Assistant​/Associate Professor in User Experience and User Interface Design; Tenure-Track

Overview

School of Art & Design
, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

The School of Art & Design, housed within the College of Fine and Applied Arts at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, invites applications for two full-time tenure-track faculty positions in User Experience (UX) and User Interface (UI) Design at the rank of Assistant or Associate Professor, with an anticipated start date of August 16, 2026. These positions will play a central role in the development and instruction of the BS in Computer Science + Design degree, a collaborative program that bridges design and technology.

Faculty will contribute to three programs including Graphic Design, Industrial Design and Studio Art to foster interdisciplinary teaching and research. We seek a candidate with a terminal degree (MFA, PhD, or equivalent) in a field engaging art, design, and computation. The ideal candidate will be both a practicing artist/critical designer—with a strong record of public engagement through exhibitions, installations, and/or performances—and a researcher whose writing and publishing investigate the social, cultural, and aesthetic dimensions of computation.

Candidates should demonstrate expertise in computational media and contribute through creative interventions in areas such as but not limited to:

Areas of expertise (examples):

• Artificial Intelligence as medium and cultural system
• Platform culture, computational logics, and interface aesthetics
• Digital rights, privacy, and ethics of computation
• Race, gender, and technology
• Algorithmic bias, equity, and social justice
• Design for Accessibility
• Bio-art, Art–science, Data Visualization, and emerging crossover disciplines, including Behavioral Sciences
• Code as art

We are looking for an artist-designer-researcher whose creative practice and critical inquiry together advance new ways of engaging with computation, interface, and interaction in their wider cultural, social, and political dimensions.

The School of Art & Design supports interdisciplinary and socially engaged creative practices and offers a range of programs, including undergraduate and/or graduate degrees and concentrations in Art Education, Art History, Fashion, Graphic Design, Industrial Design, Design for Responsible Innovation, New Media, Painting, Photography, Printmaking, Sculpture, and Studio Art. Our School emphasizes both technical excellence and conceptual rigor, encouraging students to challenge themselves and use their creative skills in building a better, more just and sustainable world.

In all areas, student and faculty work is supported by state-of-the-art labs for traditional and contemporary media, including spaces for digital imaging and printing, audio-visual production, rapid two- and three-dimensional prototyping, and darkroom photography. Facilities for bookbinding, letterpress, printmaking, and fashion design are also available.

The teaching load includes two courses per semester. The successful candidate will teach courses that position computation as an artistic and critical design medium, ranging from introductory coding for creative practice to advanced, research-driven practice and method-based seminars. Areas of teaching could include (but are not limited to): computational art, critical interface design, interactive art, data art, information art, net art, and related emerging practices.

The candidate will contribute to both undergraduate and graduate curricula, mentor students across disciplines, and help shape the evolving identity of computational art and critical design within the School of Art and Design.

• Terminal degree (MFA, PhD, or equivalent) in a relevant discipline.
• Evidence of an active creative practice with a strong record of public engagement through exhibition, installation, and/or performance.
• Evidence of critical research through writing, publishing, or equivalent scholarly contributions that engage computational media, design, and the arts.
• Demonstrated potential for excellence in teaching, mentoring, and curriculum development at both undergraduate and graduate levels.
• Commitment to fostering an…