Postdoctoral Fellowship. The University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) and the Masonic Grand Lodge of California are pleased to announce a one-year postdoctoral fellowship at UCLA from September 15, 2010 through June 15, 2011. The position is open to a recent Ph.D. with a strong interest in the history of civil society, fraternalism and Freemasonry.
This second postdoctoral fellow will teach one course in either American (North or South) or European history with emphasis on Freemasonry, designed in consultation with Prof. Margaret C. Jacob, Distinguished Professor of History, and work with a graduate student research assistant with an interest in any aspect of the field. A $50,000 stipend, office space for the nine-month period, and a modest relocation fee will be provided. The postdoctoral fellow must remain in residence while classes are in session.
Applicants should submit a CV and three letters of recommendation to Prof. Margaret C. Jacob by December 15, 2009. UCLA is an AA/EOE. Women and minorities are encouraged to apply.
Freemasonry is the world’s first and largest fraternal organization. The Masons of California have supported public education since 1850 and are proud to advance academic research and study in the field of Freemasonry and fraternalism.
I don’t know why but this disturbs me, I’d prefer the fraternity remain outside of the academic microscope and away from the spot light. I’m not a fan of shove it in your face freemasonry and or the expose it to the world philosophies, that more and more people are compelled to disseminate. Do we really need a UCLA professor creating their own version of masonic history?
Do we really need the California Grand Lodge being the spokesman for freemasonry? I think not and shame on them for trying to be just that.
Greg,
Where did this come from, a press release from GL? Just curious, since I can’t seem to find it anywhere.
Derrick, I share your sentiments, although I do find this intriguing. I’m curious what will be discussed!
In the 19th Century, there were Masonic Universities in several US States, that were free to the children/siblings of masons. Some were single-sex (men’s and women’s universities), and some were coed. Albert Pike, in the 1857 version of the Scottish Rite degrees, mentions a few times that Scottish Rite masons should found schools (as well as hospitals, which we’ve done) to teach science and reason to the masses. I’m very interested in this idea, even though the current economy is not conducive to this sort of enterprise. I don’t know why these Masonic Universities didn’t last into the 20th Century, but it would make an excellent study for a research paper (dibs!).
I don’t understand derrick’s objection to the UCLA chair, but at least it’s more explicitly pertinent to our mission as masons than sponsoring the Boston Pops 4th of July fireworks, which the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts did, or sponsoring a NASCAR racer, which the Scottish Rite, Southern Jurisdiction did.
I know that what is now Austin Peay State University in Tennissee was originally a Masonic College. The campus that is now the NC Masonic Children’s Home was originally St. John’s College, a liberal arts school sponsored by the NC Masons. I don’t know how APSU went from Masonic to State, but in the case of NC so many of the students at St. John’s went off to the Civil War and never came back–they either got killed, or never took up their studies, or took them up elsewhere–that the college couldn’t survive. I don’t know abouve any of the others.
Many states’ grand lodges have scholarship programs for college undergraduates, and there are programs for medical research (like New York’s, or Minnesota’s cancer center).
This interests me as both an educator and a Mason. I wish I already had my PhD. The combination of my passions would make for a great job; besides who else than a Master Mason should hold this position? 😉