Assistant Professor, Knowlton School, Landscape Architecture

The Landscape Architecture Section of the Ohio State University’s Knowlton School invites applications for a full-time, tenure-track position at the rank of Assistant Professor. Located in one of the fastest growing metropolitan regions in the US, the landscape architecture program pursues urban pasts, presents, and futures through highly engaged, design-centered, and future oriented curricula and individual research trajectories. To join us in that pursuit, we seek a colleague working on urban environments and/or urban ecologies under the broad umbrella of race, justice, and the built environment. Preference will be given to those candidates whose work embraces the intersection of landscape architecture, architecture, and planning.

The Knowlton School is a tenure-initiating unit within the College of Engineering housing sections in architecture, landscape architecture, and city and regional planning. With 45 faculty, 750 students, and 15 staff, the Knowlton School forms a distinct community fostering inquiry and exchanges across sections, the college, and the university as well as Ohio and Midwestern communities at large. Cross-disciplinary teaching and research are highly valued, and innovation is encouraged.

Founded by the eminent modernist AD Taylor in 1915, the Landscape Architecture section at Knowlton is one of the oldest landscape architecture programs in the US. Our faculty is currently comprised of twelve full-time collegial and collaborative scholars dedicated to advancing the work, disciplinary questions and practice of landscape architecture. We offer accredited degrees at both the graduate (masters) and undergraduate level.

Through our Race, Inclusion and Social Equity (RAISE) initiative, Ohio State is enhancing our world-class research programs on race, inclusion, and social equity. Over the next decade, the university will add at least 50 tenure-track faculty members to existing scholars whose research can help to narrow social disparities in educational attainment, health outcomes, rates of incarceration, political representation, environmental impacts, and economic well-being. Adding scholars in focused areas will enhance the University’s outstanding faculty and inform solutions to intractable issues. The successful candidate will be amongst the first of Ohio State’s initial RAISE cohort.

Applicants for this position should hold a terminal degree in their discipline (Masters or PhD) and engage in the built environment through practice, research, and/or creative inquiry. Individuals from allied disciplines (Architecture, Urban Design, Planning, Urban Ecology, etc.) and/or with a background in engaged practice are encouraged to apply. Teaching responsibilities include graduate and undergraduate urban-focused design studios and research seminars.

This hire is part of a collaboration with the Department of the History of Art, which will also be hiring an Assistant Professor under the same RAISE research cluster of “Race and the Built Environment: The Just City.” The successful candidate will have the opportunity to develop a new, interdisciplinary General Education course with faculty in the History of Art Department around the theme of “Citizenship for a Just and Sustainable World.”

Learn more about the College of Engineering, the university and Columbus here.

Interested applicants should submit:

• Letter of Interest: (maximum two pages) letter should include a brief summary of academic and/or professional background and should detail reasons for applying to this opportunity.
• Curriculum Vitae: Detailed overview of professional experience, including research, scholarly, or practice experience (e.g., funding, publications, built works, awards), teaching and mentoring experience, and service.
• Portfolio: Samples of relevant professional, scholarly, and/or creative work
• Teaching and Mentoring Statement: (maximum two pages) statement of approaches to, experience with, and philosophy regarding teaching, learning, and mentoring. Please include an explanation of how you have achieved or seek to achieve an effective learning environment for all students regardless of their backgrounds, expectations, and needs.
• Research Statement: (maximum two pages) statement describing your past research or professional accomplishments, your current work/research, and a proposal for your future research plan as a faculty member. Please include:
  • Your research questions and their importance, reflecting on how your research contributes to questions of race and justice in the built environment.
  • Your research plan and future research directions
  • Identification of potential collaborations and funding sources
  • Your plan for student engagement in your research program including efforts to broaden participation of historically underrepresented groups

References: Names, affiliations, and contact information for three references

For questions regarding this position, please contact Search Committee Chair Jake Boswell, [email protected] / 614-688-4586

Application Review:

Review of applications will begin on Monday, September 11th and continue until the position is filled.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion: The College of Engineering strives to be a national leader in diversity, equity, and inclusion. The college engages in and leads significant efforts to increase diversity among the field's future leaders through the office of Diversity, Outreach, and Inclusion (DOI). The DOI office offers a variety of student-centric programming designed to increase self-efficacy and foster community among historically excluded and underrepresented students and provide resources to support our faculty and staff. All faculty are expected to participate in, support, and/or lead these efforts and to contribute to the department's inclusive climate via their work in one of many ways, including but not limited to; teaching, service, mentoring and advising. For more information about DOI, visit https://engineering.osu.edu/diversity. Additionally, the Knowlton School seeks to foster an inclusive environment for our diverse community through honest curricular reform and multiple outreach initiatives facilitated by the school’s council on diversity, equity and inclusion.

Faculty Development: The Ohio State University and the College of Engineering are committed to support and develop faculty as well as the work-life balance of its faculty. These resources include The Engineering Faculty Mentoring Program, the Better Research through Better Mentoring program, and institutional memberships to the National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity, and the Center for the Integration of Research, Teaching and Learning. To learn more visit: https://engineering.osu.edu/faculty-development

Dual Careers and Faculty Relocation: The Ohio State University is committed to enhancing academic excellence. Recruiting, supporting, and retaining faculty of the highest caliber is a core component of this commitment. In support of this commitment, the Office of Academic Affairs (OAA) has created the Office of Dual Careers and Faculty Relocation (DCFR) to focus on supporting new and prospective faculty and their partners. This support includes dual careers services, consultation and resources related to relocation, as well as identifying opportunities to engage on campus and the surrounding community. While employment opportunities are not guaranteed, resources and consultation are available to support the partners of new and prospective faculty as they are considering The Ohio State University as a potential future employer and throughout their transition to the university and community.

The Ohio State University is committed to establishing a culturally and intellectually diverse environment, encouraging all members of our learning community to reach their full potential. We are responsive to dual-career families and strongly promote work-life balance to support our community members through a suite of institutionalized policies. We are an NSF Advance Institution, a member of the Ohio/Western Pennsylvania/West Virginia Higher Education Recruitment Consortium (HERC) and have an excellent partner in The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.