"Assistant or Associate Professor, Graphic Design"

Position Description

The Department of Graphic Design invites applications for Assistant or Associate Professor (critical-review track) of Graphic Design with an appointment to begin fall of 2026. Rank commensurate with 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.

We are looking for a designer, educator, and maker whose practice bridges analog and digital forms, and who can teach across our core curriculum at both undergraduate and graduate levels. The ideal candidate will bring a strong foundation in typography, visual systems, and critical making, with agility in contemporary digital tools, technologies, and emerging practices. We seek someone whose work demonstrates both formal rigor and conceptual depth, and who engages design as a cultural, ethical, and social practice.

Candidates should have a sustained professional and/or research practice, a record of teaching excellence, and a demonstrated commitment to inclusive pedagogies. We are particularly interested in educators who can contribute to collaborative curricular evolution, participating in upcoming departmental reviews, future graduate program development, and new curricular initiatives, as well as candidates with experience or interest in academic leadership. The successful candidate will join a collaborative faculty dedicated to expanding the field of design through critical, experimental, and socially engaged approaches and preparing students for intentional professional practice.

Required Qualifications

• Terminal degree in a graphic design discipline or equivalent combination of applicable academic, professional, and community-based experience in graphic design, visual communication, or closely and demonstrably related field;
• Demonstrated commitment to fostering equitable learning environments where a diverse student body can thrive, using inclusive, culturally responsive, and universal design pedagogies to support critical engagement with design.
• A minimum of 3 years of full-time teaching experience or 12 semesters part-time experience teaching at the college-level;
• A demonstrated ability to teach across the core curriculum at both undergraduate and graduate levels.
• An active, sustained practice in graphic design;
• A strong commitment to rethinking and expanding traditional design practices, with an emphasis on fostering more equitable, accessible, and culturally expansive future in art and design;
• Knowledge, experience, and a sustained engagement with design tools and processes, with critical perspectives around making, and designing for both digital and material outcomes.

Preferred Qualifications

• Demonstrated professional engagement beyond the classroom, with contributions to the field and a network of relationships;
• Experience with curricular development;
• Experience in, or demonstrated potential for academic leadership.

RISD/Department Description

RISD Graphic Design pushes on the boundaries of the discipline. Our department encompasses the BFA and MFA programs, where students are supported and encouraged by our faculty to learn, expand and challenge the field in a studio-based culture. With 12 full-time faculty and 25 part-time faculty, the RISD Graphic Design offers 110 classes a year for approximately 180 BFA candidates, 40 MFA candidates, and a small number of non-major and Brown University students. For more information about RISD Graphic Design, please visit https://risd.gd/.

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.

Faculty Responsibilities

The full-time faculty teaching load is five teaching units a year, which in most departments correlates to teaching five courses per 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.

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 and responsibilities listed above
2. Curriculum vitae
3. A teaching philosophy that articulates your approach to inclusive pedagogy and provides examples of how you have put it into practice.
4. Three syllabi that demonstrate an inclusive approach to teaching Design and show your range of teaching experience.
5. Portfolio of recent professional work (20 images maximum, in one PDF): Please include brief captions or descriptions of your work. The portfolio may link to URLs of interactive and motion work.
6. Examples of student work (20 images maximum, in one PDF). Please include brief captions or descriptions of your students’ work. The portfolio may link to URLs of interactive and motion 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.