Professor of Practice in Data

Tulane•New Orleans, LA

About The Position

The Connolly Alexander Institute for Data Science (CAIDS) at Tulane University seeks a Professor of Practice in Data to teach introductory and multidisciplinary courses in data literacy, data visualization, presentation, management, and/or analysis. CAIDS promotes, teaches, and supports data literacy and data science for students, faculty, and the broader community through courses, workshops, events, student internships, seed grants, statistical consulting, and support for interdisciplinary research groups. This is a full-time, non-tenure-track position eligible for promotion to Senior Professor of Practice. The initial appointment is renewed every three years and later for periods of up to five or seven years. Renewal is based on evaluation of teaching, service, and research. Professors of Practice may be considered for promotion to Senior Professor of Practice after at least three years. The position carries a 2/2 teaching load (two courses per semester) to accommodate service work. The Professor of Practice will teach DATA 1010: Introduction to Data and DATA 2030: Data Visualization, as well as at least one multidisciplinary undergraduate course in their area of interest or expertise. CAIDS is particularly interested in candidates who can add courses to the existing curriculum, including topics such as non-standard data types, survey and polling design and analysis, biostatistics, bioinformatics, clinical trial or experimental data, and courses that could fit into the AI Literacy Minor. CAIDS courses draw on multidisciplinary perspectives and are generally open to students of all backgrounds and abilities without prerequisites. Alongside teaching, the Professor of Practice will develop and facilitate CAIDS programs and services that increase faculty and student participation in data-related research while supporting the institute’s inclusive mission. Service may include coordinating internships and research-assistant programs, facilitating grant applications, providing consulting, organizing research programming, supporting interdisciplinary research groups, and contributing to data visualization co-curricular activities. The role will work with librarians at Howard-Tilton Memorial Library on Love Data Week competitions and exhibits, promote student participation in Tulane poster sessions, and develop occasional data visualization workshops. The Professor of Practice will also help shape CAIDS priorities and manage its programs and initiatives. Research is not required, but data-related research or scholarship on data science teaching and learning may be incorporated into the workload.

Requirements

A Ph.D. in a data-related field and teaching experience as an instructor or teaching experience in a data-focused course; alternatively, a master’s degree in a data-related field and at least five years of combined experience teaching in post-secondary or secondary education and/or working in industry or government in a data literacy, data analysis, or data management position.
Demonstrated ability to teach in post-secondary institutions, particularly to students with minimal background in data, statistics, or computer science.
Ability to initiate and manage programming and initiatives with minimal supervision.
Ability to teach Introduction to Data and Data Visualization.
Ability to develop practical and creative post-secondary education programming and services that promote faculty and student engagement in data-related research.
Experience developing data visualizations, including graphs, charts, and interactive tools such as dashboards, using applications such as Excel, PowerBI, Flourish, Tableau, or R.
Commitment to continuous improvement in pedagogy and data science.
Demonstrated commitment to engaging diverse populations in data literacy.
Demonstrated ability to interact well with diverse groups, including students from varied backgrounds, university leadership, staff, and faculty from different disciplines.
Excellent written and oral communication skills.

Nice To Haves

Experience teaching data-focused post-secondary courses as the instructor of record.
Training or education in teaching or pedagogy.
Experience developing or managing post-secondary programming such as workshops, internships, events, and research services.
Ability to provide data, statistical, computer science, or applied AI consulting services to faculty.
Ability to develop industry or community relationships that lead to service-learning opportunities, student internships, community partnerships, or external grant proposals.
Ability to engage students in data storytelling methods through data visualization.
Willingness to cover and engage with data visualization theories and methods using both scientific and creative techniques.
Ability and desire to learn and teach multiple data visualization theories or methodologies across fields including arts, humanities, social sciences, liberal arts, public health, and STEM.

Responsibilities

Teach DATA 1010: Introduction to Data, covering fundamental skills in data literacy, analysis, communication, and ethics.
Teach DATA 2030: Data Visualization, covering creative and analytical theories and techniques for creating and understanding visualizations, including graphs, charts, maps, and interactive tools such as dashboards.
Teach at least one multidisciplinary undergraduate course in an area of interest or expertise, and potentially develop new courses for the CAIDS curriculum.
Develop and facilitate CAIDS programs and services that increase faculty and student participation in data-related research.
Develop and coordinate internal and external internship and research-assistant programs, as appropriate to expertise.
Facilitate collaborative grant applications, as appropriate to expertise.
Provide statistical, data, or applied-AI consulting services, as appropriate to expertise.
Coordinate research-related programming such as seminars, workshops, data-thons, and poster sessions.
Support interdisciplinary research groups in areas of expertise or interest.
Work with Howard-Tilton Memorial Library librarians to plan Love Data Week Data Visualization and Physicalization competitions and exhibits.
Promote and coordinate student participation in Tulane poster sessions.
Develop and facilitate occasional data visualization workshops and related service activities.
Contribute to shaping CAIDS priorities and future direction and actively manage institute programs and initiatives.
Optionally incorporate data-related research or scholarship on data science teaching and learning into the workload.