Assistant Teaching Professor, Immersive Media and Games

Assistant Teaching Professor, Immersive Media and Games

Northern Arizona University

The School of Informatics, Computing, and Cyber Systems (SICCS) is known for its student-centered approach and strong emphasis on hands‑on learning and research. It offers a variety of undergraduate and graduate degrees, with approximately 60 faculty, 1,200 undergraduate and 500 graduate students. The department fosters close faculty‑student interaction, mentoring, and collaborative research, partnering with local and national organizations to apply engineering solutions to real‑world problems, especially those relevant to Arizona and the Southwest.

The Immersive Media and Games program invites applications for a career‑track (non‑tenure‑track) position at the rank of Assistant Teaching Professor. The successful candidate will have a strong background in game‑development teaching and prior experience in university teaching. The program is especially interested in applicants whose technical expertise is in human‑computer interaction, game user research, games and AI, and game‑based learning. Prior industry experience and shipping game products would be a plus.

Anticipated start date is the beginning of the Fall 2026 semester. This on‑site position requires the incumbent to complete their work primarily at an NAU site, campus, or facility; opportunities for remote work are rare.

• Teach 24 credit hours of Immersive Media and Games (IMG) courses, or laboratory equivalent, during the academic year.
• Develop undergraduate courses to support existing and new degree programs within the program.
• Increase recruitment and retention in Immersive Media and Games.
• Perform service for the department, college, university, and the profession.
• Maintain office hours and direct interaction with students.
• Remain current in discipline, updating course content as appropriate.
• Work with IMG Program faculty to develop and implement processes and tools for assessment of teaching and student learning outcomes, incorporating appropriate methodologies and technology.
• Mentor the Game Design student club.
• Work with the Schools of Art and Visual Communication so IMG students have the right courses and curriculum offered by their programs.
• Work with industry partners to identify projects for the Capstone course and internships for the students.
• Other duties as assigned.

• Completion of a PhD in Computer Science, Human‑Computer Interaction, Informatics, Data Science, AI, or a closely related field, awarded by August 18, 2026.
• A minimum of two years of college‑level teaching experience, which could also have been during the doctoral degree.
• A combination of related education, experience, and training may be used as an equivalent to the above minimum qualifications.

• 3‑5 years of teaching experience in undergraduate game design courses, ideally in an ABET‑accredited program.
• Experience developing and teaching experimental laboratory courses.
• Experience developing Capstone projects.
• Experience with mentoring student teams to compete in game design challenges, hackathons, game jams, and other competitions.
• Prior industry experience in game development and immersive technology.
• Experience of involvement in curriculum development, student advising, and ABET accreditation processes.
• Demonstrated evidence of engagement with external sponsors to support student projects.

Knowledge: public education needs, learning management systems, instructional design, effective pedagogy, team teaching, innovative learning methodologies, best practices in traditional and hybrid classroom environments, connections between prototyping, design and development of immersive products, supervisory and leadership practices, game engine architecture, immersive content creation pipelines, and tools for usability and assessment.

Skills: program development, effective leadership and active listening, strong interpersonal skills, experimental work and prototyping experience, industry experience, game programming skills (C++, C#), effective communication skills.

Mid‑Senior level

Full‑time

Education and Training

Higher Education