"Director of Bands"

Job Description

University of Puget Sound

Director of Bands
Job ID: 8518
Location: School of Music

Faculty Posting Details

Appointment:
Tenure-Track Director of Bands/Assistant Professor of Music to begin Fall 2026.

The School of Music at the University of Puget Sound seeks a Director of Bands to join our faculty of dedicated teachers, vibrant performers, and forward-thinking scholars. As we build on our strengths while continuing to explore innovative and inclusive approaches to music study, we eagerly anticipate welcoming an effective, imaginative, collaborative artist-pedagogue into our community.

Responsibilities:

• Direct the Wind Ensemble and Concert Band
• Teach instrumental conducting and instrumental methods and literature
• Teaching of other courses or studio teaching according to secondary areas of expertise
• Provide leadership and oversight for the winds and percussion area, including jazz orchestra and pep band
• Recruit students and coordinate recruitment efforts in winds and percussion
• Other duties include continuation of professional development, maintaining a public profile as an artist, advising students, and participation in departmental and university governance

Qualifications:

1. Doctorate in Music (ABD considered), record of experience and excellence as a band conductor, and a commitment to undergraduate teaching and liberal arts education
2. Minimum three years of secondary teaching experience
3. Commitment to culturally responsive teaching, diversity and inclusion, and community engagement

Preferred Qualifications

1. Demonstrated success as a conductor and educator
2. Demonstrated success in recruiting and relationship building
3. Open-minded, versatile musicianship that enables an expansive and inclusive approach to pedagogy and performance
4. Dedication to expansive, innovative, inclusive approaches to music study
5. Energizing and persuasive advocacy for the value of music, both in society and in a liberal arts college environment

About Puget Sound's School of Music:

The University of Puget Sound School of Music is a comprehensive program within a leading national liberal arts and sciences university, offering the Bachelor of Music in Performance, Bachelor of Music in Music Education, Bachelor of Arts in Music, Bachelor of Music with an Emphasis in Songwriting, and Master of Arts in Teaching. The School of Music is accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music. It hosts three choral ensembles, four instrumental ensembles including a jazz orchestra, an opera theater, and chamber music groups in strings, woodwinds, brass, and percussion. Nearly 10% of the student body participates in music ensembles, with students from across all disciplines performing alongside nearly one hundred music majors and minors. These ensembles, along with recitals by students and faculty, contribute richly to more than one hundred performances per year. The successful candidate will join a faculty of nine tenure-line colleagues and an artist-in-residence who are poised for partnership in moving the School forward in educating musicians for the future. These full-time faculty work alongside some 25 affiliate faculty and five professional staff, as well as a robust Community Music program.

The School of Music provides intensive education for student musicians, as well as impactful musical opportunities for the entire campus and surrounding region. We actively recruit highly engaged artist-scholars to the University of Puget Sound, and retain them to graduation through meaningful faculty-student interactions and membership in a vibrant musical community. Through transformative performance experiences, intellectual inquiry, and production of public-facing events, the School of Music prepares liberal arts students to be broad-minded, creative, arts-aware social leaders for our community and beyond.

Application Deadline:

Review of applications begins January 5, 2026.

Compensation and Benefits:

Rank: Assistant Professor

Salary is commensurate with education and experience.

Faculty salaries at the University of Puget Sound are based on a common salary scale based on experience. Assistant Professor salaries in 2025-2026 begin at $73,904 for an assistant professor without a terminal degree in their first year of full-time post-doctorate teaching through $83,262 annualized based on experience.

Puget Sound offers a generous benefits package. For more information, visit: https://www.pugetsound.edu/sites/default/files/2025-01/Summary%20of%202025%20Benefits%20for%20Faculty%20Members.pdf

Puget Sound has a well-established Shared Faculty Appointments Policy, https://www.pugetsound.edu/policies/faculty-policies/shared-faculty-appointments

About Puget Sound:

The University of Puget Sound is located in Tacoma, Washington, a vibrant, diverse mid-sized urban port city. Within, and near, Tacoma there is ready access to urban, rural, and natural areas as well as opportunities to participate in a wide variety of cultural activities.

Puget Sound is a member of the Higher Education Recruitment Consortium (HERC), Greater Washington State https://www.hercjobs.org/greater_washington_state/

University Diversity Statement:

• We acknowledge the richness of commonalities and differences we share as a university community; the intrinsic worth of all who work and study here; that education is enhanced by the investigation of and the reflection upon multiple perspectives.
• We aspire to create respect for and appreciation of all persons as a key characteristic of our campus community; to increase the diversity of all parts of our University community through commitment to diversity in our recruitment and retention efforts; to foster a spirit of openness to active engagement among all members of our campus community.
• We act to achieve an environment that welcomes and supports diversity; to ensure full educational opportunity for all who teach and learn here; to prepare effectively citizen-leaders for a pluralistic world.

Puget Sound is committed to an environment that welcomes and supports diversity. We seek diversity of identity, thought, perspective, and background in our students, faculty, and staff. To learn more please visit: http://www.pugetsound.edu/about/diversity-at-puget-sound/

Required Documents:

Applicants submitted without the required attachments will not be considered.

• Curriculum vitae
• Letter of Interest
• Conducting video(s) of both rehearsal and performance (recorded facing the conductor from within or behind the ensemble within the last 3 years) demonstrating a variety of musical styles. Please provide links to streaming video (s), clearly labeled (15-20 minutes total).
• Statement of teaching philosophy
• Diversity Statement (see prompt below)
• Unofficial transcripts (an official transcript will be required by the successful candidate)
• Contact Information for 3 References. You will be prompted to enter the contact information for three (3) reference providers. The system will automatically email these reference providers to request a letter.

Note: In the online application system, please submit curriculum vitae when prompted to submit resume. Additional documents can be attached within the application.

Applicant's Diversity Statement:

As a department and university, we are strongly committed to creating an inclusive and effective teaching, learning, and working environment for all. In their diversity statement, applicants should reflect on how they will advance the values articulated in the University Diversity Statement in all aspects of their future work as faculty and members of the university community.

All offers of employment are contingent on successful completion of a background inquiry.

The University of Puget Sound is an equal opportunity employer.

How to Apply

For complete job description and application instructions, visit: www.pugetsound.edu/employment

About Puget Sound

Puget Sound is a selective national liberal arts college in Tacoma, Washington, drawing 2,600 students from 48 states and 20 countries. Puget Sound graduates include Rhodes and Fulbright scholars, notables in the arts and culture, entrepreneurs and elected officials, and leaders in business and finance locally and throughout the world. A low student-faculty ratio provides Puget Sound students with personal attention from faculty who have a strong commitment to teaching and offer 1,200 courses each year in more than 40 traditional and interdisciplinary fields, including graduate programs in occupational and physical therapy and in education. Puget Sound is the only nationally ranked independent undergraduate liberal arts college in Western Washington, and one of just five independent colleges in the Pacific Northwest granted a charter by Phi Beta Kappa, the nation’s most prestigious academic honorary society. Visit "About Puget Sound" (http://www.pugetsound.edu/about) to learn more about the college.

As a strategic goal and through our core values, University of Puget Sound is committed to an environment that welcomes and supports diversity. We seek diversity of identity, thought, perspective, and background in our students, faculty, and staff. EOE/AA