Resident Assistant Professor of Computer Science

Description

Occidental College seeks a full-time, non-tenure-track Resident Assistant Professor, with a 3+3 teaching load. The Resident will be primarily housed in the Computer Science department, and they will teach required courses in the department that rotate among the permanent faculty in the department (such as COMP 131, COMP 149, COMP 229, COMP 239), as well as upper-level COMP electives, such as a practicum course where students build working software/products for community partners.

Additionally, the Resident will report to the Dean's Office for responsibilities around our college-wide entrepreneurship program. When necessary, course equivalencies will be dedicated to developing and sustaining academic programming around entrepreneurship. This might involve supporting coursework in entrepreneurship through mechanisms such as a regular semester course, January-term course, or summer course. In addition, this position will serve as the faculty advisor for the Oxypreneurship student club. During the first year of appointment, the workload will also include developing a vision for entrepreneurship at Oxy in partnership with the Dean’s Office, the President’s Office, and Institutional Advancement.

Finally, the Resident will serve as an advisor and mentor, supporting students in their course selection and academic careers.

In their first year, they will teach the following courses:

• COMP 239, Computer Organization (one section each semester, plus labs). This course serves as an introduction to low-level systems, including CPU and GPU design, memory hierarchies, assembly language, binary representations of numbers and data, etc. The course will be adapted from the Nand to Tetris syllabus. The official course description can be found in the course catalog: https://oxy.smartcatalogiq.com/en/2024-2025/catalog/course-descriptions/comp-computer-science/200/comp-239
• An upper-level elective of their choice; a list of our courses can be found at https://oxy.smartcatalogiq.com/en/2024-2025/catalog/course-descriptions/comp-computer-science/

Future courses will be assigned in consultation with the department.  

Qualifications

Required Qualifications

• Either:
  • A PhD by the start date of 8/15/2025, with teaching and/or research experience that involves computation; or
  • Substantial experience (at least 10 years) in industry doing computing-related work
• A track record of excellent computer science teaching or mentorship, ideally in an undergraduate liberal arts setting
• Interest and commitment to increasing access to and success in computer science for a diverse group of students, including those from minoritized and marginalized social groups
• Interest in, and ideally experience in, tech and social entrepreneurship

Application Instructions

To be assured full consideration, your application materials must be received by midnight Eastern time (9:00 pm Pacific time) on June 22, 2025.

A complete application includes both of the following:

• Cover Letter (max 5 pages single-spaced) in which you describe:
  • your education, experience, and/or skills that are relevant to the Required and Preferred Qualifications listed above
  • your teaching philosophy, preferred pedagogical practices, and prior experiences in teaching and mentoring
  • your past contributions to and future aspirations for creating equitable and inclusive opportunities for undergraduate students in computer science
  • your experience in and vision for entrepreneurship, especially in an undergraduate setting
• Curriculum Vitae

Any questions about the position should be addressed to Prof. Justin Li at justinnhli@oxy.edu.

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement

Occidental is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate against employees or applicants on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, breastfeeding or related medical condition, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, age, marital status,