Limited Term Lecturer

The Department of Geography invites applications for the following position:

Limited Term lectureship - Human Geography

All positions have a closing date of 9 am Monday, June 8, 2026

The SFU Department of Geography invites applications for a Limited Term Lectureship in Human Geography. This is a one-year limited-term teaching (non-research) appointment, from 1 September 2026 to 31 August 2027, to cover a study leave.

We seek a candidate who will teach five different human geography undergraduate courses, with one of the courses taught three times (i.e. an overall total of seven course offerings). Three of the courses will be taught online, one will be taught in-person, and one of the courses will be taught in a blended format with field trips . The successful candidate will meet the qualifications (see below) for teaching each of GEOG 100- Our World – Introducing Human Geography (taught three times), GEOG 161 – Urban Change: An Introduction to Dynamic Places, GEOG 162 – Canada, GEOG 221 – Economic Worlds, and GEOG 363- Urban Planning and Policy.

The successful candidate will demonstrate excellence in teaching, or the clear promise of excellence. Preference will be given to candidates who can successfully teach students with a combination of science, social science, and humanities backgrounds. We seek candidates who will contribute positively and constructively to the department work environment and will participate in collegial governance and community building. Candidates are expected to uphold principles of equity, diversity, and inclusion, and advance Indigenous reconciliation.

All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however, Canadians and permanent residents of Canada will be given priority. Simon Fraser University is an equity employer and welcomes applications from all qualified individuals including women, persons with disabilities, visible minorities, Indigenous Peoples, people of all sexual orientations and gender identities, and others who may contribute to the further diversification of the university. All positions are subject to availability of funding and approval by the SFU Board of Governors.

Applicants must have completed or be near to completion of a Ph.D. in Geography or a related discipline at the time of appointment. Applications should consist of a single .pdf file containing a one-page cover letter explaining their suitability for the position, a curriculum vitae, and a teaching portfolio (including a two-page executive summary of teaching experience, strategy and philosophy, and a sample course syllabus for GEOG 100 taught online). Applications should be submitted by webform. Short-listed applicants will be asked to arrange for three letters of reference. References should be submitted by webform.

Inquiries about the position should be directed to Shauna Kapusta at geogsec@sfu.ca.

The deadline for applications is 8 June 2026 at 9:00am.

Search Committee Chair: Nicholas Blomley, Department of Geography, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby BC, V5A 1S6.

Simon Fraser University is situated on the unceded traditional territories of the Kwikwetlem, Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.

Under the authority of the University Act, personal information that is required by the University for academic appointment competitions will be collected. For further details, see the Collection Notice.

TEACHING QUALIFICATIONS FOR COURSES TAUGHT DURING THIS LECTURESHIP:

GEOG 100 – Our World – Introducing Human Geography

Applicants should have a graduate degree; preferably a PhD in geography or a related discipline, and expertise and relevant demonstrated ability teaching with student-centred, active learning pedagogy in order to engage students from a range of science and social science backgrounds.

Qualifications include extensive knowledge of the discipline of Human Geography, and its core concepts and perspectives, and proficiency in introducing students to the scope of human geography across a range of contexts (e.g. the city, population, nature, economy, culture, politics) while introducing them to the particular perspectives that human geographers bring to these topics.

Learning Goals:

• Discriminate among the various approaches human geographers use to describe and explain human activities from a spatial perspective
• Understand how human geography fits within the broader discipline of geography
• Understand and use key human geography concepts (e.g. space, place, scale, mobility, spatial imaginaries)
• Document and explain basic spatial processes and trends related to population, culture, food and agriculture, politics, economic development, and urbanization
• Use spatial reasoning in order to articulate the interconnections between geographical processes at local, regional, national and international scales
• Have sufficiently developed early undergraduate-level research, communication, and citation skills
• Experience in online teaching is an asset; support will be available through SFU’s Centre for Educational Excellence.

This course has both Breadth Social Science and Breadth Humanities (https://www.sfu.ca/ugcr/for_faculty/wqb_criteria_and_definitions/breadth.html) designations; course content must fulfill these requirements.

GEOG 161 - Urban Change: An Introduction to Dynamic Places

Applicants should have a graduate degree; preferably a PhD in geography or a related discipline, and expertise and relevant demonstrated ability teaching with studentcentred, active learning pedagogy in order to engage students from a range of science and social science backgrounds.

