Assistant Professor of Sound Media

Description

The School of Music at Carnegie Mellon University invites applications for a tenure-track Assistant Professor of Sound Media beginning Fall 2026.

The school seeks a dedicated artist and pedagogue with a focus on the creative use of music technology. The successful candidate will engage with majors in electronic music, composition, music and technology, and CMU’s unique BXA program. We are looking for a colleague who will contribute substantially and boldly to supporting our School of Music’s mission to educate some of the world’s most dedicated, creative, innovative, and transformative musicians of the 21st century. This individual will support the design of curricular innovations involving music technology and the contemporary musician.

The successful candidate will contribute to CMU's distinctive interdisciplinary ecosystem and collaborative culture. For that reason, we encourage applications from individuals whose work spans the intersection of electronic music, music technology, and composition with backgrounds in areas including audio engineering, sound design, interactive media, and commercial composition, among others.

Responsibilities:

· Maintain an active and impactful creative and research agenda in their area of expertise

· Teach in the areas of sound media, sound recording, and/or creative technologies, which may include lecture-based courses or seminars, directing Exploded Ensemble (an experimental music research ensemble), designing and delivering new courses based on the candidate’s expertise (e.g., video game music, scoring for film, or commercial music)

· Other responsibilities include advising and mentoring student capstone or thesis projects (both undergraduate and graduate), serving on School, College, and University committees, and actively contributing to School of Music recruitment

About the Program

Carnegie Mellon's School of Music places a strong emphasis on contemporary creative practice, with an intense focus on artistic creation enriched by cutting-edge technology.

The School of Music includes Bachelor of Fine Arts and Master of Music degrees in instrumental, piano, and vocal performance, and composition, a Bachelor of Fine Arts in electronic music, and a Master of Music in collaborative piano. We also collaborate with the School of Computer Science and the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering to offer both a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Music and Technology. With 42 full-time faculty, 55 part-time faculty, 13 administrative and technical staff, Carnegie Mellon’s School of Music blends the one-on-one conservatory model of musical mentorship with R1 research capacities. 

The faculty includes individuals with expertise in multimedia, mixed media, and immersive electroacoustic music, canonic orchestral repertoire, with several faculty from the Grammy Award-winning Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, sociologically-informed and culturally relevant research in music education and musicology, cognition and musical experience, hybrid instruments and AI in piano and vocal pedagogy, and Dalcroze Eurhythmics (the first school in the USA to embed this training into the undergraduate music major curriculum).

Our facilities include performance, office, studio, rehearsal, classroom, administrative spaces, and the Vlahakis Recording Studio in the beautiful College of Fine Arts building, designed by architect Henry Hornbostel. In 2020, the School of Music expanded into the newly renovated Hall of the Arts, with additional office, studio, classroom, rehearsal, recording, and administrative spaces, as well as the Lonna and Michael Smith Electronic Music Studio.

The successful candidate will benefit from the many collaborative opportunities facilitated through the College of Fine Arts’ Dean’s Office, the Frank-Ratcheye STUDIO for Creative Inquiry, the Center for the Arts in Society, and the Institute for Contemporary Art Pittsburgh (ICA Pittsburgh), among others.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications

· Terminal degree (DMA, PhD, or professional equivalent) in Music Composition, Music Technology, Computer Music, Audio Engineering, or a closely related field

· Technical proficiency in audio technology software and hardware, including digital audio workstations (Pro Tools, Logic Pro, Ableton Live, or similar), synthesis environments (hardware and software), and music programming languages (Max/MSP, Pure Data, SuperCollider, or similar)

· Demonstrated excellence or strong potential for excellence in teaching at the undergraduate and