Film & Digital Media: Assistant Professor of Narrative Film and Media Production

The Department of Film & Digital Media at the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC) invites applications for the tenure-track position Assistant Professor of Narrative Film and Media Production. We are seeking applicants whose innovative creative work demonstrates an active and sustained practice in narrative form, expansively defined, with expertise in moving image media, production, and exhibition.

Building on the department’s well-established strengths in documentary film and media, social justice-centered approaches to creative practice, and work that critically and creatively engages emerging technologies, we are particularly interested in candidates whose work bridges narrative and documentary practices, engages community-based and collaborative methods, or explores evolving modes and technologies of production. We welcome candidates whose work engages in a broader range of media practices, including interactive, participatory, and immersive media.

The position will require the assistant professor to maintain an active creative research practice with a record of exhibition in festival, theatrical, streaming, or broadcast contexts.

Our campus follows a schedule of three 11-week quarters per academic year. According to the department's workload policy, faculty members are expected to deliver the equivalent of four five-unit courses each year. The successful candidate will teach core and advanced camera-based production classes and foundational production workflows, including screenwriting, working with actors, cinematography, editing, and sound design across our three academic programs: undergraduate, M.F.A. in Social Documentation, and critical practice Ph.D. The primary curricular need for this position is in narrative-oriented camera-based workflows, including preproduction, production, and postproduction.

While the modalities of research and creative practice are open, the candidate must be able to support core areas of the production curriculum. Our department values interdisciplinary scholarship and practice, and we are interested in candidates who can further expand the skillsets and modalities that we can offer our students.

Further responsibilities of the position encompass advising and mentoring undergraduate and graduate students, engaging in faculty governance at both departmental and campus levels, and actively partaking in administrative service for the department, the affiliated college, and the university as a whole.

UC Santa Cruz is a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) and an Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institution (AANAPISI) with a high proportion of first-generation and low-income students. We welcome candidates who understand the historical barriers that exist in higher education and who can clearly articulate how their teaching, mentoring, creative/professional activity, and service contribute towards building a just scholarly community.