Assistant professor, graphic design

Critical Playground LLC; San Jose, Northern (CA, KY); Hybrid; USD 90,000 - 94,000; Full time

Job summary

San José State University invites applications for a tenure-track Assistant Professor of Graphic Design in the Department of Design, starting Fall 2027. This nine-month appointment seeks a designer-educator-researcher bridging analog and digital practices to teach across undergrad and grad curricula.

We value rigorous scholarly and creative work, collaboration, and engagement with social and technological questions. Applicants must hold MFA/MDes/PhD and demonstrate teaching excellence.

Qualifications

• Terminal degree completed before start date
• Evidence of successful teaching at undergrad/grad level
• Active program of creative practice, design research, or scholarship

Responsibilities

• Teach undergraduate and graduate courses across the graphic design curriculum
• Develop and sustain an active program of research/creative practice
• Advise and mentor undergraduate and graduate students
• Contribute to curriculum development and ongoing assessment
• Participate in shared governance and service
• Organize classes within the Canvas LMS
• Demonstrate inclusive teaching addressing diverse student populations

Skills

Teaching experience

Graphic design pedagogy

Typography & visual systems

Design research awareness

Education

MFA/MDes/PhD in graphic design or related field

Job description

San José State University is seeking an assistant professor, graphic design to join its team in San José, California.

Position rank and title: assistant professor, graphic design

School/department name: department of design

Compensation: commensurate with qualifications, experience, and rank as established by the CSU Salary Schedule. Anticipated hiring academic year annual salary range: $90,000–$94,000 depending on qualifications.

Faculty employee benefits are very competitive for the higher education sector. See the CSU Employee Benefits Summary for details about the CSU’s excellent benefits package.

Target start date: August 17, 2027 (Fall 2027)

Application deadline: January 8, 2027.

Position description

The Department of Design at San José State University invites applications for a tenure-track Assistant Professor position in graphic design, beginning in Fall 2027. This is a nine-month, academic-year appointment. We seek a designer, educator, and researcher whose practice bridges analog and digital forms, and who can teach across the undergraduate and graduate graphic design curriculum, including foundational studios, typography, visual systems, interaction design, and advanced electives aligned with the candidate’s expertise. The ideal candidate will bring a strong foundation in typography, visual systems, and critical and experimental approaches to design‑making, with agility in contemporary digital tools, technologies, and emerging practices.

We are particularly interested in designers who expand the possibilities of graphic design through experimentation, systems thinking, collaboration, and engagement with contemporary social and technological questions. The ideal candidate demonstrates formal rigor, conceptual depth, and an active practice that contributes new knowledge through creative practice, design research, scholarship, or public engagement. The department recognizes multiple forms of scholarly and creative activity, including peer‑reviewed publications, exhibitions, commissioned work, funded research, public scholarship, and other contributions that advance the discipline.

The Department of Design is centered on design research, creative technologies, and interdisciplinary collaboration. We seek faculty who use technology in adaptive, inclusive, poetic, collaborative, and experimental ways while advancing socially responsible design practices. The department offers four professional degrees and is organized around five discipline groups: Interior Design, Industrial Design, Interaction Design, Graphic Design, and Animation. Our faculty includes designers, architects, artists, and historians committed to excellence and collaboration across the department, college, university, Silicon Valley, and beyond. Prospective faculty will have opportunities to engage with the Advanced Institute for Ethical Technologies (AI‑ET), which advances interdisciplinary and community‑centered dialogue about responsible technology, and the Digital Humanities Center, a collaborative hub for digitally informed research, teaching, and public engagement.

The Department of Design and San José State University value institutional excellence and are committed to advancing equity through research, teaching, and service. We enroll more than 40,000 students, many of whom are historically underserved; approximately 45 per cent of our undergraduate students are first‑generation college students and 38 per cent are Pell Grant recipients. In addition, we are both a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) and an Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander Serving Institution (AANAPISI). SJSU aspires to create holistic learning environments that facilitate both individual and collective transformation. We seek teacher‑scholars who cultivate inclusive, empowering spaces for mutual learning, skill‑building, and knowledge exchange for all students. Our commitment to lifelong learning supports meaningful connections among faculty, staff, students, alumni, and the broader communities we serve.

