Professorships in Race in Art & Design (Fine Arts)

Posting Details

Title

Professorships in Race in Art & Design (Fine Arts)

Department

Social Equity & Inclusion

Division

Social Equity & Inclusion

Employment Type

Full-Time

Critical Review Track (similar to tenure track)

Yes

Position Description

As part of its “Race in Art & Design” cluster hire initiative, Rhode Island School of Design seeks to hire 10 new faculty in multiple disciplines to begin in Fall of 2021. We invite applications for three of the ten full-time faculty appointments, at the rank of Assistant or Associate, to commence fall 2021, with a focus on the fine arts disciplines.

Central to the implementation of our evolving social equity and inclusion initiatives, this cluster hire aims to grow our cross-institutional expertise in areas of race, colonization, decolonization, post-coloniality, and cultural representation, as well as in material practices of resistance.

We seek faculty whose scholarship, creative practice, and research addresses the lives, experiences, and cultural traditions of Black, Indigenous, and communities of color. The ideal candidates will not only be prepared to offer courses that both expand and seek to decolonize/challenge traditional art and design curriculum and pedagogies, but also help expand the work of the Center for Social Equity and Inclusion as it engages our various constituencies and communities – both departmental and cross-institutional – in related dialogue and initiatives.

While we will prioritize those working in areas connected to the African American and African diasporas, Indigenous north American and Latinx communities, we encourage applications that engage any indigenous or historically marginalized communities of color.

The ideal applicants for this cluster combine critical, creative, and material practices that engage Black, Indigenous or Latinx epistemologies and address the systemic structures and power relations that shape disciplinary practices and material cultures with a focus on histories of representation, embodiment, and the production of race and gender.

The three positions for this subset of the cluster will be housed in the following departments:

-Photography
www.photo.risd.edu

Areas of focus may include: entanglement of photography with the history and ongoing production of racial and gendered difference; A clear and substantive mastery of photography’s relationships with racialization as a symbolic ​and​ political process; someone who works across two mediums (photography ​plus another visual art)

-Apparel and Jewelry + Metalsmithing (Joint Appointment)
risd.edu/academics/apparel-design
www.risd.edu/academics/jewelry-metalsmithing

Areas of focus may include: the relationship between joy, style and resistance; activism ​(across a multitude of forms), and change advocacy; style as creative performance; Indigenous knowledge systems and how we might learn from these to address ethical and responsible design; environmental racism and unethical practices driven by the textile, fashion and jewelry industries; cultural appreciation/cultural appropriation;​ Afrofuturism

-Sculpture/Painting/Textiles*
risd.edu/academics/sculpture
risd.edu/academics/painting
risd.edu/academics/textiles

*The ideal candidate need not work in all three (Sculpture/Painting/Textiles) disciplines/media but rather have experience, interest, research, practice that could be broadly relevant and applied across all three discursive spaces.

Areas of focus may include: candidates whose pedagogical engagement demonstrates proficiency with intersectional feminism, queer theory, and disability studies. Adjacent areas of expertise could include New Materialism, sustainability as it relates to race, and research-based/de-material practices.

Required Qualifications

-Terminal degree in a relevant discipline/field
-Evidence of teaching at the college level
-A strong record of creative practice, exhibition and scholarship and research practices
-Demonstrated leadership and collaborative work

*Rank will be dependent on years of in-rank teaching experience and professional status.

Preferred Qualifications

Department /RISD Description

Rhode Island School of Design is an undergraduate and graduate college of art and design with approximately 2,400 graduate and undergraduate students. RISD supports faculty professional practice with sabbaticals, pre-critical review leave, conference funds, and professional development grants. RISD has a critical review process, which is very similar to the tenure process. For more information about RISD, please visit www.risd.edu.

Faculty Responsibilities

The full-time faculty teaching load is six courses a year, comprised of a combination of sophomore through graduate level courses. [Department Heads are released from teaching two teaching units, or course equivalents, per year.] In addition to teaching, full-time faculty are expected to maintain a professional practice, serve on college committees, advise students, participate in curriculum development and other departmental activities and projects, and contribute to the vibrancy of the intellectual life of the college.

Each faculty member will receive an annual research fund for their first three years.

Union

Yes

Pre-employment Requirement

The successful candidate will be required to meet our pre-employment background screening requirements.

Special Instructions to Applicants

To apply for any of these three positions please:

Please submit the following application materials:

1.) Letter of intent
2.) Curriculum vitae
3.) A statement of teaching philosophy
4.) Two sample syllabi
5.) Portfolio of recent professional work (Maximum 10 written pages and/or 20 images, preferably in one PDF )

Names and contact information for three references are requested as part of the application process. Requests for reference letters are sent directly to the reference providers when candidates become finalists.

Review of applications begins immediately and continues until the position is filled. Candidates who submit their materials by November 20, 2020 are assured full consideration.

For any questions, nominations, or inquiries please contact:

Matthew Shenoda, Associate Provost for Social Equity & Inclusion and Professor of Literary Arts & Studies at: mshenoda@risd.edu

EEO Statement

RISD is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, genetics, or any other protected characteristic as established by law.

Posting Number

F00054P

Open Date

Close Date

Open Until Filled

Yes
Supplemental Questions

Required fields are indicated with an asterisk (*).

1. * Which Department are you applying for?
   
   (Open Ended Question)
   
   

Documents Needed To Apply
Required Documents

1. Cover Letter
2. Curriculum Vitae
3. Portfolio of Professional Work
4. Teaching Philosophy
5. Sample Syllabi

Optional Documents