Assistant Professor of Acting
Position Overview
Organization: Drama
Title: Assistant Professor of Acting
Position Details
Position Description
The University of Washington School of Drama (SoD) is hiring an Assistant Professor, tenure-track position in Drama-Acting to begin September, 2024. This is a full-time position with a 9-month service period. The teaching will be within both undergraduate and graduate programs. Washington State Law requires that this ad list a binding salary range. The base salary range for this position will be $9667 - $10,740 per month on a 9-month basis ($87,000 - $96,600 annually), commensurate with experience and qualifications, or as mandated by a U.S. Department of Labor prevailing wage determination.
The mission of the SoD is to develop innovative and courageous artists and scholars poised to be the creative leaders of tomorrow. We are committed to producing engaged citizens capable of contributing to a more creative, connected, and compassionate world. The School’s graduates go on to careers in theatre, film, television, arts management, advertising, design, and creative media as well as other areas such as law, science and business where the artist’s skills of critical thinking, problem solving, collaboration, entrepreneurship and creativity are essential. The University of Washington serves a diverse population of 60,000 students including more than 30% first-generation college students, 23% Pell Grant-eligible students, and faculty and staff from over 70 countries. As a Research I university (meaning the highest level of research activity), UW seeks to hire people with outstanding qualifications who are developing and/or maintaining an ongoing professional career at a national/international level. Seattle is a well-known center of innovation and culture, and the School of Drama enjoys a close relationship with the area’s many performing arts groups.
We are interested in candidates that have a solid body of work as a performer in theater, dance-theater, TV/film, and/or other interdisciplinary media. The focus of this teaching position is on embodied acting, and we are particularly interested in individuals who reimagine approaches to training and creative processes and whose approach embraces the transformative contribution of theatre to society.
The emphasis of this teaching position is on embodied performance - maximizing the body’s expressiveness, as well as creative processes for both enlivening existing texts/scripts and generating original work. We understand and acknowledge that people can come to the field of acting from many different pathways. The SoD’s current acting training is largely based on the practices of Konstantin Stanislavski, and includes extensive physical and vocal training, as well as practices to develop original works. We are interested in supplementing or broadening our current practices.
We are particularly enthusiastic about applicants whose background and/or experience has included, but is not limited to, the following positive factors for consideration:
- A demonstrated commitment to equity, diversity, inclusion, and access.
- A demonstrated commitment to self-education, cultural awareness collaboration, and growth to solidify connections between faculty, students, and staff.
- Enthusiasm for their role as educator of emerging artists.
- Experience performing in multiple types of environments, which may include non-traditional, experimental, immersive, interactive, virtual and site-based performance as well as commercial theater, regional/LORT or international theater, opera, and dance.
- Skill sets or experiences that include but are not limited to one or more of the following: world theatre, dance, improvisation, spoken word, hip hop, ritual theatre, rasa boxes, devised and/or ensemble-generated processes, and other interdisciplinary approaches.
- Experience performing for film, games, art installation and/or other interdisciplinary creative work.
- A history of service/engagement with their academy/community
- Eagerness to engage in the goals and values presented in the School of Drama’s Mission, Vision, Values, and Commitments.
Participation in academic administrative work, including curricular development and committees, is expected along with other forms of service typical of a tenure-track faculty position. In addition to teaching and service, a research and/or creative practice outside of university duties will be significant criteria in the assessment for promotion and tenure for the position.
Mission/EDIA Commitment
The School of Drama is committed to building and supporting a multicultural community that fosters equity, diversity, inclusion, and access. We aim for all members of our community to think critically about and engage actively with the world around them. To this end, we aim to embed engagement for our faculty, staff, and students with the ways that race, gender identity, sexuality, ability, class, and ethnicity intersect with and shape the human experience, both inside the educational experience and outside of it. The successful candidate will be expected to fulfill our commitment to equity and inclusion and have the confidence to effectively engage with students, staff, and community from a wide spectrum of backgrounds. The School of Drama has created and is committed to an Anti-Racist Action Plan, with which we encourage candidates to familiarize themselves. Our faculty and staff are expected to understand and embrace our commitment to respecting and representing diverse ideas, races, genders, sexualities, abilities, cultures, religions, and traditions, and to interrupt behaviors that hinder our work towards anti-racism and our diversity and inclusion efforts. Black, Indigenous, People of Color and members of other under-represented groups are encouraged to apply for this position.
Qualifications
- An MFA in Acting or other related fields or foreign equivalent, or a bachelor’s degree coupled with five years of progressive work experience as a performer.
- Two years prior experience teaching and/or mentoring of learners either within a professional creative practice or a traditional academic setting.
- Continuing work as a professional performer for theatre, dance, transmedia/digital performance, other live performance, virtual and/or augmented reality, digital game design, or film/television.
Instructions
The University of Washington is using Interfolio’s Faculty Search to conduct this search. Applicants to this position receive a free dossier account and can send all application materials, including confidential letters of recommendation, free of charge.
Applications should include:
- A letter of application describing your expertise and experience, highlighting your approach to creative research and teaching, your vision for the field, and your capacities as a collaborative artist.
- A curriculum vitae
- Contact information for three references
- A diversity statement (one page or less)
- A teaching statement (one page or less)
The diversity statement should describe how your teaching, research and/or service demonstrate a commitment to diversity and inclusion through scholarship or by improving access to higher education for underrepresented individuals or groups. We are interested in knowing how the work you hope to do at the UW will enhance the University’s and our department’s commitment to EDIA. How does your positionality inform your approach to EDIA? What efforts have you made or been involved with to foster cultural competence and understanding? What have you done to further your knowledge about equity, diversity, inclusion, and access (EDIA)? How have you demonstrated what you have learned to your colleagues?
The letter of application is an invitation to share what about this position motivates you and how it might connect to your larger professional trajectory, i.e. what is your vision of the field in the coming decades and what motivates you as a teacher of future artists? What are you curious about in your personal creative practice? What drives you as a performer or sets you apart from others and how will that help push our program forward? How do you integrate this into a vision of yourself a teacher and researcher at UW and what might the university setting offer to you as a future home?
The position will remain open until filled, with priority given to applications received by November 6, 2023.
Questions regarding this posting may be addressed to the head of the search committee, Cathy Madden at camadden@uw.edu
Equal Employment Opportunity Statement
University of Washington is an affirmative action and equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, creed, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, pregnancy, genetic information, gender identity or expression, age, disability, or protected veteran status.
Benefits Information
A summary of benefits associated with this title/rank can be found at https://hr.uw.edu/benefits/benefits-orientation/benefit-summary-pdfs/. Appointees solely employed and paid directly by a non-UW entity are not UW employees and are not eligible for UW or Washington State employee benefits.
Commitment to Diversity
The University of Washington is committed to building diversity among its faculty, librarian, staff, and student communities, and articulates that commitment in the UW Diversity Blueprint (http://www.washington.edu/diversity/diversity-blueprint/). Additionally, the University’s Faculty Code recognizes faculty efforts in research, teaching and/or service that address diversity and equal opportunity as important contributions to a faculty member’s academic profile and responsibilities (https://www.washington.edu/admin/rules/policies/FCG/FCCH24.html#2432).
Privacy Notice
Review the University of Washington Privacy Notice for Demographic Data of Job Applicants and University Personnel to learn how your demographic data are protected, when the data may be used, and your rights.
Disability Services
To request disability accommodation in the application process, contact the Disability Services Office at 206-543-6450 or dso@uw.edu.