Open professorships in Design and Interdisciplinary Foundations

The Department of Art & Design at Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University-New Brunswick, invites applications for two full-time tenure-track positions: one in Design at the rank of Assistant Professor, and one in Interdisciplinary Foundations at the rank of Assistant or Associate Professor, both to begin September 1, 2024.

Candidates should be active in their field, with a significant record of professional achievement, and at least three years of college-level or equivalent teaching experience. Primary teaching responsibilities include undergraduate courses as well as one annual graduate seminar in our graduate program. All faculty are expected to assist in student recruitment, curriculum development, mentoring, overseeing graduate assistants, and serving on departmental and university committees.

Applicants must submit the following:
–Cover letter
–Artist/designer statement
–Teaching philosophy
–A one-to two-page statement that speaks to the candidate’s commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion and to the potential to mentor and empower historically underrepresented or marginalized students
–Curriculum vitae
–PDF with 20 images of artwork
–Three course syllabi
–PDF with examples of student work
–Contact information for three references

These positions are full-time, ten-month academic appointments with an anticipated start date of September 1, 2024. For best consideration, apply by January 1, 2024. Review of applications will begin immediately and will continue until the position is filled.

Design position
The search committee is particularly interested in designers working within computational, experimental, collaborative, interdisciplinary and emerging fields. Candidates should have a robust, creative, intellectually and critically engaged design practice as evidenced by recognition that may include publications, commissions, exhibitions, biennial participations, awards and/or collaborative projects. The successful candidate should be committed to teaching and engagement in an interdisciplinary art and design department within a large, diverse, public research university.

Required qualifications
–MFA or equivalent academic degree
–Teaching experience at BFA and MFA levels

Preferred qualifications: Professional and artistic recognition, publications, commissions, exhibitions and awards.

Interdisciplinary Foundations position
The Foundations curriculum in Art & Design introduces creative literacy, experimentation, and critical thinking to undergraduate students in Fine Arts, Design, and Digital Filmmaking. We seek to recruit a faculty member who will bring experience and vision to our Foundations program. The successful candidate will possess leadership capability with an expansive, progressive vision for foundations education, including the ability to mentor and support lecturers in the foundations area, develop curricula, construct syllabi, and assess learning. They will bring experience with and a deep commitment to supporting the needs of a demographically diverse student body. The program integrates physical and digital methods and materials; accordingly, we seek a candidate whose pedagogy is informed by digital literacy as well as fluency as a “maker.” Applications from candidates whose research in any medium invites collaboration, cross-pollination, and interdisciplinary connections in and beyond our large, public research university will be preferred. Candidates who progress to the first round of interviews will be asked to submit a one to two page “foundations vision statement” before the interview.

Required qualifications
–MFA or equivalent degree
–At least three years of college-level or equivalent teaching experience
–Experience with and commitment to Foundations education
–Technical and conceptual strength in one of the department’s Foundations curriculum priorities:  drawing, color, sculpture/3D, photo/lens-based media, and time-based media

Preferred qualifications: Technical and conceptual strength in several of the department’s Foundations curriculum priorities: drawing, color, sculpture/3D, photo/lens-based media, and time-based media.

Art & Design is committed to engendering and supporting inclusivity, difference, equity, and excellence in a vibrant pedagogical and artistic community situated in one of the country’s most diverse research universities. Art & Design encourages applications from historically underrepresented groups in academia and the arts, including but not limited to artists of color, individuals of diverse gender identities and expressions, first generation college and higher education students, artists with disabilities, and those with nontraditional and exceptional pathways to teaching and the arts. Like the state of New Jersey, students in Art & Design and across the University vibrantly reflect this diversity of backgrounds and identities. The successful candidate will demonstrate the cultural and critical competencies to support and engage this rich multiplicity of artistic research and student life and will have interests that align with a commitment to public education and the arts.

About the department
The Department of Art & Design, which offers BFA, BA, and MFA degrees, provides both focus and an environment for interdisciplinary exploration, as well as access to the rich intellectual resources of a major research institution. This breadth enables students to graduate with the skills and thinking necessary for careers in today’s diverse and changing world. Proximity to New York and Philadelphia gives students access to a faculty of renowned professional artists and designers, museums and galleries, and visiting artists and critics.  Home to approximately 400 students, Art & Design offers BFA undergraduate concentrations in Sculpture, Printmaking, Painting, Drawing, Media, Design, Photography, and Interdisciplinary Practice. The department’s historical grounding in innovation, interdisciplinary inquiry, and critical reflection was shaped by its key involvement in the Fluxus movement, and later in the initiation of the first non-disciplinary MFA program in the country. The department recently launched an MFA in Design focused on interdisciplinary research, and the Rutgers Print Collaborative which brings renowned artists to campus to collaborate on editions with students.

Mason Gross School of the Arts is a vibrant community of artists and scholars committed to pursuing excellence, innovation, and inclusivity. Its mission is to create socially relevant art, foster diverse programming and curricula, cultivate community partnerships, and advance the arts through teaching, creative activity, advocacy, and research that contributes to the public good. Comprising 1,200 undergraduate and graduate students across programs in music, theater, dance, filmmaking, and art & design, Mason Gross is housed within Rutgers–New Brunswick, a premier Big Ten research university that serves some 50,000 students and is the flagship campus of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. The nation’s eighth oldest institution of higher learning, Rutgers is less than an hour by train or car to New York City and the beautiful beaches of the Jersey Shore and just over an hour to Philadelphia.

Additional information is available at the school website.

Statement: Mason Gross School of the Arts is deeply committed to the pursuit of equity, diversity, inclusion, and access and especially encourages applications from women, underrepresented minorities, and other individuals who belong to groups that have been historically underrepresented or marginalized within higher education and the arts. Also see the Rutgers Non-Discrimination Statement at the following web address: http://uhr.rutgers.edu/non-discrimination-statement

All offers of employment are contingent upon successful completion of all pre-employment screenings.

Important instructions for applicants
Applications must be submitted via the Rutgers Online Recruitment Site. The application for the Assistant Professor in Design can be accessed here. The application for the Assistant or Associate Professor Foundations can be accessed here.