Seeking Professors of the Practice

The School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University (SMFA) invites applications for at least four new full-time studio faculty positions. We seek artists whose making and scholarship focus on racial and social justice, as well as decolonial aesthetics, broadly defined. We welcome candidates working on diaspora, immigration, and socioeconomics, as well as material, critical, LGBTQ and gender studies. While SMFA has needs in the areas of Digital Media, Media Arts, Photography, and Sculpture, artists whose practices may lie between these disciplines are also enthusiastically encouraged to apply. We hire studio faculty at the rank of “professor of the practice” and welcome applications from artists at any stage of their careers, from recently minted MFAs to seasoned professors.

SMFA at Tufts is committed to building a culturally diverse and equitable educational environment. We are especially interested in candidates who can enhance social justice within the academic community through their research, teaching and/or service. We strongly encourage applications from candidates belonging to groups that have been historically underrepresented in higher education, including women, racial and ethnic minorities, differently abled people, and lesbian/gay/bisexual/gender-nonconforming people; and from those who produce artwork, curriculum, and research that engages marginalized groups.

SMFA’s curriculum allows faculty members an unusual degree of pedagogical freedom. Faculty members are encouraged to develop and teach advanced, topic-based seminars in addition to introductory and mid-level courses. Collaboration across departments—at SMFA and more broadly at Tufts University—is common, and curricular innovation is encouraged. Professors of the Practice also have the opportunity to do graduate advising, work with Senior Thesis students, and teach undergraduates in the Liberal Arts, Sciences, and Engineering, as well as BFA, MFA, and post-baccalaureate students.

Candidates for all positions should: 
Have an MFA or significant career experience, with a minimum of three years of experience teaching at the undergraduate and/or graduate level; have the ability to teach introductory through graduate-level courses and to work collaboratively with faculty across departments and, ideally, the university to develop cross-media studio courses and seminars; demonstrate extensive critical, theoretical, and art-historical knowledge as well as technical expertise and awareness of expanded and wide-ranging approaches to art production; and engage in interdisciplinary practices that employ new and evolving technologies along with traditional approaches and in extending the multiple traditions and emerging practices in their field(s).

To learn more and to apply, please visit apply.interfolio.com.

Required application materials include: 
Letter of application, including information about how you will contribute to building a culturally diverse educational environment at SMFA; curriculum vitae; contact information for three references (letters will be requested for finalists); teaching philosophy, including how a commitment to diversity and inclusion informs your teaching; examples of work with links to time-based work, if applicable; and sample syllabi.

Review of applications will begin on January 15, 2021, and will continue until the positions are filled. For any questions, please contact Janet Sartor, Administrative Assistant, at janet.sartor [​at​] tufts.edu.

Tufts University, founded in 1852, prioritizes quality teaching, highly competitive basic and applied research, and a commitment to active citizenship locally, regionally, and globally. Tufts University also prides itself on creating a diverse, equitable, and inclusive community. Current and prospective employees of the university are expected to have and continuously develop skill in, and disposition for, positively engaging with a diverse population of faculty, staff, and students.

Tufts University is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. We are committed to increasing the diversity of our faculty and staff and fostering their success when hired. Members of underrepresented groups are welcome and strongly encouraged to apply. See the University’s Non-Discrimination statement and policy here. If you are an applicant with a disability who is unable to use our online tools to search and apply for jobs, please contact us by calling Johny Laine in the Office of Equal Opportunity (OEO) at T 617 627 3298 or at johny.laine [​at​] tufts.edu. Applicants can learn more about requesting reasonable accommodations at oeo.tufts.edu.