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Job Description
The School of Art & Design at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign invites applications for a full-time, tenure-track faculty position, at the rank of Assistant or Associate Professor, with specializations across a range of design areas. The anticipated start date is August 16, 2023.
Qualifications
We are interested in candidates whose practice, teaching, and/or research connect to one or more of the following areas of design: Visual Anthropology, Design for Impact and Sustainability, Design by/with the Global South, Gender and Design, Sexuality and Design, Queering Design, Design for Diverse Abilities, Equity and Design, and Design for Peace.
As this position is primarily based in a Graphic Design program, familiarity with current and historical approaches to visual communication and experience design will be required. However, we seek applicants who are pushing beyond traditional approaches to re-center those excluded by the discipline, or to invent new methodologies and approaches. These could include indigenous design knowledges, applied experimentation in visual communication, social interaction design, liberatory approaches to the development and the dissemination of knowledge, social scientific approaches in urban or rural contexts, futuring/defuturing, collaboration across disciplines and with community partners, and design for dismantling and reimagining inequities faced by historically marginalized communities.
Candidates are required to have a terminal graduate degree in design, applied arts, social sciences, informatics, or a related field. Candidates whose terminal degree is outside design need to demonstrate academic experience in creative disciplines, a growing record of scholarly and/or professional research, design work, publications, and/or exhibitions, demonstrate teaching effectiveness, and have a strong capacity to engage with contemporary design as a social, aesthetic, collaborative, and professional discipline.
We encourage individuals with MDES, MFA, DDES, Ph.D. in design or a related field or a BFA, BSAS/BAAS, or BLA with an advanced degree in another area to apply.
Responsibilities
Candidates will contribute to the BFA and MFA programs’ diverse and proactive approaches to leading and reshaping the design field through research, pedagogy, and service, the broader equity goals set by the College of Fine and Applied Arts to create and sustain just, equitable, and sustainable communities, the undergraduate (BFA) program in Graphic Design, the graduate (MFA) program in Design Responsible Innovation, and future graduate programs, and the School of Art & Design and the University of Illinois through research, service, and public engagement.
Teaching responsibilities consist of two courses in the fall and two in the spring (2/2). This may include core undergraduate courses, foundation studios, and graduate courses. Course assignments are based on departmental needs. The candidate will contribute to existing digital design and interactive media curricula and implement new courses at entry and advanced levels. Salary is commensurate with experience. Additional responsibilities include service through shared governance to the department, school, college, campus, university, discipline, and/or the local community.
Context
Building upon its longstanding reputation for excellence, the Graphic Design (undergraduate) and Design for Responsible Innovation (graduate) programs in the School of Art & Design are responsive to the contemporary design landscape. The current faculty engages in a range of research interests, methods, and modes of practice that collectively expand and redefine traditional notions of design in practice and academia. The BFA program in Graphic Design negotiates challenges at the intersection of traditional craft and rapidly evolving communication technologies, preparing students to effect positive change in contemporary social and cultural systems. The MFA program in Design for Responsible Innovation investigates forms of intentional action to reify and maintain positive, equitable, and meaningful futures desired by sustainable networks of human and non-human actors.
Student and faculty work is supported by staffed labs for traditional and contemporary media, including spaces for digital imaging and printing, audio-visual production, rapid two- and three-dimensional prototyping, and darkroom photography. Facilities for bookbinding, letterpress, printmaking, and fashion design are also available. The School offers undergraduate and/or graduate degrees and concentrations in Art Education, Art History, Fashion, Graphic Design, Industrial Design, Design for Responsible Innovation, New Media, Painting, Photography, Printmaking, Sculpture, and Studio Art.
About the University of Illinois
The School of Art & Design is part of the College of Fine & Applied Arts at the University of Illinois, an internationally renowned research and educational institution. The Urbana-Champaign campus is a public land-grant university and is the flagship campus of the University of Illinois system. The University supports faculty as active researchers in the humanities, arts, sciences, engineering, and design through opportunities for funding and vital cross-disciplinary exchange in the campus’s many institutes, centers, and initiatives. These include the Campus Research Board, the Humanities Research Institute, the Center for Advanced Study, the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, the Siebel Center for Design, and numerous other specialized centers.
The arts also play a vital and recognized role in the University’s service mission as a state university, as evidenced by the historic examples of the Krannert Art Museum, the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, and the Japan House, each a respected international hub for innovative scholarship and public engagement.
The University actively pursues a commitment to diversity through growing support for its numerous area and ethnic studies programs. Faculty and students in the arts routinely collaborate with these areas in their research and programming; such efforts enjoy support for activities on campus and around the world.
Supported by the nation’s fourth largest research library and abundant technological resources, the University of Illinois provides a rich environment for collaboration and experimental ventures. Urbana-Champaign is in East Central Illinois, within a three-hour drive of Chicago, Indianapolis, and St. Louis. For more information, please visit www.illinois.edu for the University, www.faa.illinois.edu for the college, and www.art.illinois.edu for the school.
Application
To ensure full consideration, applications must be received by November 15, 2022. Interviews may take place prior to the closing date; however, no decision will be made until after that date. Please create your candidate profile at https://jobs.illinois.edu/ (Job ID: 1012315). For questions regarding the application process, please contact 217-333-2137. Complete submissions must include the following:
1. Concise, detailed letter of application
2. Research Statement
3. Design Teaching Statement
4. Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Access Statement
5. Curriculum vitae
6. Names and complete contact information for three academic references.
7. Portfolio of work/publications (up to 15 pieces/articles)
8. Portfolio of student work (up to 15 pieces)
Please combine items 1–6 into a single multi-page (letter size) PDF (NOT an Acrobat “PDF portfolio.”) Use the naming convention of “lastname_firstname_docs.pdf”.
Portfolios (items 7 and 8) should each be submitted as a multi-page (letter size) PDF. Use the naming convention of “lastname_firstname_pw.pdf” for professional/research work and “lastname_firstname_sw.pdf” for student work.
All requested information must be submitted for your application to be considered. The University of Illinois conducts criminal background checks for all job candidates upon acceptance of a contingent offer.
Please direct any inquiries to Professor Lynne Dearborn:
School of Art & Design, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
408 E. Peabody Dr., Champaign, IL 61820 USA
[email protected]; +001 (217) 333-4331
The University of Illinois must also comply with applicable federal export control laws and regulations and, as such, reserves the right to employ restricted party screening procedures for applicants.
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The University of Illinois System is an equal opportunity employer, including but not limited to disability and/or veteran status, and complies with all applicable state and federal employment mandates. Please visit Required Employment Notices and Posters to view our non-discrimination statement and find additional information about required background checks, sexual harassment/misconduct disclosures, COVID-19 vaccination requirement, and employment eligibility review through E-Verify.
Applicants with disabilities are encouraged to apply and may request a reasonable accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act (2008) to complete the application and/or interview process. Requests may be submitted through the reasonable accommodations portal, or by contacting the Accessibility & Accommodations Division of the Office for Access and Equity at 217-333-0885, or by emailing [email protected].
