Assistant/Associate Professor of Foundations

POSITION DESCRIPTION:

The Department of Art and Design at Montclair State University invites applications for a full-time, tenure-track Assistant/Associate Professor of Foundations to begin work on September 1, 2025. This role encompasses leadership, teaching, scholarship, and service responsibilities.  The successful candidate will play a pivotal role in shaping the foundational experiences of first-year students in the department.

The faculty member will teach courses within the foundations area, which currently includes Surface, Color and Light, Visual Culture, Perceptual Drawing, Space, and Time. They may also have the opportunity to teach other courses aligned with their expertise. As the Head of Foundations, the successful candidate will be responsible for developing class schedules, advising on the recruitment and retention of adjunct faculty, coordinating budgets, assessing and developing curricula, and fostering a positive and collaborative culture within the area.

This position requires a candidate who is an interdisciplinary artist, designer, or scholar with an active creative or scholarly practice. We seek an educator who is passionate about first-year pedagogy in the fields of art and design and who views foundations as a unique educational space ripe for innovative and effective curricula, projects, and learning experiences. The ideal candidate will demonstrate a strong commitment to interdisciplinary foundational education and possess a forward-thinking approach to teaching and leadership.

In addition to teaching and leadership, the successful candidate is expected to engage actively in faculty governance, participate in community and institutional partnerships, and contribute to the co-curricular life of the university. As Montclair State University is an R2 research institution, maintaining an active creative or scholarly practice with a record of exhibitions or publications in contemporary art or design is essential. The faculty at Montclair State University are expected to be innovative and adaptive teachers, producers of impactful creative and scholarly work, and leaders in meaningful service activities to multiple communities. We seek faculty members who are strategic thinkers capable of engaging with our dynamic and diverse communities.

The Department of Art and Design serves over 350 first-year and transfer students each year through its foundational courses. These courses deliver essential student experiences and learning across all of the department’s degree programs, introducing students to perceptual, material, critical, and process-based studies. The goal of the foundation’s sequences is to provide an immersive educational experience that nurtures students' abilities and encourages expansive ideas and attitudes toward creativity while building essential skills in the comprehension and execution of foundational aspects of art and design practices.

We are committed to inclusive excellence, prioritizing student and faculty success, impact, and access within an environment that inspires critical thinking and responsible citizenship.