Assistant or Associate Professor of Industrial Design, Full Time, Tenure-Track

Assistant or Associate Professor of Industrial Design, Full Time, Tenure-Track - (260007NE)

Salary: $72,000-$78,000 commensurate with experience.

Collective Bargaining Agreement: This position is governed by the MSCA bargaining agreement

Hours: 37.5

We invite applicants who are accomplished industrial designers and educators with a demonstrated practice that connects physical products with the digital, service, and systemic dimensions that shape how products are made, perceived, and experienced. This is a full-time, tenure-track position at the rank of Assistant or Associate Professor in our Industrial Design Department.

In this role, you will join a department that values studio teaching and physical making. We are looking for a dynamic colleague with notable professional design experience, a strong commitment to being an educator who can meet students where they are and help them grow, a collaborative spirit, and has a breadth of knowledge to contribute across our undergraduate curriculum.

The successful candidate will understand products as complete experiences and ecosystems. This includes physical form, materials, manufacturing, digital behavior, interfaces, services, human factors, and the broader social and environmental contexts in which products operate.

At the same time, the successful candidate understands that the role of the industrial designer is being redefined. They see the designer as a future leader, a storyteller, a translator, and an orchestrator of multidisciplinary teams. They are someone who connects business strategy, human insight, design, technology, and implementation across the full product lifecycle and development team. They will prepare students to work fluently with AI as a creative tool and a material in intelligent products, while building the judgment, taste, and critical framing that has become even more valuable. They bring awareness of emerging trends like circular and regenerative design, the convergence of physical and digital experience, and emerging models of production and entrepreneurship. Overall, their focus is to prepare our students to anticipate change and see it as an opportunity to become a leader in something new.

• Teach six courses per academic year, including studio, lecture, and technical courses at multiple levels of the Industrial Design curriculum. Teaching through an iterative, student-centered studio process that connects research, drawing, and form development through digital and physical modeling, testing, refinement and presentation when appropriate.
• Help students understand products as integrated physical, digital, service, and system experiences while celebrating the material and form-based foundations of industrial design.
• Introduce computational and AI-assisted methods where they support learning, while helping students evaluate when these methods are appropriate, ethical, and useful.
• Advise, mentor, evaluate, and support student learning and growth understanding their wide range of backgrounds and levels of preparation.
• Collaborate with faculty and department chair on: creating a dynamic & exciting department culture; developing and assessing curriculum; incorporating iterative, student-centered, studio process best practices; sequencing courses; and understanding emerging areas of industrial design education.
• Develop relationships with industry, alumni, community organizations, and other academic programs that create meaningful learning opportunities and highlight the connections between design decisions and business strategy, brand, and market context.
• Maintain an active professional, creative, scholarly, or research practice that informs their teaching and contributes to the field.
• Participate in departmental and college-wide service e.g.: peer reviews, committees, exhibitions, recruitment, advising, and shared governance.
• Contribute to the department's future direction and demonstrate the capacity to grow into leadership responsibilities.

• A bachelor's degree in industrial design, product design, or a closely related field
• Notable professional experience in industrial or product design, demonstrated through a strong portfolio of completed work with evidence of the design process.
• Demonstrated competency with teaching, mentoring, or comparable educational experience in studio-based design.
• Recognizable ability to balance aesthetic, technical, material, systemic, and human considerations in design practice.
• Demonstrated competency with physical and digital making, prototyping, materials and manufacturing, and contemporary design tools and methods.
• Evidence of collaborative practice, effective communication, and commitment to student success.
• Commitment to working with and supporting a diverse and inclusive academic community.

• A terminal degree in industrial design, product design, or a related field, or a record of professional achievement that demonstrates equivalent preparation.
• College-level teaching beyond a TA experience across more than one area or level of an industrial design curriculum.
• Experience connecting physical products with digital behavior, interfaces, services, or broader systems.
• Experience developing or evaluating AI-assisted and computational workflows within professional practice or design education.
• Evidence of curriculum development, interdisciplinary collaboration, industry partnerships, or community-engaged work.
• Evidence of leadership in professional practice, education, research, or collaborative initiatives.
• Capacity to contribute to graduate programs.

