Assistant Professor in Residence, Landscape Architecture
Department: Landscape Architecture
Division: Architecture & Design
Employment Type: Full-Time
Position Description
The Department of Landscape Architecture in the Division of Architecture and Design invites applications for a one-year, full-time faculty appointment at the rank of Assistant Professor in Residence, beginning in Fall 2025.
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 difference 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 encourage applicants whose teaching and professional work (creative practice and/or academic scholarship) centers on bodies of knowledge from historically underrepresented communities. We are eager to welcome 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 candidates who are accomplished designers with a clear and compelling research agenda that advances the field of landscape architecture and aligns with our curriculum. Candidates should be prepared to teach across a range of foundational and advanced graduate-level courses, including site engineering and grading, history and theory, site design and urban planning studios, and open thesis research and design studio.
Required Qualifications
The department seeks candidates with a master’s degree or higher in landscape architecture. Applicants must demonstrate excellence in teaching graduate-level students, with a minimum of one year of full-time or three years of part-time teaching experience. Strong interpersonal skills, clarity, generosity, and creativity in both personal practice and teaching are essential.
Candidates must also be able to support a culturally diverse student body, with a range of backgrounds and experience in developing their design and leadership skills.
Successful candidates will demonstrate a clear understanding of how their work can enhance the unique opportunities of teaching landscape architecture within an art and design school. All candidates are expected to have a defined research agenda or design practice that aligns with the mission and focus of the Landscape Architecture Department at RISD . This may be evidenced through academic publications, organized symposia, curated exhibitions, installations, and/or significant built work.
Preferred Qualifications
Experience with collaborative teaching or working effectively in team settings would be a valuable addition to the application and/or letters of support.
RISD/Department Description
Rhode Island School of Design ( RISD ) is an undergraduate and graduate college of art and design with approximately 2,500 graduate and undergraduate students. RISD supports faculty with conference funds, professional development grants, and a competitive benefits package. For more information about RISD, please visit www.risd.edu .
Landscape Architecture Department
Degree Programs:
- 3 Year MLA l
- 2 Year MLA ll
- RISD /University of Rhode Island Joint Master’s degree in Landscape Architecture and Marine Affairs • Size: 60 Students
Students and faculty in RISD’s Landscape Architecture Department work in close proximity to artists and designers exploring diverse media and critical art practices. We believe these adjacencies cultivate a distinctive pedagogical approach to landscape architecture—one that bridges intuitive and analytical thinking, encourages hands-on material research, and fosters cross-disciplinary experimentation. With a strong emphasis on critical making, our students blend methods from both artistic and design practices, working fluidly across analog and digital platforms.
While our curriculum engages a broad range of global contexts, we are also deeply rooted in the coastal landscapes of Rhode Island. In 2018, we launched a dual-degree program with the Department of Marine Affairs at the University of Rhode Island—an extension of our commitment to bridging art, design, and scientific disciplines in response to urgent hydrological challenges. Across all scales, from regional systems to material details, our students learn to design with the physical and phenomenal properties of the materials that shape space.
Faculty Responsibilities
The teaching load for full-time faculty for AY 25-26 is five teaching units a year. In addition to teaching, full-time faculty are expected to maintain a dynamic professional practice, serve on college committees, advise students, participate in curriculum development and other departmental and/or divisional activities and projects, and contribute to the vibrancy of the intellectual life of the college.
Salary Information
For information about base pay for this position, please refer to Article XII “Salaries” (p. 19-22) in the Faculty Association Collective Bargaining Contract 2022-2025 . The contract indicates the minimum base salary for each rank.
Special Instructions to Applicants
Please attach the following to the appropriate links in the section labeled “Documents Needed to Apply”:
1.) A succinct 1-2 page letter of intent that also describes your teaching philosophy, research interests, and pedagogical approach to social, equity and inclusion.
2.) Curriculum Vitae
3.) Images of professional work (maximum 20 images for each, in one PDF ))
4.) Images of student work from courses taught (maximum 20 images for each, in one PDF )
5.) 1-2 Sample Syllabus (in one PDF )
Applications may not be edited once they are certified and submitted.
File size is limited to 10 MB per file.
Only materials that have been requested will be considered.
Names and contact information for two 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 May 5, 2025 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.
Documents Needed To Apply
- Required DocumentsCover Letter
- Curriculum Vitae
- Portfolio of Professional Work
- Portfolio of Student Work
- Sample Syllabi
