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Job Summary Overview:

The Department of History, Philosophy, and Social Sciences, in the Division of Liberal Arts, at Rhode Island School of Design ( RISD ), invites applications for a full-time faculty member in biology for a term appointment at the rank of Assistant Professor-in-Residence or Associate Professor-in-Residence, to commence fall 2024. This position is for a 1-year term appointment (Academic Year 24/25). Rank will be dependent on experience.

RISD recognizes principles of social equity, inclusion, and diversity as fundamental to its academic mission as an art and design school. We understand these principles to require ongoing attention to differential embodied experience and expansion of the forms of knowledge from which our curricula originate. RISD is engaged in the collective work of institutional

transformation and would value applicants whose pedagogical and professional experiences have prepared them to foster equitable teaching and learning environments. We seek applicants whose teaching and professional work (creative practice and/or academic scholarship) attends to embodied difference as intersectional and centers on bodies of knowledge from historically underrepresented communities. We particularly encourage applicants who can help advance the institution’s social equity, inclusion, and diversity goals and those from groups whose underrepresentation in the American professoriate has been severe and long standing, including Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and other People of Color, people who identify as LGBTQIA+, veterans, people with disabilities, and first-generation college students.

We seek applicants with expertise in biology, ecology, or other related fields with an emphasis on living systems. Applicants who demonstrate a strong interest in and the ability to instruct students in how the application of biological sciences intersect with the fields of art and design, in particular biomimicry processes and sustainable/regenerative outcomes, are especially encouraged to apply.

For five years, RISD has partnered with Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis to develop new concepts and prototypes connecting biological sciences to the fields of art and design. This partnership draws from biomimicry to foster broad sustainable/regenerative outcomes and design innovations. This faculty position intersects ongoing work with these external partners and collaborates closely with RISD faculty, RISD Nature Lab, and RISD Strategic Partnerships to experiment and explore the development of new materials, concepts, and connections to biological systems. In particular, this faculty position will collaborate with the Nature Lab’s Hyundai Motor Group ( HMG ) scientific team, which includes a material scientist, a Hyundai biological programs research fellow, and Nature Lab staff.

This position will teach two elective biology seminar courses in the Fall Semester. In the Spring semester the position will co-teach two Spring Studios with RISD faculty; these studios will enroll upper level undergraduate and graduate students.

In addition to its teaching responsibilities, this position comes with the option to participate in additional Hyundai-funded summer research activity with RISD students and Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis designers-in-residence on the RISD campus.

International candidates: RISD can sponsor a J1 visa or a TN visa for eligible candidates. RISD does not sponsor other types of employment visas for term appointment positions and cannot hire STEM OPT holders.

Job Qualifications Required:

• PhD in Biology, Ecology, or other related fields with an emphasis on living systems, biological, and/or applied sciences

• Teaching at the college level as an instructor of record

• Demonstrated commitment to undergraduate teaching, with a clear ability to teach a diverse student body and employ inclusive pedagogies

• Demonstrated record of excellence in undergraduate teaching

• Demonstrated record of publication or other evidence of an active research agenda

• Demonstrated ability to work effectively and collaboratively with faculty and students from multiple disciplines

Job Qualifications Preferred:

• Research experience in biology, biomimicry, or biomaterials

• Research experience in sustainability and/or regenerative processes

• Experience collaborating with designers and/or non-scientists

• Comfort working within interdisciplinary teams

• Experience with industry or corporate sponsors

Employment Type: Full-Time

Department: History Phil Social Sciences