We invite all applicants to include a Statement of Institutional Excellence (or incorporate it into your cover letter) to share how your lived and professional experiences will contribute to the SJSU community–particularly in relation to student success. A guide to writing this statement can be found at SJSU Institutional Excellence Statement Guidelines.

Required qualifications:

• a terminal degree (MFA, MDes, PhD) in a graphic design discipline or closely and demonstrably related field. The degree must be completed before the targeted start date
• evidence of successful teaching at the undergraduate and/or graduate college level
• an active and sustained program of creative practice, graphic design research, scholarship, or a combination thereof
• demonstrated engagement with contemporary graphic design methods, tools, and modes of practice across digital and material media, including critical approaches to design making
• applicants should demonstrate an awareness of and sensitivity to the educational goals of a socially and economically diverse student population as might have been gained in cross‑cultural study, training, teaching, and other comparable experience

Preferred qualifications:

Priority will be given to candidates who possess two or more of the following:

• evidence of professional visibility through exhibitions, publications, commissions, presentations, professional organizations, or other contributions to the discipline
• a demonstrated ability to teach across the core curriculum at both undergraduate and graduate levels
• demonstrated engagement with evolving design practices that advance accessibility, equity, and broader cultural perspectives
• a track record of success, or demonstrated potential for success, conducting research or creative activity relevant to the position that results in recognition (e.g., projects that have been published, exhibited, commissioned, implemented, recognized through awards, or otherwise disseminated within the discipline)
• potential for collaboration across disciplines within the Department of Design and at the college and University levels. We believe such collaborations create a charged atmosphere for study and a critical edge for research, and we seek candidates who can thrive within this context. Applicants should consider how their work might connect with the college’s Public Programming Opportunities

Key responsibilities:

• teach undergraduate and graduate courses across the graphic design curriculum, including foundation studios, typography, visual systems, interaction, emerging technologies, and electives aligned with their expertise
• develop and sustain an active program of research and/or creative practice appropriate for a tenure‑track appointment
• advise and mentor undergraduate and graduate students
• contribute to curriculum development and ongoing assessment within the graphic design program
• participate in shared governance, usually in department, college, and university committees and other service assignments
• organize all their classes within the Canvas Learning Management System (LMS)
• demonstrate awareness and experience in understanding the needs of a student population of great diversity–in age, abilities, cultural background, ethnicity, religion, economic background, primary language, sexual orientation, gender identity, and academic preparation–through inclusive course materials, teaching strategies, and advisement

Other duties:

Note that all San José State University employees are considered mandated reporters under the California Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act and are required to comply with the requirements set forth in CSU Executive Order 1083 as a condition of employment. Pursuant to the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act (Clery Act) and CSU systemwide policy, some faculty duties may lead to designation as a Campus Security Authority (CSA). CSAs are required to complete Clery Act training and to immediately report Clery incidents to the institution.

Faculty employees must complete CSU employee training as assigned and required based on their role (e.g., Data Security, FERPA, Preventing Discrimination and Harassment, Title IX, Health and Safety). The President may recommend or require compliance with safety measures that decrease the likelihood of COVID‑19 transmission or illness and allows the core mission and activities of the campus to continue.

Conditional offer

The work for this faculty position may only be performed in the State of California and requires establishing an on‑campus presence. Employment is contingent upon US residence and proof of eligibility to work in the United States. Satisfactory completion of background and reference checks (including criminal records and prior employment) are required. SJSU will make a conditional offer of employment, which may be rescinded if the background and reference checks reveal disqualifying information, and/or it is discovered that the candidate knowingly withheld or falsified information. Failure to satisfactorily complete the background and reference checks may affect the continued employment of a current employee who was conditionally offered the position.

Equal employment statement

San José State University prohibits discrimination on the basis of Age, Ancestry, Caste, Color, Disability, Ethnicity, Gender, Gender Expression, Gender Identity, Genetic Information, Marital Status, Medical Condition, Military Status, Nationality, Race, Religion, Religious Creed, Sex, Sexual Orientation, Sex Stereotype, and Veteran Status. This policy applies to all San José State University students, faculty, and staff as well as University programs and activities. Reasonable accommodations are made for applicants with disabilities who self‑disclose.