Job Description

Position Overview Position Title

Department of Performance, Play & Design

Assistant Professor of Dance

Salary range: Commensurate with qualifications and experience; academic year (nine-month basis).

Anticipated start: July 1, 2023, with the academic year beginning in September 2023. Degree requirements must be met by September 15, 2023 for employment effective beyond that date.

Application Window

Open date: August 25, 2022

Next review date: Tuesday, Oct 25, 2022 at 11:59pm (Pacific Time)

Apply by this date to ensure full consideration by the committee.

Final date: Friday, Jun 30, 2023 at 11:59pm (Pacific Time)

Applications will continue to be accepted until this date, but those received after the review date will only be considered if the position has not yet been filled.

Position Description

The Department of Performance, Play & Design (PPD) (formerly Theater Arts Department) at the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC) invites applications for a tenure-track Assistant Professor of Dance. We have a strong interest in a dance professional whose research is informed by a demonstrated history of embodied practice and critical inquiry, with a preference for experimental choreographers steeped in dance practices that have historically been marginalized by Western concert dance (e.g., hip hop or salsa). The successful candidate will teach technique, choreography, and repertory courses in our dance curriculum and specialized courses in their expertise such as: Indigenous dance; dances of the African diaspora, Pacific Rim, or Latin America; dance and disability; digital performance; screen-dance; performance as social practice; critical dance and race studies, etc. We have a strong preference for candidates with expertise in performance as community-led social change, antiracist theory and decolonial performance practice, and working across both digital and live platforms, and University and/or professional dance teaching experience and demonstrated service to the field.

Possible related areas of interest might include ensemble work, site-specific performance, consent-based performance/theatrical intimacy practices, and/or digital performance (VR, AR, MR, XR, interactive, motion capture). Because we are committed to equitable practices with regards to race, class, gender, sexuality, neurodiversity, ability, and religion, we are particularly interested in scholar-practitioners who have demonstrated potential to lead the field in these areas. We seek a candidate with evidence of inclusive teaching practices who can work with undergraduate and graduate students from diverse academic and sociocultural backgrounds. The successful candidate will engage in service at the program, department and campus wide levels, with particular focus on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion service, including recruiting more diverse faculty. We welcome candidates who understand the barriers facing women and minorities who are underrepresented in higher education careers (as evidenced by life experiences and educational background), and who have experience in diversity, equity, and inclusion with respect to teaching, mentoring, research, life experiences, or service towards building an equitable and diverse scholarly environment.

Previously a Theater Arts department (Design, Acting, Directing, Dance, Playwriting, History/Theory/Dramaturgy), we have recently merged with the Art & Design: Games and Playable Media program. The Department, comprising 17 nationally and internationally recognized faculty members, is positioned at the intersection of storytelling, worldbuilding, and cross-platform, interdisciplinary collaborations. Our curriculum centers anti-racist, intersectional feminist, and decolonial approaches. We offer two BA degrees, a Dance Minor, and a MA degree that emphasize creative collaboration, risk-taking/experimentation, critical/systemic thinking, rigor, agency, embodiment, and practice-as-research proficiencies. The Department also intersects with the MFA Digital Arts and New Media program. For more on our department and our social justice statement, please visit: https://theater.ucsc.edu/programs/about-department and please see https://arts.ucsc.edu/page/arts-division-diversity-equity-and-inclusion-dei-statement .

In addition to encouraging participation in robust departmental, divisional, and campus mentoring, the campus offers a Faculty Community Networking Program. UC Santa Cruz is a Hispanic-Serving Institution and an Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institution with a high proportion of first-in-family undergraduate students.

The Arts Division supports faculty research through the Arts Research Institute http://artsresearch.ucsc.edu/ari/ ; the campus supports research and teaching with grants awarded by the Committee on Research, the Committee on Teaching, and other groups.

This recruitment is supported by the UC Office of the President’s Advancing Faculty Diversity program and includes enhanced funding for faculty projects that contribute to diversity and to creating an inclusive climate.

UCSC is located among redwood forests and meadows overlooking Monterey Bay, along California’s Central Coast in close proximity to Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area. The Arts Division supports faculty research through the Arts Research Institute; the campus supports research and teaching with grants awarded by the Committee on Research, the Committee on Teaching, and other groups.

