Visiting Assistant Professor, Urban Studies

About Worcester State University: WORCESTER STATE UNIVERSITY is a liberal arts and sciences university with a long tradition of academic excellence dating back to 1874, as well as an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer that seeks to reflect the diversity of its community. Our workforce is dedicated to academic quality, student-centered programming, engaged citizenship, open exchanges of ideas, diversity and inclusiveness, and civility and integrity.

We are looking for job applicants who share these values and commitment to our students. Worcester State is centrally located in Massachusetts, about an hour's drive from Boston, Springfield, and Providence, Rhode Island. Our 58-acre campus is nestled in the residential northwest side of Worcester--the second largest city in New England and home to 37,000 college students at more than a dozen colleges and universities.

Over 6,000 of those students attend Worcester State--approximately 5,300 are undergraduates and 1,000 are graduate students. Learn more about us /about.

The Department of Urban Studies is an interdisciplinary academic department with an undergraduate major with 2 concentrations and 3 minors, a graduate program with 3 Master''s degrees, and 2 centers, City Lab and the Urban Action Institute (UAI).

The Department of Urban Studies at Worcester State University seeks to fill a full-time, one-year benefited position at the Visiting Assistant Professor level beginning in the Fall Semester of 2026. The department is dedicated to academic coursework and student-centered community engagement. We are particularly interested in interdisciplinary teaching-scholars whose interests include: applied policy analysis, urban environmental policy, urban economics, urban education, social policy, and/or public health.

The successful candidate will teach quantitative research methods and will situate these methods in a socio-cultural context for non-specialist students. They will teach introductory and upper-level undergraduate courses, community fieldwork courses, and (more specialized) graduate courses. They should be able to offer specialized courses on topics such as social policy analysis, transportation, housing, urban environmentalism, urban health & social systems, and/or urban food systems.

The successful candidate will also work closely with the UAI director and staff on student-centered community engagement, including through experiential learning coursework and community-student collaborations.

• A Ph.D., conferred by September 1, 2026.
• Previous experience teaching undergraduate students.
• Applicants with diverse backgrounds, experiences, abilities, and perspectives are encouraged to apply.
• Experience with student-centered community engagement.

This is a full-time, benefited, exempt position. The anticipated start date for this position is September 1, 2026.

Here at Worcester State University, it is strongly recommended that all employees be vaccinated against COVID-19 before they begin employment.

Worcester State University offers a competitive benefits package that includes:

• a choice of 8 different pre-taxed, health insurance plan options
• a choice of pension or 401(a), and supplemental plan retirement options
• life insurance up to 8x the annual salary
• long-term disability coverage
• dental insurance
• 20 vacation days accrued per year
• 15 sick days accrued per year
• 5 personal days per year
• paid holidays
• tuition remission for self, spouse, and dependent children
• and more...

We are an equal opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. M/F/D/V. Members of traditionally underrepresented groups are strongly encouraged to apply.