Visiting Assistant Professor

Position Details

The College of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture at the University of Arizona invites applications for its Emerging Faculty Fellowship. We seek emerging faculty from any of the disciplines CAPLA represents. Recipients of the fellowship must be able to teach in one or more of our undergraduate or graduate programs:  the professional B.Arch, M.Arch, BLA, or MLA, or the  Bachelor of Science in Sustainable Built Environments (main campus or online), Bachelor of Science in Real Estate, Master of Science in Architecture, Master of Science in Urban Planning, or Master of Real Estate Development (main campus or online).

To date, we have hired two faculty members in the Emerging Faculty Fellowship. Going forward, the CAPLA Emerging Faculty Fellowship will enable one faculty hire per year for a two-year term, to maintain a steady state of two fellowship recipients in residence at once, in overlapping terms. The title of appointment will be Visiting Assistant Professor (non tenure eligible). The program is designed to provide emerging scholars and practitioners with significant teaching experience in a collegial, interdisciplinary environment, before they seek permanent positions in academia. It also offers substantial opportunity for research interactions and collaborations with current CAPLA faculty across a broad range of interests and topics, as a springboard to publications and other research products. The appointed Visiting Professors are expected to bring their new ideas and fresh training to us, encouraging inter-institutional dialogue, while benefitting from CAPLA’s national reputation for inventive teaching and research and its unique ecosystem of the Sonoran Desert. Emerging Faculty Fellowship hires will be mentored both individually and as a cohort.

We seek candidates who will cherish the particularity of our place as an inspiration for reflection and creativity, who can complement and supplement the expertise we already have, and who can add to our presence in national discourse. A demonstrated commitment to inclusivity and ability to contribute to diverse communities are essential. Candidates who can engage the history of local indigenous peoples and the university’s federal designation as a Hispanic Serving Institution are particularly encouraged.

 

The College

The College of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture issued a CAPLA Strategic Plan in 2019 and the research profile of the college, publication output, and grant revenues have grown strongly as a result, as have student enrollments. In addition to the degrees listed above, the college offers several Graduate Certificates and dual degrees as well as a microcampus program in Lima, Peru (https://lima.arizona.edu and https://capla.arizona.edu/studio/capla-partners-upc-lima-launch-global-microcampus-program-sustainable-built-environments) and another just beginning in Ecuador. It is contemplating other international partnerships.

The college contributes to the land grant mission of the university in part through the Roy P. Drachman Institute, which facilitates community planning and design via outreach projects focused on housing, design-build, climate change mitigation, energy conservation, water infrastructure, sustainable design, and community-based projects serving indigenous and other local communities. Finally, we are a recognized leader at UArizona for our equity, diversity, and inclusion efforts; on this, see https://capla.arizona.edu/equity-diversity-inclusion. For additional information on these and other facets of the college and our commitment to building a changing world, visit: https://capla.arizona.edu/about; https://capla.arizona.edu/about/vision-strategic-plan and https://capla.arizona.edu/about/annual-report. We are currently engaged in a new strategic planning effort to culminate in Spring 2024.

 

The University

The University of Arizona is the flagship research institution of the state and is ranked nationally among the top 20 public research institutions. It is the oldest public institution of higher learning in Arizona (dating to 1885), founded as a land grant university on homelands of the Tohono O’odham and Pascua Yaqui peoples. It serves more than 53,000 students, over 28% of whom are Hispanic. For more information, see: https://www.arizona.edu/about, https://uair.arizona.edu/content/overview.

UArizona has particular strengths in the fields of earth sciences, arid lands, hydrology, natural resources, astronomy and optical sciences, indigenous languages, anthropology, sociology, and public health, many of which relate to planning and design of the built environment. The CAPLA research initiative “RESTRUCT” has built partnerships across campus in fulfilment of both the college and the university strategic plans. The current UArizona strategic plan dates to 2018; it may be found here: https://arizona.app.box.com/s/u4g5d2a0vvurwc3gfdx63e5ftbg22u78.

 

The City and Region

The site of Tucson on the Santa Cruz River lies within the northern reaches of the beautiful and ecologically rich Sonoran Desert. It is the oldest continuously inhabited place in the continental United States and currently hosts a population of over one million people in the larger metropolitan area. It boasts a rich history of indigenous, Spanish colonial, Mexican, and Anglo settlement, not to mention the more recent influx of Asian-Americans, refugees from Africa and the Middle East, and others. Indeed, Southern Arizona has been a magnet for travelers, tourists, artists, scientists, naturalists, archaeologists, other scholars, and retirees since the nineteenth century. In 2015, Tucson became the first UNESCO City of Gastronomy in the US, joining the UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN). Located about 60 miles from the international border with Mexico, fast-growing Tucson and its surrounding region serve as a model of the mix of socio-political, demographic, and environmental changes soon coming to the rest of the country.

 

Position Responsibilities

The Emerging Faculty Fellowship will entail the following responsibilities:

  • Teaching (or co-teaching) (50%):  likely 4 courses per year (either 3-credit lecture/seminar courses or a combination of those and 6-credit studios), some in the recipient’s area of research or practice expertise, some contributing to the required curriculum in one or more programs
  • Research (40%) in dialogue or partnership with CAPLA faculty, leading to publications, exhibitions, presentations, events, or other outputs
  • Service (10%) contributing to college and school committees and other efforts

 

Minimum Qualifications

A terminal graduate professional or research degree in a discipline relating to the built environment

Promising program of research and/or plans for practice

 

Preferred Qualifications

Prior teaching experience in graduate school

 

Salary and Benefits

Salary will be $60,000 with full benefits.

 

To Apply

For more information and to apply, visit https://arizona.csod.com/ux/ats/careersite/4/home/requisition/18457?c=arizona.

 

You will need to supply the following:

cover letter

cv

list of references

portfolio (if applicable to the discipline)

statement of teaching philosophy

statement of research/practice focus

 

Deadline:  February 15, 2024

 

Questions?

Contact Laura Hollengreen, Associate Dean of CAPLA for Academic Affairs at laurah@arizona.edu.