Title: Assistant or Associate Professor, Photography + Expanded Media
Department: Photography
Division: Fine Arts
Employment Type: Full-Time
Position Description
The Rhode Island School of Design, Photography invites applications for a critical-review track Assistant or Associate Professor position in the Department of Photography, with an appointment to begin fall of 2025. Rank will be dependent on professional status and teaching 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 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.
The successful candidate should have demonstrated commitment and passion for teaching photography through a wide array of conceptual and material approaches to the image and by contextualizing photographic images and objects as both artistic and social forms. We especially welcome applicants whose practices can speak to the many modes of photographic image-making, such as the interface between art and commerce, experimentation and advertising, and documentary and abstraction. We seek a colleague that values collaboration, collective effort, shared leadership of the department and dedicated mentorship to undergraduate and graduate students.
- Required QualificationsMFA or equivalent degree.
- A demonstrated commitment to research, teaching, and mentorship of undergraduate and graduate students from a variety of intersecting social groups.
- Experience developing curriculum and pedagogies that expand the possibilities of the medium of photography, challenging exclusionary historical canons, and centering the photograph as a site of discussion addressing race, equity, and difference.
- A comprehensive knowledge of teaching interdisciplinary courses that include photography, installation, moving image, performance, and other content that encompass technical, conceptual, experimental, historical, and social practices from introductory to graduate level.
- A commitment to collective collaboration, team building, and shared efforts to shape the role of the Photography department and contribute to its success both within the college and outside it.
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 has a critical review process, which is very similar to the tenure process. RISD supports faculty professional practice with sabbaticals, pre-critical review leave, conference funds, and professional development grants. For more information about RISD, please visit www.risd.edu .
The Department of Photography is composed of artists working in a variety of approaches, and social practices. We have a low faculty-to-student ratio and seek applicants who highly value their role as mentors and teachers. We share a commitment to help students define the scope of their ambitions and then provide the means to achieve them by developing long-term critical practices, photographic literacies, and engaged research. The successful candidate will be an important voice in shaping pedagogy within the department and throughout the larger RISD community. They will also be called upon to serve in administrative positions such as Department Head and Graduate Director within the department as needed.
Faculty Responsibilities
The full-time faculty teaching load 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.
Pre-employment Requirement
The successful candidate will be required to meet our pre-employment background screening requirements.
Special Instructions to Applicants
RISD Faculty Search Committees comprise colleagues from within and outside of the hiring Department.
Please attach the following to the appropriate links in the section labeled “Documents Needed to Apply”:
1.) Letter of intent that addresses the qualifications and responsibilities listed above
2.) Curriculum vitae
3.) A teaching philosophy that articulates your approach to inclusive pedagogy
4.) Recent Syllabi from studio courses and/or seminars that would reflect your own interest in theory, research, and/or studio practice in PDF form (25 pages max).
5.) Examples of creative work and support materials in PDF form (25 pages max).
6.) Examples of student work and support materials in PDF form (25 pages max).
