"Resident Assistant Professor"

Job Details

About Occidental College

Founded in 1887, Occidental is a nationally recognized, private college of the liberal arts and sciences, dedicated to providing a gifted and diverse group of students with a total educational experience of the highest quality -- one that prepares them for leadership in an increasingly complex, interdependent and pluralistic world.

What makes Occidental special? An intellectually rigorous academic environment. Small classroom settings where students collaborate with professors and their peers while pursuing or discovering their passion. A beautiful residential campus that offers students hands-on engagement with the cultural and intellectual resources of Los Angeles. A community open to stimulating conversation and divergent points of view. Some 2,100 students from 46 states and 28 countries choose from 41 majors and minors and participate in one the country’s top undergraduate research programs. Oxy students routinely win top awards and fellowships; its first Rhodes Scholar was named in 1907. Dedicated to excellence and equity, Occidental also is one of the country’s most economically diverse campuses, according to the New York Times. Some 71 percent of Oxy students receive some form of financial aid; 20 percent are Pell Grant recipients; and 19 percent are the first in their family to attend college.

RESIDENT ASSISTANT PROFESSOR

_Department of Computer Science_

_POSITION SUMMARY

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Occidental College seeks a full-time, non-tenure-track Resident Assistant Professor, with a 3+3 teaching load. The Resident will be primarily housed in the Computer Science department, and they will teach required courses in the department that rotate among the permanent faculty in the department (such as COMP 131, COMP 149, COMP 229, COMP 239), as well as upper-level COMP electives, such as a practicum course where students build working software/products for community partners.

Additionally, the Resident will report to the Dean's Office for responsibilities around our college-wide entrepreneurship program. When necessary, course equivalencies will be dedicated to developing and sustaining academic programming around entrepreneurship. This might involve supporting coursework in entrepreneurship through mechanisms such as a regular semester course, January-term course, or summer course. In addition, this position will serve as the faculty advisor for the Oxypreneurship student club. During the first year of appointment, the workload will also include developing a vision for entrepreneurship at Oxy in partnership with the Dean’s Office, the President’s Office, and Institutional Advancement.

Finally, the Resident will serve as an advisor and mentor, supporting students in their course selection and academic careers.

In their first year, they will teach the following courses:

• COMP 239, Computer Organization (one section each semester, plus labs). This course serves as an introduction to low-level systems, including CPU and GPU design, memory hierarchies, assembly language, binary representations of numbers and data, etc. The course will be adapted from the Nand to Tetris syllabus. The official course description can be found in the course catalog: https://oxy.smartcatalogiq.com/en/2024-2025/catalog/course-descriptions/comp-computer-science/200/comp-239
• An upper-level elective of their choice; a list of our courses can be found at https://oxy.smartcatalogiq.com/en/2024-2025/catalog/course-descriptions/comp-computer-science/

Future courses will be assigned in consultation with the department.

_QUALIFICATIONS

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Required Qualifications

• Either:
• A PhD by the start date of 8/15/2025, with teaching and/or research experience that involves computation; or
• Substantial experience (at least 10 years) in industry doing computing-related work
• A track record of excellent computer science teaching or mentorship, ideally in an undergraduate liberal arts setting
• Interest and commitment to increasing access to and success in computer science for a diverse group of students, including those from minoritized and marginalized social groups
• Interest in, and ideally experience in, tech and social entrepreneurship

_SALARY RANGE

EXPECTED SALARY RANGE (nine-month appointment): $85,000.00 to $120,000.00

If you are offered this position at Occidental College, your final base salary compensation will be determined based on factors such as skills, education, experience, and/or geographic location. In addition to those factors, Occidental complies with applicable pay equity laws and considers internal equity among current employees when developing the final offer. Please keep in mind that the range mentioned above is the base salary range for the role. Hiring at the maximum of the range would not be typical in order to allow for future and continued salary growth.

_APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS

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To be assured full consideration, your application materials must be received by midnight Eastern time (9:00 pm Pacific time) on June 29, 2025 to Interfolio (https://apply.interfolio.com/168557).

A complete application includes both of the following:

• Cover Letter (max 5 pages single-spaced) in which you describe:
• your education, experience, and/or skills that are relevant to the Required and Preferred Qualifications listed above
• your teaching philosophy, preferred pedagogical practices, and prior experiences in teaching and mentoring
• your past contributions to and future aspirations for creating equitable and inclusive opportunities for undergraduate students in computer science
• your experience in and vision for entrepreneurship, especially in an undergraduate setting
• Curriculum Vitae

Any questions about the position should be addressed to Prof. Justin Li at justinnhli@oxy.edu.

_THE DEPARTMENT AND COLLEGE

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Occidental College serves a diverse body of students, a diversity which is reflected in the demographics of the computer science major and the enrollment in our courses. Many of our students have interests extending outside CS, and we especially welcome applicants who can connect CS to other fields or non-academic applications, or who work in CS-adjacent fields. The department is committed to ethics and equity in CS, and has worked with students to create a Statement of Values (https://www.oxy.edu/academics/areas-study/computer-science/computer-science-department-statement-values) and invest in the cultural competence of the community. We work with various offices of the College to support our faculty, including for teaching through our Center for Teaching Excellence, for research through our Center for Research and Scholarship, and for community work through our Center for Community-Based Learning.

Occidental College is a nationally-ranked small liberal arts institution situated in Los Angeles. Occidental is located in the culturally-rich neighborhoods of Eagle Rock and Highland Park, near Caltech, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the Natural History Museum, and other major research institutions. The College is committed to academic excellence in a diverse community and supporting interdisciplinary and multicultural academic programs that provide a gifted and diverse group of students with an educational experience that prepares them for leadership in a pluralistic world. We therefore strongly encourage applications from candidates who will further Occidental's mission of excellence and equity in their teaching, scholarship, and/or service.

_ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

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This position is included in the NonTenure Track Bargaining Unit, and the successful applicant employee, subject to the terms of the College’s Collective Bargaining will be a bargaining unit Agreement with SEIU Local 721.

Occidental is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not unlawfully discriminate against employees or applicants on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, breastfeeding or related medical condition, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, age, marital status, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, genetic characteristic or information, military and veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by state or federal law. Occidental is strongly committed to increasing the diversity of the campus community and the curriculum, and to fostering an inclusive, equitable, and just environment within which students, staff, administrators, and faculty thrive. Candidates who can contribute to this goal through their work are encouraged to identify their strengths and experiences in this area. Individuals advancing the College’s strategic equity and justice goals and those from groups that are underrepresented in the field are particularly encouraged to apply.

Salary is commensurate with experience and qualifications. A comprehensive benefits package is available that includes: excellent health, dental, life, and retirement benefits; tuition benefits for the employee, spouse, domestic partner, and dependents; additional extras including use of gym facilities and the College Library. For a detailed description of benefits, please visit https://www.oxy.edu/offices-services/humanresources/benefits-information.

All qualified applicants will be considered for employment, including those with criminal histories, in a manner consistent with the requirements of applicable state and local laws, including the City of Los Angeles’ Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance.

Occidental College is committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodations to applicants with qualifying disabilities. If you need a reasonable accommodation because of a disability for any part of the application or employment process, please contact Human Resources (hr@oxy.edu).

As a condition of hire for a staff position and for appointment to a faculty position, Occidental College requires that all candidates who have received a conditional offer of employment complete an application form (if they have not already done so) and consent to a background check. Satisfactory completion of a background check, along with pre-employment verifications and references are required as a condition of employment, but only as permitted by federal, state, and local law, including the City of Los Angeles Fair Chance Initiative for Hiring Ordinance.