Assistant Professor - Theatrical Design - Department of Theater, Dance & Performance Studies

Position Overview

Assistant Professor

The current salary range for this position is $84,100-$132,900. (9-month academic year salary). However, off-scale salary and other components of pay, which would yield compensation than is higher than this range, are offered to meet competitive conditions.

July 1, 2027

Open date:
July 21, 2026

Next review date:
Wednesday, Sep 30, 2026 at 11:59pm (Pacific Time)

Final date:
Wednesday, Sep 30, 2026 at 11:59pm (Pacific Time)

Applications will continue to be accepted until this date.

The Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies at the University of California, Berkeley seeks applications for a full-time tenure-track Assistant Professor in the area of theatrical design, specifically one or more of the following areas: costume design, lighting design, scenic design, sound design, and or video/projection design for live performance. Areas of practice may include designing with new media (e.g., augmented reality, virtual reality, sensors, live streaming) for performance.

The Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies (TDPS) teaches performance as a mode of critical inquiry, innovation, creativity, knowledge production, and public engagement. Within our active experiential learning spaces, our students develop strong analytical and technical capacities. Our graduates are uniquely equipped to bring a just, creative, interconnected, and relational approach to the pressing challenges of our time. We believe that the making and sharing of public performance plays an essential role in a healthy and just society.

We embrace our mission and foreground social justice by striving to: foster a climate of trust and belonging in all of our spaces and activities; embrace collaboration and experimentation as core methodologies for our work; investigate and honor a diversity of historical and cultural perspectives; develop generative, ethical, and reciprocal relationships with surrounding communities by sharing resources, knowledge, and creative opportunities;

offer productions that are relevant, meaningful, and accessible to members of the UC Berkeley community and beyond, and engage the arts to build more just and equitable futures.

Duties:
Responsibilities will include pursuing a professional creative/research agenda; designing for the department's performances; teaching courses in the department's design curricula; mentoring and advising students; and participating in departmental activities and administrative service at college and campus levels.

The department is committed to addressing the family needs of faculty, including dual career couples and single parents. We are also interested in candidates who have had non-traditional career paths or who have taken time off for family reasons, or who have achieved excellence in careers outside academia. For information about potential relocation to Berkeley, or career needs of accompanying partners and spouses, please visit New Senate Faculty | Office for Faculty Equity & Welfare.

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BA or BFA (or equivalent international degree).

A minimum of 1year of professional experience as a designer, which may include experience as either a principal designer or design assistant.

Preference will be given to candidates:

• With an MFA or MA, or equivalent international degree or professional experience;
• Who possess a strong track record as a designer;
• With 1-2 years of college teaching experience and an an ability to engage in a diverse community with varying disciplines that constitute a rich theoretical and practice curriculum;
• With demonstrated administrative, artistic mentoring, and producing experience;
• Who bring experience culturally specific knowledges to their creative practice
• Who maintain an active creative /research agenda, and who can demonstrate an ability to help build the national and international profile of the department.

• Curriculum Vitae
  - Your most recently updated C.V.

• Cover Letter

• Sample of Creative Work
  - Please submit design materials including drawings, renderings, photographs, video or other files, of work at the professional level; if applicable, include work done in a higher education setting. Please submit materials for up to 10 projects defined as a performance, exhibition, or installation, or however many you have if fewer than 10. If design websites are submitted, the committee will review the specified 10 (or fewer) projects.
  
  The majority of each applicant's submissions should be for live performances.

• Statement on Design
  - Please submit an artist statement of 1-2 pages that contextualizes approach to design work. Describe and put into context 2-3 of your creative works. Also, describe your influences cultural, historical, and methodological. List any highlights or accolades in your design career, and describe their…