Assistant Professor, Interior Design

San José State University • San Jose, CA

1d • $90,000 - $94,000 • Onsite

About The Position

San José State University invites applications for a tenure-track Assistant Professor position in Interior Design, beginning in Fall 2027. This is an academic-year appointment. We seek a designer, educator, and researcher whose work bridges professional practice and academic inquiry, and who can teach in the undergraduate interior design curriculum, including foundation studios, space planning, materials and construction, digital and computational tools, and advanced electives aligned with the candidate's expertise and research. The ideal candidate brings professional practice experience in interior design alongside academic teaching experience, and demonstrates fluency with the emerging technologies shaping the discipline. We are particularly interested in candidates whose research or creative practice advances interior design through emerging technologies, whether through digital fabrication, computational and parametric design, responsive or smart materials, immersive visualization, AI, or related areas of inquiry. The ideal candidate demonstrates rigor in their scholarly and creative research, and will contribute new knowledge through creative practice, design research, scholarship, or public engagement. The department recognizes multiple forms of scholarly and creative activity, including peer-reviewed publications, exhibitions, built work, funded research, public scholarship, and other contributions that advance the discipline. The Department of Design is centered on design research, creative and emerging technologies, and interdisciplinary collaboration. We seek faculty who use technology in adaptive, inclusive, poetic, collaborative, agentic, and experimental ways while advancing socially responsible design practices. The department offers four professional degrees and is organized around five discipline groups: Interior Design, Industrial Design, Interaction Design, Graphic Design, and Animation. The interior design program at SJSU offers two four-year degrees: a BA of Design Studies with a focus in interior design and a professional BFA in Interior Design, both of which are NASAD-accredited and ranked highly in California and in the US. Our faculty includes designers, architects, artists, and historians committed to excellence and collaboration across the department, college, university, Silicon Valley, and beyond. Prospective faculty will have opportunities to engage with the Advanced Institute for Ethical Technologies (AI-ET), which advances interdisciplinary and community-centered dialogue about responsible technology, and the Digital Humanities Center, a collaborative hub for digitally informed research, teaching, and public engagement. The Department of Design and San José State University value inclusive excellence and are committed to advancing equity through research, teaching, and service. We enroll over 40,000 students, many of whom are historically underserved; approximately 45% of our undergraduate students are first-generation college students and 38% are Pell Grant recipients. In addition, we are both a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) and an Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institution (AANAPISI). SJSU aspires to create holistic learning environments that facilitate inclusive, empowering spaces for mutual learning, skill-building, and knowledge exchange. We welcome candidates whose creative practice generates new knowledge through research, scholarship, or public engagement. We invite all applicants to include a Statement of Inclusive Excellence (or incorporate it into your cover letter) to share how your lived and professional experiences will contribute to the SJSU community, particularly in relation to student success and inclusive education.

Requirements

• A terminal degree (MFA or MIA in Interior Design, MDes, MArch, or PhD) in interior design, architecture or a closely and demonstrably related field. The degree must be completed before the targeted start date.
• Evidence of successful teaching at the undergraduate college level.
• An active program of creative practice, interior design research, scholarship, or a combination thereof, with a demonstrated research or practice focus on emerging technologies and fabrication in the discipline.
• Demonstrated engagement with contemporary interior design methods, tools, and modes of practice across digital and material media, including critical approaches to design making.
• Applicants must demonstrate an awareness of and sensitivity to the educational goals of a socially and economically diverse student population as might have been gained in cross-cultural study, training, teaching, and other comparable experiences.

Nice To Haves

• Ability to teach across the curriculum, from foundational design and visualization courses through technical design specialization courses and advanced design studios.
• Professional visibility through built work, exhibitions, publications, commissions, presentations, professional organizations, or other contributions to the discipline.
• Research or creative practice specifically engaging emerging technologies, such as digital fabrication, computational or parametric design, immersive (AR/VR/XR) visualization, robotics, AI, or responsive and smart materials.
• Engagement with evolving design practices that advance accessibility, equity, and broader cultural perspectives.
• Track record of success, or demonstrated potential for success, conducting research or creative activity relevant to the position that results in recognition (e.g., projects that have been published, exhibited, built, commissioned, implemented, recognized through awards, or otherwise disseminated within the discipline).

Responsibilities

• Teach undergraduate students across the interior design curriculum, including foundation studios, space planning and architectural studios, materials and construction, design electives aligned with their expertise and research, and advanced design studios.
• Develop and sustain an active program of research and/or creative practice appropriate for a tenure-track appointment, with an emphasis on emerging technologies and digital fabrication in interior design.
• Mentor, advise, and guide undergraduate students in two interior design degree programs, in portfolio review for the accredited professional degree, and on their professional career paths.
• Support the interior design program as an integral faculty member by engaging in preservation, administration, and development of program faculty, logistics, spaces, assets, and facilities.
• Participate in shared governance and development through service at the level of the program, department, college, university, and the profession.
• Contribute to an inclusive learning environment, in age, abilities, cultural background, ethnicity, religion, economic background, primary language, sexual orientation, gender identity, and academic preparation, through inclusive course materials, teaching strategies, and advising.

Benefits

• Commensurate with qualifications, experience, and rank as established by the CSU Salary Schedule
• Anticipated hiring academic year annual salary range: $90,000-$94,000, depending on qualifications.
• Faculty employee benefits are very competitive for the higher education sector. See the CSU Employee Benefits Summary for details about the CSU’s excellent benefits package.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level