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Job Description
OVERVIEW
California College of the Arts (CCA) is an ambitious art and design school committed to its legacy while boldly facing the future. Located in the design center of San Francisco, we recently unified the college’s two campuses, bringing all of our studio art, design, architecture, and writing programs together in one vibrant urban neighborhood hub. We are currently in the construction phase of expanding our campus with a new building designed by the award winning architecture firm Studio Gang. This new build enhances our remodeled campus by creating new adjacencies and interactions while inviting yet-to-be-discovered modes of making, teaching and learning. The new campus is a flexible platform for learning that’s purposeful without being prescriptive and prime for creating, collaboration, innovation and thoughtful inquiry. CCA enrolls students from 41 countries and 43 states and is ranked among the top 25 most diverse colleges in the U.S.
POSITION SUMMARY
California College of the Arts seeks applicants for an open rank (assistant, associate, or full professor commensurate with experience), full-time faculty position to chair the BFA in Industrial Design program beginning in August 2023.
In keeping with CCA’s commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging, we seek candidates with a demonstrated ability to cultivate an equity-focused creative and scholarly environment. As we expand the industrial design curriculum to fully include the histories, experiences, and methods of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) and LGBTQ+ designers, we will look to our next program chair to lead this work.
Through visionary leadership, curricular strategy, and professional and community engagement, the chair of Industrial Design plays an essential role in shaping the practices of students whose work will map the future of the field and the extent of its impact. Successful candidates will approach the development of curriculum as a creative and intellectual opportunity and demonstrate a capacity to incorporate diverse perspectives in directing pedagogy and building community. They will demonstrate a meaningful Industrial Design practice (broadly considered), a passion for excellent teaching, and prior experience in curriculum development or academic leadership. They will have worked with culturally diverse groups and demonstrated an understanding of design’s role in shaping society and culture through the lens of critical issues such as technology, sustainability, and accessibility.
The chair is responsible for the vision, leadership, and administration of the Industrial Design program with support from an assistant chair and divisional staff. The chair ensures program relevance, educational excellence, and ongoing successful operations. Responsibilities include planning, oversight, and management of the program’s curriculum, budget, and initiatives; organizational leadership for faculty, students, and staff; and faculty recruitment and development. The chair is responsible for staying actively involved with both the curriculum and relevant professional fields.
Program chairs have a three to five year renewable appointment, with the option to return to faculty at the end of the leadership appointment. Full time faculty appointments teach five courses an academic year, and chairs receive teaching release according to the size of their program. This position reports directly to the Dean of Design and works to achieve programmatic, divisional, and institutional goals in partnership with key offices including Academic Affairs, Admissions, Alumni Relations, Marketing and Communications, Facilities, and the offices of the Provost and the President. As this is a faculty position, the Chair is expected to teach courses in the program.
PROGRAM SUMMARY
The Industrial Design program at CCA offers a fully accredited four-year undergraduate
Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with the option to minor in Furniture Design, Computational Practices, Ecological Practices, History of Art and Visual Culture, or Writing and Literature. The program is housed within the Design Division alongside BFA programs in Interaction Design, Fashion, Illustration, Furniture, and Graphic Design, as well as three graduate programs: an MFA in Design, an MDes in Interaction Design, and an MBA in Design Strategy.
With a history of teaching excellence at the forefront of the field, the program is dedicated to human centric design and sustainability, with an equal emphasis on design thinking and the craft of making. Guided by an active and accomplished faculty, students are exposed to diverse design perspectives and practices and encouraged to develop a culturally competent and personally committed point of view.
The program’s curriculum integrates thinking with making, research, strategy and execution. It educates designers who question premises, challenge convention and develop innovative and sustainable solutions. With a roster of faculty composed of design professionals practicing in the leading design studios, startups, and major technology companies located in the Bay Area’s innovation corridor, CCA’s Industrial Design program is uniquely positioned to meaningfully shape the evolution of industrial design practice.
For more information about the program mission, visit:
www.cca.edu/design/industrial-design/
