Position Description

Texas State University seeks applications for an endowed chair at the rank of Professor to conduct research on any aspect of water. Texas State University is a leader in water research with strengths in policy, resource management, conservation, and sustainability. Texas State is also home to the Meadows Center for Water and the Environment, located on Spring Lake and the San Marcos River runs right through campus.

Texas State University hosted a town hall on October 7 to discuss areas of impact for hiring in water research and to bring together the dynamic water research community, which includes more than seventy-five researchers in a range of departments and schools including Physics, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Agricultural Sciences, Biology, Geography and Environmental Studies, Family and Consumer Sciences, Health and Human Performance, English, History, and Philosophy and Religion.

Texas State University receives a full share of the Texas University Fund (TUF) and plans to invest funds in recruitment and substantial start-up support for strategic hires with established research programs and active external funding in historic and emerging areas of research strength, including water.

We seek to hire dynamic and innovative scholars with an exceptionally strong research record supported by external funding. An applicant’s scholarly focus should complement and enhance the water scholarship and teaching strengths of Texas State, such as:

• Conservation and Sustainable Water Use: Using scientific, technological, and/or policy-based methods to steward water resources.
• Civil Engineering and Water Infrastructure: Building, upgrading and maintaining drinking water, wastewater, stormwater and other water infrastructure.
• Water Purification and Treatment: Examining contaminants, treating pollution, and creating reusable water from wastewater through a variety of methods.
• Aquatic Ecosystem Research: Addressing threatened or endangered species, ecological health, and sustainability within aquatic habitats.
• Data Science: Representing, analyzing, and combining complex data sets in a variety of formats in relation to water research.
• Policy, Society, and Public Engagement: Addressing the political, economic, and social dimensions of water resources and cultivating an understanding of water’s role in society, history and governance.
• Archaeology and Environmental History: Examining histories of water use and the relationship between people and aquatic environments across time.
• Art and Storytelling: Creating and analyzing art that is inspired by and speaks to water and aquatic life.

Responsibilities

• Seek external funding and coordinate interdisciplinary grants with both internal and external collaborators.
• Conduct and publish original research on water.
• Lead interdisciplinary collaboration with faculty across the university.
• Develop and maintain an active research agenda.
• Teach undergraduate and graduate courses on water and related subjects.
• Mentor and advise students.
• Contribute to the development of the water curriculum.
• Participate in service activities at the department, college, and university levels.

The successful candidate will join the department(s) appropriate to their area of scholarly focus. The successful candidate will be expected to bring a research group supported by existing external grants and have the opportunity to negotiate additional hires in related areas to support their research.

Required Qualifications

• Ph.D. or terminal degree.
• Evidence of a scholarly focus and sustained record of research excellence on water.
• Evidence of sustained record of excellence in teaching and mentoring students.
• Evidence of a sustained record of obtaining external funding.

Preferred Qualifications

• Evidence of activity in organizing conferences and sessions on water.
• Experience in teaching and mentoring both undergraduate and graduate students.
• Experience supporting experiential learning for undergraduate and graduate students.
• Strong commitment to interdisciplinary collaboration.
• Evidence of community engagement for scholarship and teaching.