Non-Tenure Track Faculty – Museum Studies at Rochester Institute of Technology

Full-Time Non-Tenure Track Faculty Undergraduate Museum Studies Program

Detailed Job Description

The Museum Studies program at RIT seeks to hire a full-time lecturer who will work both as a teacher and mentor to undergraduate students. The successful candidate will have a proven ability to teach core courses in the Museum Studies program and advise MUSE students pursuing careers in museums, libraries and archives. Duties include teaching, oversight of our internship program and thesis projects for MUSE students, and involvement in digital and community-based projects.

RIT’s Museum Studies program is the only Bachelor of Science museum studies degree in the United States. Dedicated to exceptional teaching and individual attention to students, the program is administered by the History Department and housed in the College of Liberal Arts, where it offers an interdisciplinary, experiential, engaged curriculum. The undergraduate curriculum emphasizes the interdisciplinary framing of museum studies and deep engagement with technologies that are essential to 21st century work in museums, libraries, and archives.

The program seeks an individual who is committed to student-centeredness; professional development and scholarship; integrity and ethics; respect, diversity, and pluralism; innovation and flexibility; and teamwork and collaboration. The program emphasizes applied learning through transferable competencies and informed decision making, with classroom instruction closely tied to practice through exhibitions, digital projects, internships at area museums and libraries, and partnerships with arts and community organizations across Western New York. The program also emulates the profession by creating a community of practice infused with the principles of collaboration through which individual students’ learning is enhanced by their classmates’ learning. Outcomes for the degree program are clearly articulated: students graduate from the program as well-prepared, engaged, emerging professionals possessing a commitment to learning by doing. Live our values, embrace diverse perspectives, and nurture the RIT community to remain a great place to work for all.

The successful candidate will have access to RIT’s newly-constructed makerspace, the SHED, to support their teaching, and will have access to four established partnerships with local museums: Rochester Museum & Science Center; Seneca Park Zoo; the Strong National Museum of Play; and Genesee Country Village & Museum (the latter is supported by a $1 million endowment by Philip K. and Anne Wehrheim). The successful candidate will also benefit from contacts and associations with other institutions locally and regionally. View links to RIT’s core values, honor code, and statement of diversity. RIT is committed to building and sustaining a culturally diverse workplace and faculty.

The Museum Studies Program encourages candidates from underrepresented communities, individuals with disabilities, and veterans to apply.
 

Required Minimum Qualifications

RIT’s Museum Studies program seeks candidates with an M.S., M.A. and/or Ph.D. degree in Museum Studies, Public History, Museum Education, or a related field, such as Archival Studies, Folk Studies, or Digital Humanities. Candidates may have experience as a publicly-engaged scholar or as a collections-based practitioner who can apply professional expertise to their teaching. Candidates whose experience reflects these or other areas of study and who have experience and/or interest in teaching museum studies to diverse audiences and engaging with underrepresented communities are encouraged to apply.  

The program seeks candidates who are able teach courses with a technology and/or digital humanities foundation, such as “museums and the digital age,” “visitor engagement and museum technologies,” and “digital curation.” While these are the primary areas of teaching expertise requested, candidates equipped with another, related teaching expertise and possessing a desire to acquire skills in digital technologies are also encouraged to apply.

Museum studies faculty and students have a rich tradition of collaboration on and off campus. The program is keenly interested in candidates with expertise in community engagement and collaboration with campus and community-based partners. For instance, existing relationships yield student-centered, project-based collaboration with the Kate Gleason College of Engineering and the Golisano College of Computing and Information Science at RIT and collaborations with RIT’s University Gallery on the main campus and City Art Space, the university’s art venue located in downtown Rochester.

Qualifications:

• Demonstrated teaching experience
• Demonstrated facility with a variety of digital tools, platforms, and software, building websites or web management
• Experience with project management, community engagement, or other forms of collaboration
• Strong interpersonal and written communication skills
• Demonstrated commitment to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging via leadership and other efforts, such as teaching museum studies to diverse audiences and engaging with underrepresented communities, that can contribute to our ongoing efforts to advance justice and equity of our program and university

Required Minimum Education Level

MS, MA

Faculty Type (Tenure Status)

Non-Tenure-Track Lecturer

Faculty Rank

Lecturer

Employment Category

Fulltime