"Interactive Media - Assistant/Associate/Arts Professor"

NYU Abu Dhabi is pioneering a new model of higher education for a global world, dedicated to excellence in teaching and research and to advancing cooperation and progress on humanity’s shared challenges. Drawing on the strengths of the NYU global network, it offers an outstanding liberal arts and sciences education to students from the United Arab Emirates, the United States, and around the world, with a distinctive focus on intercultural understanding and leadership. It supports innovative research and graduate education programs that push forward the frontiers of knowledge and respond in powerful and interdisciplinary ways to vital global and local challenges.

Description

NYU Abu Dhabi is currently inviting applications for a full-time contract faculty position in the Division of Arts and Humanities to teach in the Division and in the Interactive Media program to begin potentially as early as Fall 2026. The position is a renewable appointment based on curricular demand and performance. The Interactive Media program is a Bachelor of Arts major at NYUAD that combines art, interaction design, communications, computer science, engineering, and critique. While the program is formally housed in the University’s Arts and Humanities Division, it is a multidisciplinary major and has broad reach across the University. The mission of the program is to foster the creative use of emerging technologies for research, communication, and expression, while advancing a deep engagement with theoretical frameworks and critical discourse in Interactive Media. The program emphasizes an interdisciplinary approach that connects artistic practice with intellectual inquiry and social responsibility.

Arts Professors are active practitioners and creative and performing artists who have demonstrated expertise, excellence and experience in their particular professional domains and bring these qualifications to bear in their teaching. Arts Professors are expected to conduct research, defined as scholarly, creative and professional activities, and are expected to bring that research to bear in their teaching, and to provide service to NYUAD. Appointees must be experienced or highly knowledgeable in their particular fields and, where relevant, have had experience in curriculum development.

The successful candidate will have an expansive background in scholarship and the arts that prepares them to contribute to the divisions’ research initiative and propose a wide variety of courses to students in our established liberal arts undergraduate programs and Masters of Fine Arts, and upcoming “Global Crossroads” MA and Ph.D. programs.

Applicants should hold the required terminal degrees, such as MFAs and Ph.Ds or those who have demonstrated a high-level creative output across theory/practice divides.

The candidate should be able to teach about recent and impending development in artificial intelligence as it relates to the arts and humanities. They should have demonstrated abilities to teach across the arts and humanities and develop transdisciplinary research teams.

We are looking for a faculty member who:

• Possesses an understanding of the aesthetic, cultural, social, political, critical, and ethical implications of interactive media and emerging technologies, and fosters an awareness of how these technologies shape and are shaped by societal contexts through historic and contemporary perspectives.
• Can engage students in developing a conceptual foundation for interactive media, integrating critical texts, reflective analysis, and creative practices that combine theoretical understanding with hands-on experimentation.
• Can engage students with a wide range of artists, scholars and practitioners whose work has shaped the field of interactive media fostering a nuanced understanding of its evolution and future directions
• Can support students in cultivating a critical vocabulary to articulate and analyze interactive media concepts, theories and projects, both in writing and discussion.
• Can engage students in creative practice, storytelling through various forms of media, designing rich user experiences, and exploring new modes of human-computer interactions.
• Has demonstrated experience in exhibiting works and/or presenting at festivals and conferences, with the ability to teach and support students in developing and showcasing their own work in similar professional contexts.

The Interactive Media program is integrated into the NYUAD liberal arts experience and is interested in faculty who consider teaching an extension of their research. Inherent to the program’s values is an agility with regard to interactive media and its rapid evolution, and thus we welcome faculty who will contribute to the development of the curriculum, specifically in the area of AI.

Applicants who can teach the following are encouraged to apply:

• Theoretical courses that explore concepts, questions, and components that encompass interactive media as it relates to creative expression and critical engagement.
• Foundation courses that survey various technologies including web development, sound, 2D and 3D design, XR, digital imaging, video, effects and animation, and digital fabrication.
• Intermediate and advanced electives within the program’s three electives’ clusters: Media and Design Thinking, Computational Media, and Physical Computing
• Senior capstone seminar and senior capstone project work

Across the program, Interactive Media faculty focus on experimentation and production both inside and outside of the classroom. Our approach to learning relies more on collaboration rather than competition so as to cultivate an accessible environment in which playful exploration, critical analysis, risk-taking, and failure can freely occur. While our foundation classes emphasize reading and writing, they are run in a workshop-like environment facilitating active learning and encouraging discussion of concept, content, technique and impact. Engaging with students beyond class time in the program's lab space through project assistance, personal direction, and community activities is key.

Qualifications

Applicants should hold the required terminal degrees, such as MFAs and Ph.Ds or those who have demonstrated a high-level creative output across theory/practice divides.

Good interpersonal skills to collaborate with colleagues and actively interact with students in a multicultural education setting are highly desirable. Connection or experience with the region is also a plus.

Application Instructions

Interested applicants should submit a

• Cover letter
• Curriculum vitae
• A statement of teaching philosophy
• Evidence of teaching effectiveness
• Two syllabus for courses you would be inclined to teach
• Work samples that best represent areas of expertise outlined in the Cover Letter. Samples may include recordings, videos, published materials, interactive projects etc. Please provide a URL with brief documentation for each creative submission.
• Three contact references

Applications will be accepted until the position is filled and will be reviewed on a rolling basis, with as a priority deadline. Due to the high volume of applications, only those selected for an interview will be contacted. Hiring for this position is subject to final budgetary approval.

NYUAD is an equal-opportunity employer committed to building a diverse workforce. We strongly encourage applications from all qualified candidates and seek individuals who will contribute to the excellence and vibrancy of our academic community.