Open-Rank Professor of Games

Open-Rank Professor of Games
(Tenure-Track/Tenured)

University of California Los Angeles

Requisition Number:
JPF09663

The Department of Design Media Arts (DMA)
within the UCLA School of Arts and Architecture invites applications for an
Assistant, Associate, or Full Professor position in the area of Games.

Who should apply?

We seek applications from artists, scholars,
designers, and developers whose practice engages deeply with critical and
experimental approaches to games. The Department of Design Media Arts is
situated within the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture and offers BA and
MFA degrees; applicants should have experience working with artists and
designers in academic, studio, or professional contexts. Applicants should
demonstrate expertise, community engagement, and international recognition for
one or many critical game-related practices.

The search committee will review applications
as they arrive via RECRUIT. Applications will be reviewed for completeness and
candidates will be informed if their applications are incomplete and given a
reasonable amount of time to provide missing material. To ensure full
consideration, candidates should apply by October 5, 2024.

Example areas of focus might include:

-experimental game art

-critical theory and method in game studies

-game programming and technical development

-game production and publishing

-game writing and emerging genres

-game curation and community organizing

-games in relation to race, gender,
sexuality, disability, and class

Ideal candidates will contribute to further
developing the vision of the Design Media Arts Department and the UCLA Game Lab
and will have a leadership role in advancing our goals of merging artistic
practice, social responsibility, and cultural inquiry around gaming and related
fields. Applicants should familiarize themselves with the work we do in the
Game Lab https://games.ucla.edu/ and in the department of Design Media Arts
https://dma.ucla.edu/

Working in the Department of Design Media
Arts (DMA)

DMA is looking for a colleague with a
commitment to working in social, critical, and cultural spaces, who believes in
building nourishing and supportive communities. We prioritize diversity,
accessibility, and accountability. We expect that this position will attract
applicants who value excellence in teaching, academic service and leadership,
and collaboration, who have deep commitments to social issues, and who manifest
their passions and craft within the area of games and media arts.

This position offers an opportunity to
collaborate on the creation of a Games Major, expanding our degree offerings in
the department of Design Media Arts at UCLA.

Responsibilities

The position involves teaching three
undergraduate studio courses and two graduate seminars each academic year,
contributing service to the department and the University, advancing the goals
of the UCLA Game Lab, and developing independent research and creative activity
appropriate for advancement within the University of California. Teaching at
UCLA is on a quarterly schedule; the teaching load is 2,2,1. Service includes
chairing or serving on two or three departmental or University-wide committees,
involvement in departmental admissions, mentoring junior faculty, and advising
graduate students.

Basic Qualifications

Terminal degree (MFA or PhD in a related
field) or equivalent professional experience of 5 years or more

About UCLA, The Department of Design Media
Arts, and the UCLA Game Lab

The University of California, Los Angeles
(UCLA) is located in the neighborhood of Westwood in Los Angeles. UCLA is an R1
research institution and part of the University of California (UC) system and
has been ranked as the No. 1 public university by the U.S. News & World
Report for six consecutive years.

Situated in the School of Arts and
Architecture, the department of Design Media Arts (DMA) has a population of 24
graduate students in its 3-year MFA program and approximately 200 undergraduate
students in its 4-year BA program. DMA houses 12 full-time senate faculty,
approximately 15 lecturers, and a range of faculty directed research centers
and initiatives, which include the UCLA Game Lab, Counterforce Lab, UCLA Social
Software, Media Arts Research Space (MARS), Art | Sci Center, FLAT Journal, and
the Conditional Studio. DMA offers a technologically innovative and
intellectually rigorous curriculum anchored around media arts, design, and
games, providing a multidisciplinary education to foster critical thinking and
encourage experimentation, creative exploration, and research.

The UCLA Game Lab fosters the production of
experimental games and game-related research within an art and design context.
We emphasize conceptual risk-taking and the development of new modes of
expression, form, and critical inquiry through gaming. In addition to producing
games and research, the UCLA Game Lab also functions as a center that develops
public programming around critical issues in gaming, including lectures,
workshops, exhibitions, a visiting artist program, a summer program, and a
public game festival at the Hammer Museum, among other events.

Salary

The posted UC salary scales set the minimum
pay determined by rank and/or step at appointment. See Table(s) [1]. The salary
range for this position is $78,200-$205,400. "Off-scale salaries” and
other components of pay, i.e., a salary that is higher than the published
system-wide salary at the designated rank and step, are offered when necessary
to meet competitive conditions.

The level of appointment will be determined
by the candidate's quali?cations and professional experience.

The University of California is committed to
creating and maintaining a community dedicated to the advancement, application,
and transmission of knowledge and creative endeavors through academic
excellence, where all individuals who participate in University programs and
activities can work and learn together in a safe and secure environment, free
of violence, harassment, bullying and other demeaning behavior, discrimination,
exploitation, or intimidation. With this commitment as well as a commitment to
addressing all forms of academic misconduct, UCLA conducts targeted employment
reference checks for finalists to whom departments or other hiring units would
like to extend formal offers of appointment into Academic Senate faculty
positions. The targeted employment reference checks involve contacting the
finalists' current and prior places of employment to ask whether there have
been substantiated findings of misconduct that would violate the University's
Faculty Code of Conduct. To implement this process, UCLA requires all
applicants for Academic Senate faculty positions to complete, sign, and upload
the form entitled “Authorization to Release Information” into RECRUIT as part
of their application. If the applicant does not include the signed
authorization to release information with the application materials, the
application will be considered incomplete. As with any incomplete application,
the application will not receive further consideration. Although all applicants
for faculty recruitments must complete the entire application, only finalists
(i.e., those to whom the department or other hiring unit would like to extend a
formal offer) considered for Academic Senate faculty positions will be subject
to targeted employment reference checks.

To apply, please visit:
https://apptrkr.com/5515967

The University of California is an Equal
Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive
consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex,
sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age or
protected veteran status. For the complete University of California
nondiscrimination and affirmative action policy, see: UC Nondiscrimination
& Affirmative Action Policy,
https://policy.ucop.edu/doc/4000376/DiscHarassAffirmAction