Position: Assistant Professor of Design
Effective Date: August 18, 2025 (Fall Semester)
Salary Range: The Assistant Professor (Academic Year) classification salary is $74,652 to $158,688/per year. The anticipated hiring range is $74,652 to $105,000/per year. Salary offered is commensurate with qualifications and experience.
Application Deadline: Review of applications to begin on or around February 27, 2025. Position open until filled (or recruitment canceled).

California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) is a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) and an Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institution (AANAPISI). It also earned the prestigious Seal of Excelencia in 2023, joining a distinctive group of colleges and universities who have been recognized for its commitment to Latine/x student success. CSULB is committed to serving diverse students and has established and actively supports the Black Excellence Collegium, dedicated to promoting Black excellence and advancing Black Student Success, and El Concilio for Latinx Success at the Beach, whose mission is to build capacity and promote inclusive servingness across initiatives and efforts towards Latine/x student, faculty, and staff success across campus. The President’s Equity and Change Commission is dedicated to achieving inclusive excellence in our community and culture and to interrogate, disrupt, and transform systemic inequities throughout the university. CSULB’s Beach 2030 University Action Plans prioritize engaging all students; expanding access to higher education; promoting intellectual achievement; building community; and cultivating resilience.

College of Arts 

The College of the Arts (COTA) at California State University, Long Beach is a community. More than 3,000 majors and minors study within the College of the Arts, working with faculty, staff, and guest artists in the School of Art, the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music, and the departments of Cinematic Arts, Dance, Design, and Theatre Arts. Additionally, the Richard and Karen Carpenter Performing Arts Center and the Carolyn Campagna Kleefeld Contemporary Art Museum are valuable resources for the campus and Greater Long Beach region and are proudly part of the College of the Arts. 

Department of Design

This position is a general hire for the Department of Design in the combined areas of industrial design, experiential design, and new and emerging technologies. The Department of Design takes a holistic, student-centered approach to design education with a focus on teaching, research, and practice that seeks to decolonize design. Using this as a framework, our faculty seeks to equip each of our graduates with the skills, knowledge, and confidence to engage in the dynamic and changing field of design as practitioners, scholars, educators, and advocates, while also understanding the potential of design for social change and inclusive practices. The Department of Design seeks an individual with demonstrated ability to teach, advise/mentor, and develop curriculum that supports and empowers the educational goals of individuals from historically marginalized backgrounds, and who is committed to pedagogical practices that are inclusive, anti-racist, and anti-ableist. The ideal candidate is rooted in both scholarship and community-based practice and brings expertise in mixed ethnographic and design research methods through a range of disciplinary approaches, including embodied practices. Candidates are also expected to serve in the program, department, college, university, and community including faculty governance and committee participation.

Required Qualifications:           

• MID, MFA, MDes, or related degree in industrial design, experiential design, or strategic design for social justice. Degree at time of application or official notification of completion of the degree by August 1, 2025
• At least three years professional experience in the field of industrial design or experiential design
• Demonstrated commitment to improving the diversity, equity, inclusivity, and accessibility of design
• Demonstrated knowledge of studio practice and community-based design with a focus on design for equity, justice, and social change
• Demonstrated proficiency in industry-standard design software and new and emerging technologies
• Demonstrated experience in teaching two or more of the following: industrial design, 2D and 3D design, experiential design, and strategic design at the university level
• Demonstrated commitment to working successfully with a diverse student population, including Black/African American, Latine/x, Native American/Indigenous, low-income, first-generation, and minoritized students

Preferred Qualifications:

• Ph.D. in industrial design or related field. Degree at time of application or official notification of completion of the degree by August 1, 2025
• Demonstrated excellence in teaching at college level: Industrial Design Rapid Visualization Drawing, Industrial Design Processes, and two or more of the following:  Industrial Design Studio, Industrial Design Methodology, 2D and 3D design foundations, experiential design, design for social change, AI-incorporated design, and mixed, augmented, and virtual reality
• Demonstrated experience employing non-traditional modes of instruction to engage students successfully and equitably in learning activities
• Demonstrated experience in elevating Black student excellence and lowering equity gaps for under-represented student groups
• Experience of successfully working with populations demographically and/or socioeconomically similar to the CSULB student body (Demographics)
• Demonstrated experience with and/or potential for successfully contributing to curriculum development that centers on equity, social justice, and social change
• Record of academic and/or community-based service
• Demonstrated ability to teach both lower and upper-division undergraduate design studio courses, lectures, and seminars in area(s) of expertise
• Demonstrated potential to participate in ongoing applied design/theory dialogue among faculty.
• Experience mentoring or supporting students with minoritized identities or experience using inclusive and culturally relevant teaching strategies in a diverse classroom

