The Graduate Communications Design department at Pratt Institute invites applications for a full-time tenure track position at the rank of Assistant or Associate Professor to begin in August 2024. We seek applicants with a broad vision of the future of design and the ability to articulate that vision in the context of higher education.
The department is a recognized leader in the field and currently offers an MFA in Communications Design and an MS in Packaging Identities and Systems Design degrees. The successful candidate will work within and across the two programs.
We seek applicants with demonstrated ability to teach across a wide range of courses while engaging current and emerging platforms, skills and literacies in communication design practice. The preferred candidates’ pedagogy, creative/professional practice and/or research will engage critical perspectives on communications design, including issues surrounding creative research methods, decolonial praxis in design, sustainability, technological advancement, and equity and inclusion.
Professional or scholarly focus may encompass interests and applications extending beyond traditional graphic design and related disciplines, with a particular emphasis on system design and research and development. This includes but is not limited to, areas such as design and accessibility, research based collaborative projects, open innovation, service design, design for social impact, process design, policy and organizational change. We seek a faculty member with a strong foundation in qualitative and/or quantitative research methodologies, including but not limited to design research, applied research, user-centered methodologies, design ethnography, participatory practices, feminist research methodologies, creative research, and community-based participatory research, scholarship of teaching and learning.
Successful candidates will demonstrate a commitment to curricular development and pedagogical innovation, as well as a passion for fostering institutional change through service and interdisciplinary collaboration. A strong record of achievement that includes teaching, professional practice and/or creative scholarship and/or research is required. We are committed to advancing diversity and inclusion in our curriculum as well as in the ranks of our faculty, students and staff and seek applicants who can contribute to the furtherance of these goals.
About the School of Design
The School of Design (SoD) educates curious makers in design practice to impact the world around them through the design of our messages, objects, spaces, and systems. Recognizing the interdisciplinary commonalities of our design disciplines, the School celebrates, connects, and educates designers whose creative endeavors will shape our world in critical ways. We believe that design connects: our work facilitates exchange, communication, and the building of community. Design enables: our work expands our physical and mental abilities. Design sustains: our work addresses the world’s limited resources and our significant environmental challenges. Design empowers: our work promotes equality, inclusiveness, and the free movement of people. Design humanizes: our work offers civil solutions for improving quality of life.
About Pratt Institute
Pratt Institute provides the creative leaders of tomorrow the knowledge and experience to make a better world. A top-ranked college with opportunities in art, design, architecture, liberal arts and sciences, and information studies, Pratt offers nearly 50 undergraduate and graduate degree programs.
The Institute’s impact expands beyond its 25-acre residential campus in Brooklyn to cutting-edge facilities throughout the borough, a landmark building and public gallery in Manhattan, as well as an extension campus, PrattMWP College of Art and Design in Utica, New York. Since its founding in 1887, Pratt has prioritized diversity and inclusion, welcoming students from all walks of life while developing and sustaining pathways to more equitable workplaces and careers.
Today, Pratt and its exceptional faculty pride themselves on being academically excellent as well as adaptable to both in-person and online learning. Pratt students are part of a collaborative, interdisciplinary, research and inquiry based education that prepares them for success in creative fields and professional practice, with the goal of contributing to a more equitable, just and sustainable world. With a long-held commitment to the communities of New York, Pratt partners locally through the Pratt Center for Community Development. The Institute also offers a variety of programs for local pre-college and continuing education students in the Center for Art, Design, and Community Engagement K-12 and the School of Continuing and Professional Studies.
The value of a Pratt education is evident in its graduates diverse and thriving careers, where their designs, art, work, and environments have reimagined our world. In over 75 countries across the globe, Pratt’s 61,000 alumni are advancing the creative economy and making a positive impact through their remarkable work and research.
Position Description
The successful candidate will:
- Teach and develop graduate communications design courses.
- Maintain active and recognized research/scholarship, creative activity and/or professional practice.
- Actively participate in departmental, school and institutional service, including committee work focused on but not limited to, curricular coordination and development, curricular assessment, supervision of student organizations, student advising and recruitment activities.
- Embrace new forms of critically engaged practice and pedagogy and contribute to the development of a strong culture of design scholarship, research and innovation in the department.
- Build interdisciplinary collaborations both inside and outside the School of Design with a focus on opportunities for collaboration between the undergraduate and graduate departments.
Qualifications
Education
MFA or MDes or degree equivalent in communications design, visual communication, graphic design, interaction design, or a related discipline.
Experience
- Demonstrated excellence in teaching with a minimum of 3 years experience at the undergraduate and/or graduate level.
- At least 3-5 years of recognized, current professional practice and/or creative scholarship in the field of communication design or related discipline.
- Strong foundation in qualitative and/or quantitative research methodologies.
- Excellent oral, written and interpersonal communication skills.
- Excellent collaborator with management and leadership skills: ability to meet deadlines and communicate effectively.
- Understanding of historical and critical perspectives on contemporary communications design including issues surrounding globalism, sustainability, technological advancement, and equity and inclusion.
- Demonstrated ability to work with diverse individuals and communities.
- Expertise in a broad range of methodologies, concepts, techniques and technology related to contemporary communications design practice.
Recommended
- Demonstrated ability to work with other faculty and students on interdisciplinary/collaborative projects.
- Experience in curricular design, coordination and development.
- Dedication to the building of a community of scholars/educators.
- Successful funding procurement and grant activity. We are interested in finding the best candidate for the job, and that candidate may not meet every one of our listed qualifications. Lived experience may count towards the preferred qualifications listed above. If you are excited about this position, we encourage you to apply.
We are interested in finding the best candidate for the job, and that candidate may not meet every one of our listed qualifications. Lived experience may count towards the preferred qualifications listed above. If you are excited about this position, we encourage you to apply.
SALARY is competitive and commensurate with experience and qualifications. The salary range for this position is $82,500 to $87,500.
Application Instructions
To Apply
For full consideration, please submit a complete application by January 17, 2024.
Please submit:
- Letter of intent that outlines your interest in this position and summarizes your teaching, research and professional experience and goals.
- CV
- Portfolio of 10 examples of creative/professional work
- Portfolio of 10 examples of student work
- Contact information for three professional references
- Statement describing how you have worked to promote diversity, equity and inclusion in your career and how you plan on continuing to do so here at Pratt.
Equal Employment Opportunity Statement
We are an equal opportunity employer and do not discriminate in hiring or employment on the basis of race, color, creed, religion or belief, national or ethnic origin, citizenship status, marital or domestic partnership status, sexual orientation, sex, gender identity or expression, age, disability, military or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law. Pratt Institute recognizes and values the benefits of a diverse workforce.