Assistant Professor of Art — Sculpture, Installation, and Site Work

Description

Assistant Professor of Art — Sculpture, Installation, and Site Work

The School of Art at Carnegie Mellon University invites applications for a full-time, tenure-track position at the rank of Assistant Professor of Art working within the School’s Sculpture, Installation, and Site Work (SIS) area. We welcome practitioners who think expansively about the field of sculpture, engaging with broader cultures of making and forms of material invention across disciplines and in dialogue with other areas of studio practice within the School of Art.

We seek an artist and educator with a deeply engaged relationship to physical making, who is actively engaged in the investigation and invention of new forms and processes for making and sharing. We are especially interested in candidates who combine aesthetic and conceptual research with technical competence, ingenuity, curiosity, and a demonstrated ability to teach others how to make ambitious things across a range of tools, materials, and processes.

The successful candidate should be a generous and enthusiastic teacher of physical making. They must be able to confidently and safely teach foundational fabrication skills, including woodworking, mold-making, and metalworking. They should also feel confident helping students develop experimental, self-directed approaches to materials, tools, and processes. We seek someone who can move fluently between foundational and emerging modes of fabrication, and in particular, we welcome candidates who can connect hand, shop, and digital fabrication practices. Above all, we are looking for an artist-educator who can make the exciting possibilities of physical making compelling to a broad range of students.

We understand making as a shared culture as well as an individual practice. We are looking for a colleague who will be an active presence in the studios and shops: making alongside students, fellow faculty, and technicians; modeling rigorous and safe working practices; improvising resourcefully; and helping to cultivate a friendly, generative, and collaborative culture. Our ideal candidate should demonstrate the capacity to steward and develop shared fabrication environments, and to collaboratively lead the SIS area, its facilities, practices, and curriculum.

Carnegie Mellon University offers a unique environment for practices across disciplines. The School of Art integrates studio practice and critical inquiry within an R1 research university internationally recognized for experimentation in design, architecture, engineering, robotics, computation, and the arts. The School is one of five schools within the College of Fine Arts, alongside Architecture, Design, Drama, and Music. Sites for potential collaboration include the Frank-Ratchye STUDIO for Creative Inquiry; the Center for Arts in Society; the Integrative Design, Arts, and Technology (IDeATe) Network; and CMU’s TechSpark Makerspace. We see this position as an opportunity not only to participate in the School’s SIS area, but to help invent new relationships between material practices and the wider cultures of making and research at Carnegie Mellon and in Pittsburgh.

This new faculty member will teach two courses per semester, typically including a foundation course and an advanced special topics course reflecting their expertise. They will also participate in graduate critiques and advising, contribute to School governance and committee work, and help shape the continuing pedagogical development of the School. A private studio will be provided, along with full access to the School of Art’s fabrication and technology facilities.

Candidates should maintain an active creative practice with a growing record of public or professional accomplishment appropriate to the nature of their work. We recognize that ambitious creative practices circulate through many contexts, and we do not regard conventional exhibition venues as the sole measure of artistic vitality. An advanced degree or equivalent experience is required. Experience teaching at the college or university level is strongly preferred.

Required Application Materials

Applicants should submit:

• A letter of application describing their creative practice, teaching interests, and interest in the position

• Curriculum vitae

• Documentation of creative work: up to 20 images and/or 10 minutes of time-based work

• A teaching statement or philosophy

• Proposals or syllabi for introductory and advanced-level courses

• Names and contact information for three references; recommendation letters are not required at the initial application stage

• Applicants with prior teaching experience are strongly encouraged to include examples of their students’ work or other documentation that helps us understand their teaching.

Applications received by December 1, 2026 will receive full consideration.

Position and salary are commensurate with experience. Carnegie Mellon University offers competitive employee benefits. Additional program information: art.cmu.edu

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement

Carnegie Mellon University is an equal opportunity employer. It does not discriminate in admission, employment, or administration of its programs or activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, pregnancy or related condition, family status, marital status, parental status, religion, ancestry, veteran status, or genetic information. Furthermore, Carnegie Mellon University does not discriminate and is required not to discriminate in violation of federal, state, or local laws or executive orders.