Duties:                                              

• Teach undergraduate and graduate level including design studio courses effectively, as needed by Department. Teach undergraduate courses appropriate to the candidate’s specialty, education, and experience as well as department need. These may include but are not limited to Industrial Design Rapid Visualization Drawing, Industrial Design Processes, Industrial Design Studio, Industrial Design Methodology, and areas including industrial design, 2D and 3D design foundations, AI-incorporated design, experiential design, themed entertainment design, placemaking, wayfinding design, design for social change, mixed, augmented, and virtual reality, and/or other areas of specialization in design. [ Mode of instruction may include in-person, hybrid, online, and/or any combination thereof.]
• Contribute to the development of curriculum, with an emphasis on design for equity, justice, and social change
• Mentor and advise students
• Contribute to the planning and production of physical and virtual student exhibitions
• Maintain and produce peer-reviewed research, scholarly and creative activities at the national/international level
• Provide significant service to the program, department, college, university, and community

CSULB seeks to recruit faculty who enthusiastically support the University’s strong commitment to the academic success of all our students, including students of color, students with disabilities, students who are first generation to college, veterans, students with diverse socio-economic backgrounds, and students of diverse sexual orientations and gender expressions. CSULB seeks to recruit and retain a diverse workforce as a reflection of our commitment to serve the People of California, to maintain the excellence of the University, and to offer our students a rich variety of expertise, perspectives, and ways of knowing and learning.

Information on excellent benefits package available to CSULB faculty is located here: CSU Employee Benefits

How to Apply - Required Documentation:                                         

• An Equity and Diversity Statement about your teaching or other experiences, successes, and challenges in working with a diverse student population (maximum two pages, single-spaced). For further information and guidelines, please visit: http://www.csulb.edu/EquityDiversityStatement
• Letter of application addressing the required and preferred qualifications
• CV
• Names and contact information for three references (to be contacted for confidential letters of recommendation should you reach the finalist stage)
• Examples of student work (maximum 20 students)
• Examples of professional work (7-12 examples)
• Examples of original course materials (3-5 examples - e.g., syllabi, project briefs, and handouts)
• Finalists should be prepared to submit an official transcript (e-transcript preferred, if available)

How to Apply: Click Apply Now icon to complete the CSULB online application

Requests for information and process should be addressed to:

Diane Stein, Administrative Coordinator
California State University, Long Beach
Department of Design
(562) 985 -6151 or E-Mail: diane.stein@csulb.edu

Requests for information about the position should be addressed to:

Wesley Woelfel, Search Committee Chair
(562) 985 -4965 or E-Mail: wesley.woelfel@csulb.edu

EMPLOYMENT REQUIREMENTS:

A background check (including a criminal record check and telephone reference check with most recent employer) must be completed satisfactorily before any candidate can be offered a position with the CSU. Failure to satisfactorily complete the background check may affect the application status of applicants or continued employment of current CSU employees who apply for the position.

The person holding this position is considered a “mandated reporter” under the California Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act and is required to comply with the requirements set forth in CSU Executive Order 1083 Revised July 21, 2017 as a condition of employment.

Pursuant to the California State University (CSU) Out-of-State Employment Policy, hiring employees to perform CSU-related work outside of California is prohibited effective January 1, 2022. By prohibiting employment outside of California, the CSU also prohibits hiring and retaining employees working permanently from a business location outside of the United States. Exceptions to the Policy are limited to approved and documented purposes for conducting CSU business outside of California.

CSU Vaccination Policy
The CSU strongly recommends that all individuals who access any in-person program or activity (on- or off-campus) operated or controlled by the University follow the COVID-19 vaccine recommendations adopted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) applicable to their age, medical condition, and other relevant indications and comply with other safety measures established by each campus. 

Additionally, per the CSU COVID19 Vaccination Policy, all faculty, staff, administrators, and students who are accessing campus facilities are recommended to receive immunization against COVID 19 but are not required to be vaccinated at this time. The systemwide COVID19 questions may be sent to fahr@csulb.edu.

CSULB is committed to creating a community in which a diverse population can learn, live, and work in an atmosphere of tolerance, civility and respect for the rights and sensibilities of each individual, without regard to race or ethnicity (including color or ancestry), nationality, religion or religious creed, gender (or sex), gender identity (including transgender), gender expression, sexual orientation, marital status, disability (physical or mental), medical condition, genetic information, age, veteran or military status. CSULB is an Equal Opportunity Employer.