madison will provide a paper copy upon request; please contact the University of Wisconsin Police Department.