Assistant Professor of Art at Whitman College, Walla Walla, WA
Posted on September 16, 2023. Apply here.
Whitman College Department of Art seeks applicants for a Tenure-track position beginning August 2024, with expertise in Ceramics, broadly defined, at the rank of assistant professor. Applicants must have an MFA by the start of the position. A strong candidate will have significant college-level teaching experience, an active exhibition/presentation record, and knowledge of contemporary theory and practice.
Located in the vibrant community of Walla Walla, WA, Whitman College is home to an intellectually diverse, dynamic, and supportive community of some 500 staff and faculty serving roughly 1,500 students from the local region and across the globe. With exceptional students, accomplished faculty and staff, and engaged alumni, Whitman College continues to build on its national reputation for academic excellence as one of the top undergraduate, liberal arts colleges in the country.
The successful candidate will offer a full roster of courses in Ceramics (Beginning through Advanced), contribute to our Foundations program (a thematically-driven, beginner-level course of your own design, not necessarily utilizing Ceramics), Senior Seminar, and Art Thesis as well as have the opportunity to teach in the College’s unique First-Year Seminar. The standard annual teaching load is five courses.
The College provides a generous pre-tenure sabbatical leave program and professional development support for both research and teaching. The successful candidate will demonstrate potential to sustain an active scholarly or creative research agenda and to participate in faculty governance, mentorship, or other forms of service that contribute to the overall functioning of the college.
The Studio Art Program at Whitman College is housed in the Fouts Center for the Visual Arts, a 38,000 square foot facility with studios in Painting, Sculpture, Drawing, New Media, Printmaking, Ceramics, Photography, and Book Arts. Within this space, the successful candidate will have a personal studio and office adjacent to the Ceramics studio. The ceramics area is outfitted with 2 large outdoor gas kilns, 3 smaller electric kilns, a dedicated glazing lab, extruder, slab maker, pug mill and a video projection/sound system. The classroom provides equipment and ample space for wheel and hand-building processes and is full of natural light and access to green space.
The department welcomes applications from artists whose intellectual/creative life lies within the area of Ceramics, but which also exceeds it. As a department that is deeply invested in cultivating diverse creative practices at a small Liberal Arts College, we are looking for an artist who positions their teaching and vision within a large cultural, intellectual and interdisciplinary framework. Whether your interests and research extend into social/ecological justice and activism, performance, digital culture, social practice, community-engaged learning, critical theory or any other discipline, we welcome your application. We especially encourage candidates who wish to engage in cross-pollination of ideas and intellectual experimentation within the art department, across campus, or in the broader community.
Walla Walla is a regional city of 35,000 with a unique geological landscape at the foot of the Blue Mountains and near the Oregon/Washington state border. A hub of significant indigenous cultural activity for thousands of years, and later a site of Western imperial expansion, conflict and settler colonial occupation, today in Walla Walla you will encounter the vast agricultural industries of wheat and wine, a pedestrian-centric downtown, a vibrant Latinx community, alongside three institutions of higher education, a state penitentiary, and the nearby Hanford Nuclear site. The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation or CTUIR maintains its government and cultural headquarters about 45 miles from Walla Walla. Members of Whitman College’s Art Department strive to be responsive to the complexities of the present social and political order and to the ongoing struggles for racial and economic justice, sustainability, housing, labor, and immigration rights, among others, with which we are enmeshed. We are deeply committed to finding ways to navigate, suffer, and grapple with these turbulent entanglements, and believe emphatically in art as a powerful way of knowing and exploring toward this and other ends.
Whitman College is committed to fostering an inclusive learning community that values diverse identities, experiences, and perspectives. In the cover letter, candidates should describe their interest in teaching undergraduates (majors as well as non-majors) at all levels of instruction. In doing so, candidates should address how their lived experiences and classroom and scholarly practices will advance equity and inclusion in the learning environment and help Whitman promote antiracist, systemic change.
To apply, go to . The online application will prompt you to submit all of the required materials: a cover letter; 20 images of your work and/or a link to your website; curriculum vitae; separate statements addressing the candidate’s teaching interests and scholarly/artistic agenda; graduate transcripts; and evidence of demonstrated or potential excellence in undergraduate instruction. The committee will solicit three letters of recommendation from applicants who reach the interview stage.
Review of applications will begin on November 15, 2023.
Salary Range: $74,000-$82,000.
Whitman College offers a competitive benefits package that is designed to attract qualified candidates and retain talented employees. Full-time employees enjoy the following benefits: Medical/Dental/Vision Insurances; basic life, accidental death and dismemberment and long term disability insurances with the capability to elect additional voluntary coverage; 403(b) Defined Contribution Retirement Plan with a 10% matching contribution after eligibility requirements are met; Tuition Remission – Dependent Children, after eligibility requirements; employee tuition waiver for one Whitman course per semester; and an Employee Assistance Program. New faculty receive reimbursement for moving expenses based on the distance of relocation and are compensated $1,500 for attending a required New Faculty Orientation.
Whitman College is cultivating a community built on inclusion and belonging. We recognize the value of those who can offer historically underrepresented perspectives and encourage applications from those whose background, knowledge, and insights from lived experience can add to the college’s working and learning environment.
Whitman College is an EEO employer. The college shall abide by the requirements of 41 CFR §§ 60-1.4(a), 60-300.5(a) and 60-741.5(a). These regulations prohibit discrimination against qualified individuals based on their status as protected veterans or individuals with disabilities, and prohibit discrimination against all individuals based on their race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.