• The department seeks a broadly capable designer who can teach across several areas of the curriculum. Applicants are not expected to specialize in every area, but should demonstrate strength in several of the following:
• Introductory through advanced level studio courses;
• Form development and design principles;
• Analog and digital drawing, visualization, and storytelling;
• Design research, human factors, inclusive design, and user testing;
• Materials, manufacturing processes, CMF detailing, and design for production;
• CAD, digital and physical, prototyping, traditional and digital fabrication;
• Product systems, connected products, services, interfaces, and product ecosystems;
• Professional practice, entrepreneurship, and industry collaboration;
• Critical perspectives of the discipline, sustainability, and the social impact of design;
• Computational and AI-assisted design workflows within industrial design practice;
• Interdisciplinary collaborative courses e.g. Footwear Design, Object making, & Integrated product design teams.

Please note MassArt:

• Does not support employment-based visa sponsorship or non-student exchange visitor visa sponsorship.
• Is not an E-Verify institution.

Selected candidates must be eligible to work in the US at the time of employment, complete all onboarding tasks including a Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) and Sex Offender Registry Information (SORI) background review and provide proof of eligibility to work in the US by completing the Form 19, Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986.

You are required to show proof of your identity and employment eligibility within three (3) days of the start of your employment. You will not be authorized to work in any capacity until all paperwork has been completed. For a list of all acceptable documents please clickhere.

Comprehensive Benefits (does not apply to contractor/student positions): When you embark on a career with the Commonwealth, you are offered an outstanding suite of employee benefits that add to the overall value of your compensation package. We take pride in providing a work experience that supports you, your loved ones, and your future. Want the specifics?

MassArt provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, age, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, disability, military status, genetic information, pregnancy or a pregnancy-related condition, or membership in any other legally protected class.

MassArt complies with all applicable federal, state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment in every location in which the college operates. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment.

Applicants should submit:

• A letter of interest addressing the position and the candidate's potential contribution to the department
• Curriculum vitae
• Statement of teaching philosophy, including approaches to inclusive and student-centered education
• Statement that envisions where ID will be in 5 years, where students might be, and how this might evolve their teaching approach
• Statement describing professional practice, creative activity, and/or research
• Portfolio of professional work, including process and the candidate's role Maximum file size 10MBs
• Portfolio of student work, assignments, or other evidence of teaching effectiveness Maximum file size 10MBs
• Names and contact information for three professional references

Official Title: Assistant Professor

: United States-Massachusetts-Boston-621 Huntington Avenue

: Education

: Mass College of Art and Design

: Full-time

: Day

: Nov 2, 2026, 7:40:52 PM

: 1

: 72,000.00 - 78,000.00 Yearly

If you have Diversity, Affirmative Action or Equal Employment Opportunity questions or need a Reasonable Accommodation, please contact Diversity Officer / ADA Coordinator: Kathryn Oram - 6178797917

Founded in 1873, having celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2023, Massachusetts College of Art and Design (MassArt), is the nation's first and only independent, free-standing public college of art and design in the country. MassArt is an inclusive community of thinkers, doers, makers, educators, innovators and leaders striving to shape the future through art and design. We've spent 150 years demonstrating the truly amazing things that happen when a world-class art and design education is an option for every deserving student. Located in Boston's hub of arts and culture along the Avenue of the Arts, MassArt enrolls 2,000 students and offers a comprehensive range of undergraduate and graduate degrees in 18 disciplines, as well as continuing education and youth programs.

MassArt strives to be a model of diversity and inclusion; the campus community reflects the layers of cultural and self-identity that proudly make up our region, nation, and world. We build effective partnerships with co-workers throughout the College by freely sharing appropriate information and providing assistance to all and maintain an environment that is welcoming to persons of all backgrounds, nationalities, and roles.

MassArt's Industrial Design program prepares students to become creative, critical, and capable problem solvers by developing meaningful products, experiences, and systems. The program is grounded in a hands-on studio culture that integrates research, drawing, form development through digital and physical modeling, prototyping, human factors, materials and manufacturing, professional practice, and clear visual and verbal communication.

As a department, we strive to model the profession we want students to enter: collaborative, supportive, experimental, and forward-looking. Faculty share responsibility for curriculum development, support one another's teaching and professional growth, and maintain active relationships with alumni, industry, community partners, and the local, national, and international design communities. We welcome a colleague who wants to contribute to this shared culture and, over time, develop the experience and trust needed to assume departmental leadership.