"Assistant Professor - (Animal Cognition, Primate Cognition, or Animal Welfare) Psychology Department"

The Department of Psychology at Hunter College, City University of New York invites applicants for a tenure-track position at the assistant professor level beginning in Fall 2026. Our department is one of the largest in the college, and we are a collaborative community with a diverse faculty and student body.

We seek a faculty member who will contribute to teaching and mentoring in the Animal Behavior and Conservation (ABC) graduate program (at the master’s level) and will be able to contribute to the psychology major’s undergraduate focus in animal behavior and cognition. Faculty will also have the opportunity to recruit Ph.D. students through the Psychology Program at the CUNY Graduate Center. We welcome applicants with expertise in any area of animal cognition. Applicants with a strong background in primate cognition or animal welfare science are especially encouraged to apply.

QUALIFICATIONS

Applicants must have a Ph.D. in Psychology, Anthropology, Biology, Animal Behavior or a relevant field. We seek candidates who are prepared to contribute to our commitment to engagement and inclusion of diverse students, staff and faculty. Successful candidates will be expected to make significant contributions to scholarship in their area of expertise, have a history of extramural funding, or the potential for procuring such funding. Successful candidates will be expected to engage collaboratively in the Department’s activities, including as primary mentor for students in our growing graduate and undergraduate programs, as well as in the PhD Programs at the CUNY Graduate Center.

Preferred Qualifications:

For this faculty search, we encourage all applicants with both research and teaching experience in any area of animal cognition to apply. We are especially interested in reviewing applications from candidates who study nonhuman primate cognition (e.g., experimental or observational research on topics including but not limited to nonhuman primate tool use, communication, social cognition and/or decision making), or animal welfare (e.g., domesticated – companion or farm – and/or wild animal welfare practice and/or policy). The successful candidate would ideally have experience or an interest in teaching one or more of the following courses: comparative cognition, primate social behavior and cognition, animal welfare and policy, urban wildlife cognition, research methods in animal behavior, ethology, conservation psychology and behavior, or ethics.

COMPENSATION

CUNY offers faculty a competitive compensation and benefits package covering health insurance, pension and retirement benefits, paid parental leave, and savings programs. We also provide mentoring and support for research, scholarship, and publication as part of our commitment to ongoing faculty professional development.