Professorships in Race in Art & Design (Fine Arts)

Posting Details

Position Information

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, the Rhode Island School of Design seeks to hire 2 new full-time faculty at the rank of either Assistant or Associate Professor, to commence fall 2022, 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 to engage 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, colonial difference, and gender.

While this cluster search is open to applicants from any of the fine arts disciplines and related interdisciplinary practices, preference will be given to candidates who focus their work in either of the following two areas:

Photography
www.photo.risd.edu

The Department of Photography seeks a photographer whose areas of focus may include studio work and/or scholarship that engages the entanglement of photography with the history and ongoing production of racial and gendered differences. The ideal candidate will have a clear and substantive body of work and experience with photography’s relationships to racialization as a symbolic ​and​ political process. Candidates who work across two mediums (photography ​plus another visual art) are encouraged to apply.

The finalist for this position will be an important voice in shaping pedagogy within the department and throughout the larger RISD community. They must also be willing, and/or demonstrate an ability to serve in administrative positions such as Department Head and Graduate Director within the department as needed.

The Department of Photography is comprised of artists working in a variety of approaches and social practices.

Jewelry + Metalsmithing
www.risd.edu/academics/jewelry-metalsmithing/

The Department of Jewelry + Metalsmithing seeks applicants with a strong practice and training and/or disciplinary research in the field of Jewelry and Metalsmithing. Applicants who demonstrate a potential for cross-disciplinary collaboration with apparel and fashion, performance, film are of particular interest. Traditional adornment and clothing, contemporary jewelry and fashion are all multifaceted forms of communication, fundamental to how we envision ourselves, each other, our histories, and our futures. Applicants should have the ability to meld critical ways of making and knowing, with the haptic and embodied—working in studio-based and seminar courses that pair unexamined histories/experiences with the performative nature of object making, storytelling, writing and image-making in relationship to the body.

The full-time hire will be departmentally housed in J+M with the intention to charter innovative cross-disciplinary curricular development with the RISD Apparel department as well as potentially expand approaches to pedagogical practice that include the politics of race/ethnicity/gender/sexuality, ethical and sustainable design, environmental racism, indigenous knowledge systems, cultural appreciation/cultural appropriation.

The successful candidate will demonstrate a significant record of work that exhibits a high level of proficiency and engagement in their field; inspired criticism and dedicated teaching at both undergraduate and graduate levels; evidence of a capacity for critical thinking/discourse, and knowledge of the histories of the discipline as well as the myriad theories and social phenomena that shape it.

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

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, professionally mentor our MFA students, participate in curriculum development, recruitment and other departmental activities and projects, and contribute to the vibrancy of the intellectual life of the college.

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 either of these 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 )
6.) Portfolio of student 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.

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

Review of applications begins immediately and continues until the position is filled. Candidates who submit their materials by January 20, 2022, are assured full consideration.

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 Detail Information

Posting Number

F00069P

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. Portfolio of Student Work
5. Teaching Philosophy
6. Sample Syllabi

Optional Documents