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

Carnegie Mellon University • Pittsburgh, PA

12d

About The Position

The School of Art at Carnegie Mellon University seeks a full-time, tenure-track Assistant Professor of Art in its Sculpture, Installation, and Site Work (SIS) area. The successful candidate will be an artist and educator with an active creative practice and a deeply engaged relationship to physical making, material invention, and the development of new forms and processes. The role calls for a generous, enthusiastic teacher who can make physical making compelling to students across a range of backgrounds and studio practices.

The faculty member will teach foundational fabrication skills—including woodworking, mold-making, and metalworking—safely and confidently, while helping students develop experimental, self-directed approaches to materials, tools, and processes. The position connects foundational and emerging fabrication modes, especially hand, shop, and digital fabrication. The successful candidate will be an active presence in studios and shops, making alongside students, faculty, and technicians; modeling rigorous and safe work practices; and helping foster a friendly, generative, collaborative culture. They will also help steward shared fabrication environments and collaboratively lead the SIS area, its facilities, practices, and curriculum.

Carnegie Mellon’s School of Art combines studio practice and critical inquiry within a research university known for experimentation across design, architecture, engineering, robotics, computation, and the arts. The position offers opportunities to develop relationships between material practices and the wider cultures of making and research at Carnegie Mellon and in Pittsburgh, including through potential collaborations with the Frank-Ratchye STUDIO for Creative Inquiry, the Center for Arts in Society, the IDeATe Network, and CMU’s TechSpark Makerspace.

The faculty member will teach two courses per semester, typically including a foundation course and an advanced special topics course reflecting their expertise. They will participate in graduate critiques and advising, contribute to School governance and committee work, and help shape the School’s pedagogical development. A private studio and full access to the School of Art’s fabrication and technology facilities will be provided. Candidates should maintain an active creative practice with a growing record of public or professional accomplishment appropriate to their work; conventional exhibition venues are not considered the sole measure of artistic vitality.

Requirements

• An advanced degree or equivalent experience.
• An active creative practice with a growing record of public or professional accomplishment appropriate to the nature of the work.
• Ability to teach foundational fabrication skills, including woodworking, mold-making, and metalworking, safely and confidently.
• Technical competence, ingenuity, and curiosity, with a demonstrated ability to teach students to make ambitious work across a range of tools, materials, and processes.
• Capacity to connect hand, shop, and digital fabrication practices.
• Ability to support experimental, self-directed student approaches to materials, tools, and processes.

Nice To Haves

• Experience teaching at the college or university level is strongly preferred.
• Applicants with prior teaching experience are strongly encouraged to include examples of students’ work or other documentation that demonstrates their teaching.

Responsibilities

• Teach two courses per semester, typically including a foundation course and an advanced special topics course reflecting the candidate’s expertise.
• Teach foundational fabrication skills, including woodworking, mold-making, and metalworking, confidently and safely.
• Help students develop experimental, self-directed approaches to materials, tools, and processes across foundational and emerging fabrication modes.
• Be an active presence in studios and shops, making alongside students, faculty, and technicians.
• Model rigorous and safe working practices and contribute to a friendly, generative, collaborative culture of making.
• Help steward and develop shared fabrication environments.
• Collaboratively lead the SIS area, including its facilities, practices, and curriculum.
• Participate in graduate critiques and advising.
• Contribute to School governance and committee work.
• Help shape the continuing pedagogical development of the School.
• Maintain an active creative practice with a growing record of public or professional accomplishment appropriate to the nature of the work.

Benefits

• A private studio and full access to the School of Art’s fabrication and technology facilities are provided.
• Carnegie Mellon University offers competitive employee benefits.

What This Job Offers

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