Assistant Professor, Hydrogeology

Position Title Assistant Professor, Hydrogeology About the University

Western Washington University, with over 15,000 students in seven colleges and the graduate school, is nationally recognized for its educational programs, students and faculty. The campus is located in Bellingham, Washington, a coastal community of 90,000 overlooking Bellingham Bay, the San Juan Islands and the North Cascades Mountain range. The city lies 90 miles north of Seattle and 60 miles south of Vancouver, British Columbia. Western has additional sites in Anacortes, Bremerton, Everett, Port Angeles, and Poulsbo. Western is recognized nationally for its successes, such as being named one of the top public master's-granting institutions in the Pacific Northwest for 25 years in a row by U.S. News & World Report.

Western Washington University is committed to achieving excellence through advancing inclusive success, increasing our Washington impact, and focusing on transformational education grounded in the liberal arts and sciences and based on innovative scholarship, research, and creative activity. Western's greatest strength is the outstanding students, faculty, staff, and alumni/ae who make up its community. Western supports an inclusive governance structure for all and provides a learning and working environment in which everyone can thrive. In pursuit of this excellence, individual employees are expected to establish and maintain productive and effective inclusive working relationships amongst diverse populations including staff, faculty, administration, student, and external constituents. Further, individual employees are expected to have the ability to operationalize sustainability concepts (economic, societal, environmental) into all aspects of performing their job duties.

About the Department

We presently have 17 faculty members with teaching and research fields that include surface processes, geophysics, hydrogeology and engineering geology, tectonics and structural geology, sedimentology and stratigraphy, igneous and metamorphic processes, science education, marine geology, paleontology, stable isotope geochemistry, and planetary geoscience. Our department includes a large (190 majors) undergraduate program as well as a vibrant MS program with 45 graduate students.  The standard teaching load for faculty in the department is 1-2 courses per academic quarter (5/year). The goal of the program is to help students develop into confident, thoughtful, ethical scientists ready to address the growing challenges affecting our planet through the study of the geosciences.

The College of Science and Engineering and the Geology Department support Western's mission, which states that together with our students, staff, and faculty, we are committed to making a positive impact in the state and the world with a shared focus on academic excellence and inclusive achievement. We encourage applications from women, people of color, people with disabilities, veterans, and other candidates from underrepresented backgrounds and with diverse experiences interested in this opportunity.

About the Position The Geology Department at Western Washington University (WWU) invites applications for a tenure-track assistant professor position in Hydrogeology to begin Sept 16, 2026. We seek individuals who are enthusiastic about teaching and who will establish a productive research program that involves undergraduate and Masters-level students. The ideal candidate will support our department’s ability to produce workforce-ready geoscientists. Broad areas of research interest may include, but are not limited to, groundwater-surface water interactions, environmental hydrogeology, and groundwater systems (e.g. geothermal, fault zone, coastal, mountain).

 

Position Responsibilities:

• Teach Hydrogeology

• Teach new or existing courses in the field of Applied Geology (e.g. Engineering Geology, GIS in Geology, Surface Water Hydrology, Natural Hazards) ranging from the introductory to graduate level

• Contribute to Department efforts in applied geology including fostering industry and regional professional collaborations

• Fulfill teaching and mentoring responsibilities in ways that provide equitable and inclusive learning environments for all students

• Establish an active research program that can be sustained at a primarily undergraduate institution

• Mentor undergraduate and graduate (Master’s) students’ research projects

• Seek extramural research funding

• Participate in service activities of the Geology Department

 

Required Qualifications

• Earned PhD in Geosciences, or a closely related field, with an emphasis in Hydrogeology at time of application
• Evidence of the ability to effectively teach Hydrogeology
• Evidence of the ability to teach other courses in applied geology ranging from the introductory to graduate le