Assistant Professor in Dance, Tenure Track, Fall 2025

Description

The Department of Dance in the College of Performing Arts at Chapman University invites applications for a full-time tenure track position at the rank of assistant professor. This position requires in-person on-campus teaching at the undergraduate level with an expected start date of August 1, 2025.

Chapman University is a nationally ranked, R2 Carnegie Classified, private institution dedicated to forward-looking, personalized education that embraces collaborative work environments and unparalleled experience solving real-world problems. Chapman offers traditional undergraduate and graduate programs in the heart of Orange County, one of the Southern California's most diverse and vibrant regions. Chapman's campuses are home to nearly 10,000 students representing 50 states, three territories, and 876 countries. The 11 schools and colleges of Chapman, including College of the Performing Arts, offer 65 bachelors, 53 master, and six doctoral programs, along with nearly 60 minors and 17 accelerated and bridge programs. Classes are taught by the  more than 1,100 dedicated faculty members who are leadcers in their fields, including Nobel Prize recipients, MacArthur Fellows, National Medal of Science honorees, former U.S. Supreme Court clerks, and Emmy, Grammy, and Academy Award winners.

The College of the Performing Arts brings together the Hall-Musco Conservatory of Music, the Department of Dance, and Department of Theatre. This partnership strengthens each discipline, while positioning the College of Performing Arts as the cultural and aesthetic center of Chapman University. We offer 7 degrees for about 460 majors who benefit from scholarship, creativity, free expression and intellectual curiosity both in the classroom and while performing in some of the hundreds of performances offered annually at one of several performing arts venues on campus. Our most prestigious venue, The Marybell and Sebastian P. Musco Center for the Arts, hosts an array of world-renowned performers as well as showcases student and faculty work. The alignment of this venue with the college, advances our position at the forefront of performing arts education.

Chapman University's Department of Dance offers rigorous professional training with high-caliber productions, renowned faculty and guest artists, a new state-of-the-art dance center, and all the benefits of a small liberal arts university. The BA and BFA degrees focus on balanced and varied training in ballet, jazz, and modern technique supported by tap, hip hop, ballroom, and other forms. Added curricular strengths include choreography (with more than 100 student works produced annually in four performance venues), and dance sciences and wellness (with courses in somatics, Pilates, yoga, anatomy and kinesiology).  

Chapman University is an accredited institutional member of the National Association of Schools of Dance, and the department is ranked as a Best College Dance Program by Dance.org.

The University is dedicated to enhancing diversity and inclusion in all aspects of recruitment and employment. More information on diversity and inclusion at Chapman University is available at www.chapman.edu/diversity.

Responsibilities

We are a student-focused institution. Our new colleague must be able to teach and mentor across different pedagogical modalities in the liberal arts, including seminar, rehearsal, studio, community and production formats. We seek a colleague with a strong record of collaborative work and excellent communication and organizational skills. Additionally, this faculty colleague is expected to contribute in meaningful ways to consistent recruitment and retention efforts.

Responsibilities include:

• Teach lecture courses such as dance history, dance in world cultures, dance in film and dance education and outreach.
• Lead the effort in DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) course development, and devise interdisciplinary teaching collaborations within the college of performing arts and other colleges.
• Tenure-track faculty members are expected to develop and maintain an active research agenda and are evaluated on their research/scholarly/creative activity, teaching, and service.
• Provide service to elevate the department at the institutional and professional level.

Secondary activity includes studio technique, movement studies, and ability to mentor and develop undergraduate research projects.

Qualifications

We invite exceptional scholars whose interdisciplinary research, practice and service contributes to the advancement of dance as a catalyst for change and who is eager to engage with scholars across disciplines within and outside the performing arts in innovative ways. With this hire, the department looks to further the university’s commitment to