Qualifications include: the ability to provide students with geographical knowledge of the full spectrum of topics within the field of urban geography, including but not necessarily limited to urban built environments, society and culture, economic development, and politics, with a particular focus on the geographies of urban change. Candidates need to be able to help students think critically about the relationships between urbanism, urbanization, and globalization. Candidates are expected to speak about examples from various parts of the world. Experience effectively teaching large classes will be an asset

Learning Goals:

• To understand what urban change is and what it might be in the future
• To understand the relationship between society, space, and urbanization
• To understand how we can understand urban change using concepts from critical geographical scholarship
• To understand how governance, planning, activism, and other practices shape and mitigate urban change

This course has both Breadth Social Science and Breadth Humanities (https://www.sfu.ca/ugcr/for_faculty/wqb_criteria_and_definitions/breadth.html) designations; course content must fulfill these requirements.

GEOG 162 - Canada

Applicants should have a graduate degree, preferable a PhD in geography or history as well as expertise and demonstrated ability to teach. We embrace applicants with a student-centred, active learning pedagogy in order to engage students from a wide range of science and social science backgrounds. Qualifications include deep knowledge of Canada, especially Indigenous Canada, from a human geography perspective. The instructor should be able to frame Canadian historical and present day geography through the lenses of unsettling, resistance and resilience.

Learning Goals:

• Develop the ability to apply the concepts of unsettling, resistance, and resilience to Canada
• Identify and describe major human geography changes in Canada over the past 10,000 years
• Characterize geographical regions of Canada now and in the past
• Critically reflect on role of colonialism in the geography of Canada, and critically evaluate narratives of Canada’s nation-building
• Develop effective referencing skills to communicate research and argumentation.

Experience in online teaching is an asset; support will be available through SFU’s Centre for Educational Excellence.

This course has a Breadth Social Science designation (https://www.sfu.ca/ugcr/for_faculty/wqb_criteria_and_definitions/breadth.html); course content must fulfill this requirement.

GEOG 221 - Economic Worlds

Applicants should have a graduate degree, preferably a PhD, in geography or related discipline, and relevant demonstrated ability to teach in the classroom to students with a wide range of backgrounds in social science.

Qualifications include the ability to introduce students to the suite of on-the-ground economic geographical processes of concern to economic geographers, including but not necessarily limited to resource, manufacturing, and service industries; labour markets and migration; financialization; and globalization. Candidates must also be able to introduce students to prominent theories and approaches economic geographers use to explain the above processes, including but not limited to uneven development, and commodity chains. Candidates should be able to help students think critically about economic structures and their effects globally and for people’s everyday lives.

Learning Goals:

• Gain a clear understanding of economic geography that you can use to better understand your own life, and the world around you
• Formulate sufficient levels of understanding about the history, legal basis, traditions, and ethical considerations of economic geography
• Apply course knowledge to real-world case studies
• Gain the tools and critical thinking skills necessary for reflecting upon, and engaging with, economic systems at a variety of scales
• Improve your reading, writing, and communication skills in preparation for upper-division undergraduate courses

Experience in online teaching is an asset; support will be available through SFU’s Centre for Educational Excellence.

This course has a Breadth Social Science designation (https://www.sfu.ca/ugcr/for_faculty/wqb_criteria_and_definitions/breadth.html); course content must fulfill this requirement.

GEOG 363 - Urban Planning and Policy

Applicants should have a graduate degree; preferably a PhD and relevant demonstrated ability to teach in the classroom to students with a wide range of backgrounds in social science.

Qualifications include an exposure to the theory and practice of urban planning and urban policy, an ability to translate and instantiate planning and policy concepts in terms that engage human geographers and other critical social scientists, and a ready understanding of practical and professional dimensions of urban planning and policy in Canadian contexts. Ideally, the candidate will be able to bring local and other comparative contexts into classroom cases, exercises and discussions, and will offer students a meaningful entry point into current debates, processes and decisions in urban planning and policy.

• Have formulated sufficient levels of understanding about the history, legal basis, traditions, ethical considerations, and major theories of planning
• Have applied course knowledge to real-world case studies
• Have the tools and critical thinking skills necessary for reflecting upon, and engaging with, urban planning and policy
• Be able to examine and understand actual city plans and policies

Experience in teaching in a blended format with in-person field trips is an asset; support for blended learning will be available through SFU’s Centre for Educational Excellence.