"Assistant or Associate Professor, Experimental and Foundation Studies"

Posting Details

Position Information

Title Assistant or Associate Professor, Experimental and Foundation Studies Department Division of Experimental + Foundation Studies Division Experimental + Foundation Studies Employment Type Full-Time Critical Review Track (similar to tenure track) Yes

Position Description

The Rhode Island School of Design, Experimental and Foundation Studies Division invites applications for a critical-review track Assistant or Associate Professor position with an appointment to begin fall of 2026. Rank will be dependent on professional status and teaching experience.

RISD recognizes principles of social equity, inclusion, and diversity as fundamental to its mission as an art and design school. These principles require sustained attention to a multiplicity of differences and call for an expansion of the forms of knowledge that shape our curricula and pedagogy. RISD is committed to the collective work of institutional transformation and values applicants whose teaching, pedagogical and professional experiences have prepared them to foster and sustain equitable learning environments. We especially welcome faculty whose pedagogy engages diverse perspectives, expands forms of knowledge, and helps foster a culture of belonging where all students, staff, and faculty can thrive.

The Division of Experimental and Foundation Studies invites applications for faculty positions in design courses for first year students. Artists and designers enthusiastic about teaching first-year students who will go on to major in one of eighteen design, architecture, and fine arts programs at RISD are encouraged to apply.

EFS faculty approaches to teaching design courses (and other first-year studios) have broadened in recent years, yet the program remains grounded in the study and critical exploration of form, composition, and perception, with a focus on two-dimensional work. The successful candidate should demonstrate a deep understanding of design as both a material and conceptual practice, and an ability to engage with diverse histories, philosophies, and cultural perspectives that shape visual organization, spatial relations, and color. Candidates should approach design as a means of investigating visual and spatial phenomena, fostering critical and philosophical thinking, and situating artistic practice within its broader social and cultural contexts. Design is approached as a dynamic mode of inquiry, speculation, and reflection that connects formal experimentation with critical engagement and creative research across disciplines.

We seek candidates whose knowledge, creative practice, and/or teaching center on a range of disciplines, materials and approaches to design across a range of media including, but not limited, to photography, animation, painting, printmaking, graphic design, sound, biomaterials, interdisciplinary practices, computation and technology including artificial intelligence. Candidates should have a distinctive vision and pedagogical approach and be prepared to teach Design as an innovative practice. Fostering inclusive learning environments grounded in universal design principles is central to this role, ensuring that teaching supports accessibility and engages diverse learning styles.

Candidates should have an original professional practice. The Division welcomes designers and artists from a range of practices whose primary mode of work includes innovative physical making. Faculty are encouraged to integrate both emerging technologies and analog processes in their teaching, supporting students in developing critical, accessible, and sustainable approaches to materials and making.

Candidates should demonstrate the ability to teach and engage effectively with a diverse student population, including but not limited to international students, students from racially, ethnically, and culturally diverse backgrounds, LGBTQIA+ students, first-generation college students, and students with disabilities and neurodiverse identities. Applicants should be prepared to design syllabi and lead classes and critiques that foster inclusive and respectful dialogue, supporting students’ creative and intellectual growth. A commitment to creativity in both professional practice and teaching is essential.

Required Qualifications

• Masters degree in a field relevant to teaching art and design, or commensurate professional experience.
• At least three years of teaching at the college level as an instructor of record.
• Demonstrated commitment to fostering equitable learning environments where a diverse student body can thrive, using inclusive, culturally responsive, and accessible pedagogies to support critical engagement with design.
• A record of creative practice and dissemination of work as appropriate to the field.
• Demonstrated knowledge of digital and analog technologies relevant to the teaching of design.
• Demonstrated experience working with and/or teaching a range of traditional materials.

Preferred Qualifications

• Demonstrated experience teaching first-year students or working with beginning students in a similar capacity is strongly preferred.

RISD/ Department Description

RISD is a nonprofit college and museum of art and design founded in 1877 in the city of Providence, RI. Today 2,606 students from 62 countries engage in more than 40 full-time bachelor’s and master’s degree programs, supported by a committed faculty and worldwide network of more than 33,000 alumni.

By cultivating expansive and elastic thinking, RISD equips artists, designers and scholars to generate and challenge the ideas that shape our world.

RISD has a critical review process, which is very similar to the tenure process at other institutions. 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.

Design is one of three programs (Spatial Dynamics, Drawing, and Design) comprising the studio curriculum for all first-year undergraduate students at RISD. Each studio class meets one full day a week, in sections of approximately 20 students, with section groups preserved across programs. EFS Studio Design courses explore the scope, influence, and methodologies inherent in all visual communication. Students analyze and dismantle pre-existing assumptions and intentions. Material explorations and the discovery of processes and techniques allow students to develop projects that reflect their interests, ambitions, and lived experiences. Faculty do not teach from a fixed curriculum, but rather towards a collective inquiry of Design from individual perspectives.

Faculty Responsibilities

The full-time faculty teaching load is three to four courses each academic year for EFS faculty, for a total of 10 courses every 3 years. 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.

Union

Yes

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 for the responsibilities and expectations listed above
2. Curriculum vitae
3. A 1-2 page teaching philosophy that describes your approach to inclusive pedagogy and provides examples of how you have put it into practice.
4. One syllabus that demonstrates an inclusive approach to teaching studio work
5. Creative Work/Professional Work/Scholarship
   Please provide a professional portfolio of no more than 20 images formatted into a single Adobe PDF. Image file size should be consistent: medium to high resolution is recommended (at least 1024 pixels wide). Video/audio: If you would like to include sound or video media, upload media to a sharing platform that allows content to be viewed using a web link. Please copy that link into your PDF, providing contextual information as appropriate. Video/audio files of any length can be submitted, but it may be beneficial to edit/limit submissions to 5 minutes unless there is a compelling reason to go beyond that limit.
6. Examples of student work
   Please provide a student work portfolio of no more than 20 images formatted into a single Adobe PDF. See directions above for including time-based work.

Applications may not be edited once they are certified and submitted.

Only materials that have been requested will be considered.

Names and contact information for three references are requested as part of the application process at the finalist stage.

Review of applications begins immediately and continues until the position is filled. Candidates who submit their materials by January 5, 2026 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.

Posting Detail Information

Posting Number F00121P Open Until Filled Yes

Documents Needed To Apply

Required Documents

1. Cover Letter
2. Curriculum Vitae
3. Portfolio of Professional Work
4. Supplemental Portfolio
5. Teaching Philosophy
6. Sample Syllabi