Application deadline:
Review of applications will begin on Nov 30, 2021. The position will remain open until filled.
Link to application portal:
https://unc.peopleadmin.com/postings/213985
Position:
The Department of Art & Art History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill invites applications for a tenure-track faculty position in photography at the rank of Assistant Professor with a start date of July 1, 2022. The position is a full time, nine-month academic year appointment.
We seek candidates whose creative practices are rooted in contemporary art and interdisciplinarity. We broadly invite applicants who take up a lens-based approach as foundational to their practice, some examples being: installation-related approach to the medium, drawing from photography’s status as an indexical trace of the visible world; documentary approach to the image that expands and disrupts historical uses of the genre; or a lens-based approach that engages the performative aspects of the medium. Applicants should be skilled in both traditional analog photography methods and digital technologies, as well as have a fluency in contemporary cultural and aesthetic discourses.
The Department of Art and Art History at UNC-Chapel Hill is dedicated to building a diverse community of faculty who are committed to anti-racism, equity, and inclusion. Therefore, we seek a colleague who is engaged with central issues around racism, gender discrimination, and all forms of intolerance in their practice and / or in their teaching, contributing to the diversity of the department by bringing a perspective and / or a unique set of experiences that deepen the intellectual conversations in the field of photography.
The Department of Art and Art History seeks a colleague who will participate in shaping the future of photography at the University. The successful candidate will have a dynamic studio practice, and will have the ability to teach a range of undergraduate courses; to mentor graduate students working across disciplines; and to work effectively with faculty, staff, and students from diverse backgrounds. Central teaching responsibilities will be in the area of photography, with additional opportunities to teach interdisciplinary courses such as first year seminars, graduate seminars and experimental courses. The teaching load is two courses per semester, and all studio faculty serve on 2-3 MFA graduate committees per year. Service responsibilities include departmental committee contributions, advising, and participation in shared governance. In addition to teaching and service responsibilities, the successful candidate will be expected to demonstrate a commitment to a sustained and developing creative practice, with an active and ongoing exhibition and publishing record.
Required Application Materials
1. A cover letter detailing your specific interests and qualifications for the position.
2. A diversity statement that addresses your contributions to diversity, equity and inclusion. Examples of contributions could include:
o Evidence of creative projects and research that incorporate diverse groups or issues of equity.
o Examples of future projects and teaching that engages in questions around accessible and inclusive art education.
o Evidence of ways you have addressed inequities within institutions as an artist or a teacher.
3. CV, including list of courses taught
4. Statement of research and studio practice
5. Teaching philosophy, including how your teaching has supported the success of those from underrepresented backgrounds (racial, ethnic, gender, and / or socio-economic)
6. Names and contact information for three professional references
7. PDF portfolio of 20 digital work samples of your own work and sample of student work (if available). Please see details below for submitting the portfolio.
Artist Portfolio Submission Guidelines
Please submit 20 images of your own artwork in one PDF document.
First, please make a PowerPoint presentation of your 20 images.
Each image should be accompanied by the title, year, medium (e.g. installation), materials
(e.g. acrylic on canvas, thread, wood), and a short accompanying text about the artwork.
To save your presentation file to send:
File > “Compress Pictures”> Presentation (150 ppi)
Save the PowerPoint presentation as a PDF.
This allows us to see your images in context. Save this PDF as e.g. Firstname_Lastname_Artwork.pdf
Student Portfolio Guidelines
If submitting a student portfolio please submit 8-10images of your student artworks in the same format as above
Please provide course title, year (e.g. 2017), student’s year (e.g. junior) with each image.
Minimum Requirements
· MFA or equivalent terminal degree
· Exhibition record evidence
Preferred Requirements
University teaching experience is preferred.
The Department of Art and Art History recognizes that there are barriers for BIPOC, women, disabled, and gender diverse people entering academia and the arts. Because of these structural obstacles, we strongly encourage BIPOC, women, disabled, and gender diverse applicants to apply, with an understanding that teaching mentorship can be a part of the candidate’s growth within the department.
About the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the nation’s first public university, is a Research One university that serves North Carolina, the United States, and the world through teaching, research, and public service. The University embraces an unwavering commitment to excellence as one of the world’s great research universities. UNC’s mission is to serve as a center for research, scholarship, and creativity and to teach a diverse community of undergraduate, graduate, and professional students to become the next generation of leaders.
Department Profile
The Department of Art & Art History is a dynamic center for research, teaching, and learning within the College of Arts & Sciences at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It includes Art History and Studio Art, and has 20 full-time faculty and 7 staff members. The Department supports BA, BFA, and MFA degrees in Studio Art, and BA, MA and joint MA/MSLS and PhD degrees in Art History. Our mission statement —make/frame/reveal— encapsulates both the history and practice sides of the department: we celebrate and embrace experiential strategies, contextual understanding, diverse viewpoints, new insights, and innovative approaches. As an interdisciplinary combination of makers and interpreters, investigators of the present and the past, we are poised to address some of the most pressing social and cultural issues of our time—technology, globalization, politics, ecology, memory, identity, economics, ideology—in all their complexity. Art is a laboratory for experimentation, examination, analysis, and engagement. The Department’s breadth of expertise, methodology, and experience makes it a place for critical thinking, for challenging students to be curious, inventive, thoughtful, and courageous not only to reach new heights, but remake the very standards of success.