The Department of Business Communication (BUCO) in the USC Marshall School of Business invites applications for one or more full-time positions as Assistant or Associate Professor of Clinical Business Communication (non-tenure-track, rank dependent on experience and qualifications), beginning in Fall 2027. Appointment at the rank of Lecturer will also be considered where a candidate ’s qualifications make it appropriate.
BUCO is forward-thinking, collaborative, and good at fostering a culture of long-term careers.
Why BUCO
The Department of Business Communication is one of seven academic units at USC Marshall and the largest department of our kind in the United States at a top-tier university. BUCO faculty have historically received meaningful support for professional development, research, and student worker assistance.
People stay. Our current 15 full-time faculty have been with the program for an average of 17 years or more, ranging from about two to 30 years. Colleagues share materials, trade ideas, and invest in one another ’s growth.
The work. We teach undergraduate and graduate students to communicate as human leaders, pairing timeless skills in persuasion strategy, speaking, and business writing with fluency in AI and the hyperconnected realities of modern business. Our courses develop the durable human capabilities at the heart of Marshall ’s mission: clear thinking, effective and ethical writing and speaking, and purpose-driven leadership communication.
Responsibilities
Teach core courses in business and management communication: BUAD 302 (Communication Strategy in Business) and WRIT 340 (Advanced Writing for Business) for undergraduates, and GSBA 523 (Communication for Management) at the graduate level.
Areas of Interest
We welcome depth in one or more of these areas. As long as you can contribute to the core course mission, we welcome (and have) a range of backgrounds and emphases. No one candidate needs to cover them all:
Artificial intelligence and human-computer interaction, and their implications for how business communication is produced, evaluated, and taught.
Leadership communication, including executive presence, persuasion and argumentation, oral communication, internal communication, and communication through change.
Written communication, including technical communication and communicating with data.
Business development and outreach communication: pitching, persuasive proposals, and the client and partner relationships that grow an organization.
Storytelling, entertainment, and social media, including narrative strategy, reputation, and communication on digital platforms.
Intercultural and conflict communication, including communication across cultures, markets, and disagreement.
Strong teachers of core business communication without these specializations are equally encouraged to apply.
Multiple Paths into This Role
Our faculty arrived here by different routes, and the department is deliberately built that way.
If you are an accomplished practitioner considering a move into academia, we welcome your application. Candidates with some experience translating expertise to others, such as through teaching, corporate training, coaching, or public speaking, are especially encouraged to apply. The department also offers structured mentorship and instructional support to ease the transition.
If you come from a traditional academic pathway, we value depth of scholarly research, teaching excellence, as well as the many ways academics gain industry experience and exposure. Consulting, executive education, professional practice, and sustained work with organizations outside the university all count in your favor.
Scholarship, Professional Development, and Workload
Ongoing professional development and engagement with the scholarly and professional communities are central to this role, and the department has a history of supporting that work.
Published research is not a requirement of this position, and many full-time positions in the department do not carry a research component.
We also welcome candidates who want to contribute to the research of the department and the school. For those with a strong publishing record and an active pipeline, course relief and a workload profile that formally includes research may be considered.
Research in any managerial, professional, or business communication field is welcome, particularly on communication and technology (including AI), social and digital media, interpersonal and leadership communication, persuasion, organizational communication, or intercultural communication.
Understanding a Non-Tenure-Track Appointment at USC
This is a non-tenure-track position. Because that category means different things at different universities, here is what it means at USC Marshall.
First, a note on the title: at Marshall, “clinical” signals a practice-oriented faculty role centered on teaching, not a medical or skills-lab role.
USC ’s research-, teaching-, practitioner-, and clinical-track faculty, known collectively as RTPC faculty, make up more than 40% of Marshall ’s full-time faculty. RTPC faculty:
RTPC appointments do not lead to consideration for tenure.
