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Job Description
Architecture Faculty Position in Design Justice
Part of the Design Justice Cluster Hire– several openings in various programs across two years: Architecture, Graphic Design, Interior Design, and Product Design
About the Design Justice Cluster-Hire Initiative
Design Justice is a new initiative within the College of Design, seeking to create space, policy, and practices that support the inclusion and retention of Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) as well as other communities who have been historically underinvested. Design Justice is supported by a group of individuals across design disciplines, known as the Collective, who are committed to anti-racism, decolonized pedagogy, and the liberation of communities who have been underinvested historically, in both design academia and the design industry. Areas of scholarship, teaching, and/or service will involve: anti-racism, racial justice, racial disparities, and/or racial discrimination; equity, power/privilege, and/or bias; benefits to the BIPOC, immigrant, and refugee populations; environmental and social justice; and/or other forms of studying and countering systemic oppression. Successful candidates for all positions will have the clear potential, demonstrated ability, and/or related scholarship to support our BIPOC and other marginalized communities.
Position Details
We are seeking tenure-track candidates who are committed to advancing a scholarly, pedagogic, and/or service agenda specifically focused on design justice either through architectural design teaching, in their design studio pedagogy, and/or in research, practice or service to the discipline of architecture. Our primary selection criteria include excellence in the teaching of design studios supported by the strong promise of significant creative achievement in the field through design work, scholarship, research, professional practice, or a combination thereof.
This is a 100%-time academic year (9-month), tenure-track faculty position. Salary will be commensurate with qualifications and experience, and will be supplemented by a generous start-up package to support advancement of scholarship and teaching that align with the tenure standards of the School of Architecture. The start-up package may include course release/s, graduate student assistant/s, and/or other means determined through dialogue with the department head. Applicants should be prepared to serve as a member of the Design Justice Collective for their first two years. Priority application deadline is November 15; however, applications will be reviewed until each position is filled. Anticipated start date is August 2022. Regardless of the start date, selected candidates will receive the cluster experience.
About the School of Architecture
The School of Architecture (SoA) is committed to a diverse and socially engaged, contextually sensitive, ecologically responsible, and technologically rich vision of design. Founded in 1913, SoA is known for its history of design excellence, its strong relationships with an exceptional practice community, and its integrated research centers and programs. The SoA is positioned to draw upon a culturally diverse local community seized with the need for race and climate justice, through a curriculum that actively pursues engaged design, research, and scholarship in the College, University, and beyond.
Situated within the College of Design, the School of Architecture is located in Rapson Hall, designed by Thorshov & Cerny and renovated with an addition by Steven Holl in 2002. The building is named for the former head of the school, architect Ralph Rapson. The building’s architecturally inspiring spaces include studios, fabrication shops, review and collaboration areas, a library and an auditorium. The School of Architecture enrolls about 600 students, including more than 450 undergraduates in the pre-architecture, pre-professional and design degrees in architecture (BDA and BS), around 100 graduate students in the NAAB accredited Master of Architecture degree, and 35 students in the Master of Heritage Studies and Public History degree and the Master of Science degree with tracks in Sustainable Design, Research Practices, Metropolitan Design. In addition, the school has recently launched an Architecture track in the College of Design’s PhD program.
The School of Architecture maintains cross-disciplinary collaborations with landscape architecture, interior design, graphic design, product design, apparel design, retail merchandising, and human factors and ergonomics. The school’s faculty comprises internationally recognized experts in a range of interrelated architectural fields: design; urban and rural design; building technology; digital design and representation, design/build; sustainable building design; resilient and regenerative infrastructures; housing; heritage studies and public histories; critical practice and representation; history, theory, and criticism; and research embedded in practice.
Visit UMN SoA Online, on Instagram, or on YouTube
Responsibilities
For the Architecture Position
-Conduct teaching for undergraduate and graduate architectural design studios, research/scholarship/creative work, and/or service centered around the aforementioned areas of design justice. This focus area relative to design justice may encompass your whole or partial dossier or commitment; it does not need to characterize your entire body of work.
-Serve as a member of the Design Justice Collective for the first two years of your appointment. Contribute to the cultivation of policies and practices that exemplify the college’s commitment to the mission of the Design Justice Collective.
-Teach and contribute to design pedagogy of architectural studio curriculum in both undergraduate, pre-professional, and graduate professional design studios and other courses of interest as the needs arise.
-Demonstrate creative achievement in architecture, through design work, scholarship, research, professional practice, or a combination thereof that contribute to the culture and mission of the School of Architecture and College of Design.
-Service in support of the School of Architecture, College of Design, University, and/or broader community.
-Advise/mentor undergraduate and graduate students and contribute to recruitment and retention strategies of students who have been historically underinvested.
-Participate in faculty governance at the program, department, college, and/or university levels.
-Contribute to and support the mission of the University of Minnesota, a public research institution.
Required Qualifications
For the Architecture Position
-Commitment to teaching, scholarship, and/or service with a demonstrated ability, interest and/or potential to intersect with design justice and/or antiracism.
-A Master of Architecture or equivalent professional degree.
-Excellence in teaching design at the graduate or undergraduate level or in other avenues that bridge architectural practice.
-Experience and/or commitment to teaching and/or mentoring students who have been historically underinvested.
Preferred Qualifications
For the Architecture Position
-Two or more years of experience in teaching design studio.
-Evidence of creative achievements in the practice of architecture.
-Doctorate or other advanced degrees in architecture or affiliated discipline and/or professional licensure.
-Scholarship, research and/or professional, creative or interdisciplinary practice in design and areas related to design.
-Innovative approaches to design which have the potential to either procure external funding, create a broad visibility of work, and/or form ongoing and impactful community partnerships.
-Evidence of collaboration with other disciplines.
-Experience teaching at the collegiate, graduate, or professional level.
To Apply to the Architecture Position, Submit the Following through this Link: http://jobsearch.cla.umn.edu/344204
-Cover letter describing your commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and access as they relate to one or more areas of your scholarship, research, teaching, service or community engagement or other avenues as a spatial and/or material design practice (not to exceed 1000 words)
-Portfolio which includes the following (not to exceed 40 MB total):
Teaching materials and student works from design teaching (20 pages maximum)
Research, scholarship and/or creative works (20 pages maximum)
-Curriculum Vitae
In all of the above, please identify collaborative works, including role and authors.
If you advance to the next level of the search (Stage 2), we will reach out to you to submit additional materials including:
-Statement describing your past and current work and future aspirations for teaching, research, scholarship and/or creative practice in design (not to exceed 1000 words).
-List of three current references (names and contact details only. No letters are needed).
The University of Minnesota recognizes and values the importance of diversity and inclusion in enriching the experience of its employees and in supporting the academic mission. The University is committed to attracting and retaining employees with varying identities and backgrounds. The University provides equitable access to and opportunity in its programs, facilities, and employment without regard to race, color, creed, religion, national origin, gender, age, marital status, disability, public assistance status, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression. To learn more about diversity at the U, see diversity.umn.edu. To request an accommodation during the application process, please email [email protected] or call (612) 624-UOHR (8647).
Any offer of employment is contingent upon the successful completion of a background check. Our presumption is that prospective employees are eligible to work here. Criminal convictions do not automatically disqualify finalists from employment.
