Assistant​/Associate Professor, Product Design; Physical and Digital

Position: Assistant/Associate Professor, Product Design (Physical and Digital)
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Posting Details

The University of Utah, an AA/EO employer, encourages applications from all qualified individuals, and provides reasonable accommodation to the known disabilities of applicants and employees. The University of Utah values candidates who have experience working in settings with students, staff, faculty and patients from all backgrounds and possess a strong commitment to improving access to higher education, employment opportunities, and quality healthcare for historically underrepresented groups.

Position Information

Proposed Faculty Rank Assistant or Associate Professor Department 01138 - Design City Salt Lake City, UT Track Tenure Track New Position to Begin 07/01/2026 Details

The Division of Multi-Disciplinary Design (MDD) is now accepting applications for a full-time Assistant or Associate Professor in design, specializing in product design with expertise in physical and/or digital design. This is a full-time, 9-month faculty position with an expected start date of July 2026.

Housed within the College of Architecture + Planning, MDD promotes design education across disciplines through an innovative and applied curriculum. With areas of focus across digital, physical, and exploratory design, we are a community of academics, professionals, and students engaging in hands-on design work to meet the needs of a rapidly changing world.

A consistent thread of innovative design education runs throughout MDD. The program includes a breadth of 'products' in its purview, encompassing physical and digital artifacts at various scales, as well as service and systems design. The MDD curriculum is strategically designed around Studio Practice, Technical Competency, Historical and Theoretical Foundations, and Applied Practice. The program integrates artistic, technical, and theoretical frameworks to foster a comprehensive design education.

This integrative approach promotes critical analysis, inventive thinking, and cross-disciplinary collaboration, leveraging a curriculum that incorporates additional expertise from architecture, fine arts, communication, business, engineering, and computer science. Key educational imperatives include promoting inquiry-driven learning, advancing visual literacy, fostering methodological experimentation, and cultivating collaborative capabilities. This multi-disciplinary approach, along with collaborations with community stakeholders and industry partners, enable students to engage with authentic design challenges, enhancing both their professional preparedness and societal impact.

Scholarship and creative activity within the Division of Multi-Disciplinary Design reflect the program's broad and practice-driven approach, integrating design research, technology, material studies, and community engagement. MDD faculty produce a wide range of scholarly outputs, including peer-reviewed journal articles, patents, design exhibitions, book chapters, funded research projects, interactive media, and public installations. This diverse body of work accommodates multiple forms of design practice, ensuring that research remains both theoretically rigorous and practically applied.

Position Description

This position will focus on the design, development, and implementation of physical and/or digital products. For appointments at the assistant professor rank, we are seeking An early career faculty member with some experience teaching and a research agenda which shows promise for developing towards tenure at the University of Utah. For appointments at the associate professor rank, we are seeking a mid-career faculty member who currently holds tenure or who demonstrates a record of professional and creative achievement that would make them eligible for tenure at the University of Utah.

The successful candidate will have a strong record of applied design work, an understanding of production or implementation processes, and experience teaching the practical aspects of design through studio-based learning.

We seek a designer with professional experience and demonstrated achievement in product design-either physical or digital-or…