| Location | Providence, RI |
Posting Details
Position Information
Title Assistant or Associate Professor, Sculpture Department Sculpture Division Fine Arts Employment Type Full-Time Critical Review Track (similar to tenure track) Yes Position Description
The Department of Sculpture at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) invites applications for a full-time faculty appointment at the rank of Assistant or Associate Professor, to commence in fall 2027. Rank will be dependent on professional status and teaching experience.
RISD recognizes principles of social equity, inclusion, and diversity as fundamental to its mission as an art and design school. These principles require sustained attention to a multiplicity of differences and call for an expansion of the forms of knowledge that shape our curricula and pedagogy. RISD is committed to the collective work of institutional transformation and values applicants whose teaching, pedagogical and professional experiences have prepared them to foster and sustain equitable learning environments. We especially welcome faculty whose pedagogy engages diverse perspectives, expands forms of knowledge, and helps foster a culture of belonging where all students, staff, and faculty can thrive.
The Sculpture Department is aligned with RISD's efforts to shape more just societies, to address sustainability and the climate crisis, to discover and transmit knowledge and to make lasting contributions to a global society through critical thinking, scholarship, and innovative practice. We seek candidates who are accomplished artists, have a clear and compelling research agenda as evidenced through their creative, scholarly or professional work, and who share our deep commitment to practice-based education in the arts.
We seek applicants with a demonstrated investment in research and critical literacies integrated into creative practice. We are particularly interested in applicants whose creative practice comprises a working knowledge of mold-making, casting, or digital fabrication as central practices within the discipline of Sculpture. A strong candidate would be able to teach the full spectrum of these processes, or possess enthusiasm for innovating how digital technologies intersect with traditional and expanded sculptural practices. A successful applicant will incorporate the identified range of processes into the department's curriculum, supplementing Sculpture's foundational instruction in iterative creation, seriality, and repetition, to experimental ways of making and thinking.
The successful candidate will contribute to the health of the Sculpture department by teaching across undergraduate and graduate curriculum, developing studio electives drawn from their expertise, as well as providing advising to undergraduate and graduate students. Beyond the classroom, we are looking for a colleague with an interest in and capacity to move into departmental leadership, who can work collaboratively as part of an ambitious and dynamic team of faculty, and with a high level of accountability to multiple stakeholders within the Sculpture Department and across the college. The department seeks candidates with demonstrated experience fostering inclusive and accessible learning environments through culturally responsive pedagogy that supports the diverse backgrounds, experiences and learning needs of students. Successful candidates will join faculty colleagues with diverse skills and experiences in stewarding the development and growth of the Department and its graduate and undergraduate programs.
Required Qualifications
Preferred Qualifications
Experience teaching any one or more of the following knowledge sets:
mold-making and casting at introductory, intermediary, and/or advanced levels
digital technologies such as 3D printing, CNC routing, and 3D modeling software
vacuum forming setup and applications in mold-making
surface finishing methods (coatings, paints, patina, epoxy, bonding)
ability to connect traditional casting processes with digital fabrication and emerging ways of making
Demonstrated creativity in both professional work and teaching
Evidence of Leadership capacity in academic, non-academic, or community environments
RISD/ Department Description
RISD is a nonprofit college and museum of art and design founded in 1877 in the city of Providence, RI. Today 2,606 students from 62 countries engage in more than 40 full-time bachelor's and master's degree programs, supported by a committed faculty and worldwide network of more than 33,000 alumni.
By cultivating expansive and elastic thinking, RISD equips artists, designers and scholars to generate and challenge the ideas that shape our world.
RISD has a critical review process, which is very similar to the tenure process at other institutions. RISD supports faculty professional practice with sabbaticals, pre-critical review leave, conference funds, and professional development grants. For more information about RISD, please visit www.risd.edu.
The Sculpture Department is a thriving community of approximately 50-70 BFA majors and 16 MFA candidates, supported by an engaged alumni network. Four full-time faculty, a strong group of part-time faculty, and two Senior Academic Technologists bring a wide range of artistic practices and pedagogical approaches to the department.
Our facilities include a shared plaster casting facility, a foundry for metal casting, metal fabrication and wood shops, and additive and subtractive digital fabrication spaces. Our curriculum prepares students for an ever-expanding field of contemporary art, approaching sculpture not simply as an object-based discipline but as a field encompassing spatial, relational, performative, social, time-based, research-based, and technological practices. Central to our pedagogy is the understanding that technical mastery is never ideologically neutral: students critically examine sculpture's historical role in constructing systems of power while engaging traditions and practices that challenge and reimagine those histories. Building and maintaining a caring community among undergraduates, graduates, faculty, and staff is at the heart of our practice. The department is committed to fostering inclusive and accessible studio environments that recognize diverse approaches to making, learning, and creative expression.
Faculty Responsibilities
The full-time faculty teaching load is five teaching units a year. One teaching unit generally equals three weekly contact hours for a seminar and five weekly contact hours for a studio. In most departments, this correlates to teaching five courses per year spread across fall, wintersession, and spring semesters. In addition to teaching, full-time faculty are expected to maintain a dynamic professional practice, serve on college committees, advise students, participate in curriculum development and other departmental and/or divisional activities and projects, and contribute to the vibrancy of the intellectual life of the college.
Union Yes Salary Information
For information about base pay for this position, please refer to Article XII "Salaries" (p. 19-22) in the Faculty Association Collective Bargaining Contract 2025-2028. The contract indicates the minimum base salary for each rank.
Pre-employment Requirement
The successful candidate will be required to meet our pre-employment background screening requirements.
Special Instructions to Applicants
RISD Faculty Search Committees comprise colleagues from within and outside of the hiring Department.
Please attach the following to to the appropriate links in the section labeled "Documents Needed to Apply":
Applications may not be edited once they are certified and submitted.
Only materials that have been requested will be considered.
Names and contact information for three references are requested as part of the application process at the finalist stage.
Review of applications begins immediately and continues until the position is filled. Candidates who submit their materials by January 5, 2027 are assured full consideration.
EEO Statement
RISD is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Employment decisions are made without regard to race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, genetics, or any other protected characteristic as established by law.
Posting Detail Information
Posting Number F00131P Open Date Close Date Open Until Filled Yes
Supplemental Questions
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