Visiting Assistant Professor in Art Fine Arts | Salem, VA | Full Time
About Roanoke College Roanoke College is a place where every student who works hard has the opportunity to succeed. We champion potential, providing essential learning and leadership through innovative academic programs and transformative educational experiences, giving students the mettle, mindset, and empathy to pursue lives of purpose, build meaningful careers, and meet society’s most pressing needs. Located in scenic Salem, Virginia, Roanoke College is an intimate, welcoming community that has served the local region and beyond for nearly 200 years. Now, we’re building on momentum and offering a Roanoke experience for today’s students and a legacy that belongs to every Maroon.
The Position The Department of Fine Arts at Roanoke College invites applications for Visiting Assistant Professor for Art with focus and expertise in three-dimensional genres and forms. The initial appointment is for three semesters, with the possibility of one-year renewal, and begins in January 2024.
Artists engaged in a range of 3D art making—e.g., ceramics, sculpture, ceramic sculpture, installation, or other mixed media processes, including multimedia (digital) technologies and methods—are encouraged to apply. At Roanoke College, candidates with competency/interest in the craft of ceramics and/or hybrid sculptural practices and spaces will find a department well equipped in studio facilities devoted to both areas; however, the program is interested in adapting its offerings to the talents and interests of an artist whose specialization, creativity, and ideas might point the program (and its facilities) in new directions. A commitment to undergraduate teaching in the liberal arts setting should include an interest in teaching how ideas inform an artist’s mission. For instance, thinking about community connectedness, socially engaged focus, working collaboratively, and in interdisciplinary and inclusive contexts are all potentially exciting qualities in a candidate. In addition to studio practice, the instructor’s teaching will include non-studio courses in the college’s general education program, where faculty members develop courses based on a humanities-based “inquiry” model, in which artistic works/texts, events, ideas, and/or institutions are explored.
The teaching load is 8 courses during the academic year. MFA or equivalent professional experience required. Candidates must demonstrate a strong commitment to undergraduate education. Visiting Professors are eligible to receive departmental funds and to apply for many of the College's internal grants in support of their teaching and creative work.
The college offers a B.A. in Art with the goal of providing students with a broad-based general education in studio art, requiring a range of courses across media and in art history, while also encouraging students to develop knowledge, skills, and ideas within a single medium (via sequences of courses in basic, intermediate, and advanced studio practice). The college’s Olin Galleries is home to The Joanne Leonhardt Cassullo Center for Art, which supports “culturally diverse, technologically advancing and multifaceted” programming within the galleries. The Galleries host seven exhibitions each academic year, which feature local, regional, national, and international artists.
Candidates should submit electronic applications that include the following:
• cover letter addressing qualifications, experience, and commitment to supporting a diverse community
• curriculum vita
• statement of teaching philosophy
• copies of undergraduate and graduate transcripts
• contact information for three references
• In addition, candidates must include a PDF of:
• Selection of original work documenting evidence of technical and creative skills (20 images)
• Examples of assigned student work (20 images)
For best consideration, applications should be submitted by November 27, 2023. Review of applications will begin on that date and continue until the position is filled.
Roanoke College is a nationally ranked, residential, liberal arts college affiliated with the Lutheran Church (ELCA), located in the beautiful Roanoke Valley of Virginia. A Phi Beta Kappa institution, Roanoke College is an equal opportunity employer and actively seeks diversity among its faculty, staff, and students; members of underrepresented groups are encouraged to apply.