Department: https://theater.ucsc.edu/

Qualifications

Basic qualifications (required at time of application)

MFA or Doctoral degree (or equivalent foreign degree) with a demonstrated record of creative work as evidenced by an academic and professional resume as dancer and/or choreographer, or in lieu of academic degree a professional equivalent that includes a minimum of 8 years choreographing professionally, collaborations with respected creators in the field, and critical reviews in recognized outlets.

Document Requirements

Application Requirements

• Cover Letter - Letter of application that briefly summarizes your qualifications and interest in the position
• Curriculum Vitae - Your most recently updated C.V.
• Statement of Creative Practice and Research with examples* - 1-2 pages outlining significant projects as evidence for your vision, process, aesthetics, methodologies, and values. Please include links to 5-8 work samples of audio-visual documentation of creative work.
• Statement of Contributions to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion* - Statement addressing your understanding of the barriers facing traditionally underrepresented groups and your past and/or future contributions to diversity, equity, and inclusion through teaching and professional or public service with regards to race, gender, sexuality, neurodiversity, ability, class, and religion. Candidates are urged to review guidelines on statements (see https://apo.ucsc.edu/diversity.html ) before preparing their application.
• Initial screening of applicants will be based only on the statement of creative practice and research and the statement on contributions to diversity, equity, and inclusion

• Statement of Teaching - 1 page describing your teaching philosophy, emphasizing how it is enacted in your pedagogy. Examples of equitable and accessible practices or approaches to teaching are welcome.
• Syllabus for proposed course (1 of 3 required)
• Syllabus for proposed course (2 of 3 required)
• Syllabus for proposed course (3 of 3 required)
  

Reference Requirements

• 3 required (contact information only)
  

To acknowledge and reduce the labor involved in acquiring letters of recommendation, we are not requiring them at this first stage of the application process. Applicants are advised to speak to potential recommenders in anticipation of a future letter submission request should they advance to the next round of this search. Applicants must provide three names and contact information of their references. The hiring unit will request confidential letters** from the references of those applicants who are under serious consideration. Please note that your references, or dossier service, will submit their confidential letters directly to the UC Recruit System.

• All letters will be treated as confidential per University of California policy and California state law. For any reference letter provided via a third party (i.e., dossier service, career center), direct the author to UCSC’s confidentiality statement at http://apo.ucsc.edu/confstm.htm .
  

Apply link: https://recruit.ucsc.edu/JPF01361

Help contact: dlglover@ucsc.edu

Campus Information

The University of California is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age, or protected veteran status. UC Santa Cruz is committed to excellence through diversity and strives to establish a climate that welcomes, celebrates, and promotes respect for the contributions of all students and employees. Inquiries regarding the University’s equal employment opportunity policies may be directed to the Office for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at the University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064 or by phone at (831) 459-2686.

Under Federal law, the University of California may employ only individuals who are legally able to work in the United States as established by providing documents as specified in the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. Certain UCSC positions funded by federal contracts or sub-contracts require the selected candidate to pass an E-Verify check (see https://www.uscis.gov/e-verify ). The university sponsors employment-based visas for nonresidents who are offered academic appointments at UC Santa Cruz (see https://apo.ucsc.edu/policy/capm/102.530.html ).

UCSC is a smoke & tobacco-free campus.

If you need accommodation due to a disability, please contact Disability Management Services at roberts@ucsc.edu (831) 459-4602.

UCSC is committed to addressing the spousal and partner employment needs of our candidates and employees. As part of this commitment, our institution is a member of the Northern California Higher Education Recruitment Consortium (NorCal HERC). Visit the NorCal HERC website at https://www.hercjobs.org/regions/higher-ed-careers-northern-california/ to search for open positions within a commutable distance of our institution.

The University of California offers a competitive benefits package and a number of programs to support employee work/life balance. For information about employee benefits please visit https://ucnet.universityofcalifornia.edu/compensation-and-benefits/index.html

As a condition of employment, you will be required to comply with the University of California SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) Vaccination Program Policy . All Covered Individuals under the policy must provide proof of Full Vaccination or, if applicable, submit a request for Exception (based on Medical Exemption, Disability, and/or Religious Objection) or Deferral (based on pregnancy) no later than the applicable deadline. New University of California employees should refer to Appendix F, Section II.C. of the policy for applicable deadlines. (Capitalized terms in this paragraph are defined in the policy.) Federal, state, or local public health directives may impose additional requirements. Additional information and resources for compliance are located on the campus COVID-19 Vaccines webpage .

VISIT THE UCSC WEB SITE AT https://www.ucsc.edu

Job location

Santa Cruz, California