A force for change
The College of Arts and Sciences faculty are leaders in diversity and inclusion efforts at the University of San Diego. In alignment with USD's mission and values of academic excellence and human dignity, our commitment to a liberal arts education requires us to work toward eliminating inequity and improving access. We strive to advance this work through our equitable hiring practices and curriculum enhancement.
We continue to develop retention efforts that ensure our faculty thrives in our community. The college has worked to ensure each department updated rank and tenure criteria attentive to inclusive pedagogy, engaged scholarship and service in the context of equity and justice.
76%
of college faculty at the assistant professor level are women
35%
of college faculty at the assistant professor level are faculty of color
We're Hiring
Open Positions
Below are the current open faculty positions in the College of Arts and Sciences. Please go to JOBS @ USD to see all USD open positions.
Department: Art, Architecture + Art History
Position Status: Tenure-track Faculty, Full-time
The Department of Art, Architecture + Art History (DAA+AH) in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of San Diego (USD) invites applications for a full-time, tenure-track position in Visual Arts: Graphic Design at the rank of Assistant Professor to begin Fall 2027.
We seek candidates who embrace USD’s teacher-scholar model: an active practitioner in the field of design with a deep interest in teaching and supporting student success. Ideal candidates have expertise in design’s trajectory from its traditional association with discrete printed materials to digital tools and virtual environments that can process experience, data and information in interactive and expansive contexts. Candidates should have the ability to apply these skills and concepts to teach innovative classes that critically engage the language and history of art and design.
Department: Biology
Position Status: Tenure-track Faculty, Full-time
The Department of Biology at the University of San Diego invites applications for two tenure-track assistant professorships beginning in Fall 2027. The department seeks applicants with experience in cell biology, broadly defined, and/or organismal biology. The successful candidate should demonstrate the potential for excellence in undergraduate teaching and will be expected to teach in majors and non-majors introductory biology courses as well as upper division foundational and/or elective courses according to their area of expertise; the base teaching load is 3 courses (lecture or labs) per semester. A research experience for all students is a central feature of our biology curriculum, and the successful candidate will demonstrate the capacity to develop a robust research program that incorporates undergraduate research students.
See the full position description — this link is for both the cell biology position and the organismal biology position.
Department: Chemistry and Biochemistry
Position Status: Tenure-track Faculty, Full-time
The Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of San Diego invites applications for a tenure-track position in Organic Chemistry at the Assistant Professor level beginning in Fall 2027. We seek a dynamic teacher/scholar with experience in organic chemistry, broadly defined, that complements our department. Interdisciplinary applications are encouraged. Successful candidates will have a robust commitment to undergraduate research and education that engages chemistry and biochemistry majors as well as non-majors.
Department: Department of English/Writing Program
Position Status: Tenure-track Faculty, Full-time
The Department of English at the University of San Diego invites applications for the position of Director of the University Writing Program to begin in Fall of 2027. We seek applicants at the level of advanced assistant, associate or full professor of English. The teaching assignment is four courses per year. Teaching responsibilities include writing and literature courses at all levels. Administrative responsibilities include collaboration with faculty and administration in overseeing USD’s Writing Program; supervision of first-year writing courses; contributing to personnel decisions (in consultation with English department chair); incoming student assessment and competency exams; coordinating all upper division, cross-curricular writing courses, including training faculty, reviewing Core Advanced Writing-course applications and syllabi; offering training workshops for all Writing Program faculty; Writing Program assessment; oversight of English for Speakers of Other Languages student assessment and support programming.
Department: Department of History
Position Status: Tenure-track Faculty, Full-time
The Department of History at the University of San Diego invites applications for a tenure-track assistant professorship in South Asian and/or Central Asian History with an emphasis on the premodern period (ca. 500-1500 CE) beginning in Fall 2027. The successful candidate will teach three courses per semester (a 3:3 load) and offer classes that will affirm the department’s commitment to introducing students to a variety of historical perspectives. We welcome a variety of specializations but are particularly interested in approaches that privilege transnational or global histories such as the movement of people through migration, conquest or travel; the diffusion of ideas, religions or cultural practices; or the spread of commodities, technologies or diseases via land or sea trade. The successful candidate should also be open to critical, interdisciplinary engagement and must demonstrate the potential for excellence in undergraduate teaching as well as the capacity to establish a program of research in their area of study.
Department: Department of Political Science and International Relations
Position Status: Tenure-track Faculty, Full-time
The Department of Political Science and International Relations at the University of San Diego invites applications for a tenure-track position at the rank of Assistant Professor beginning in Fall 2027. We seek a teacher-scholar whose research and teaching center on international development, with particular attention to international politics, institutions, or public policy in the Global South. The successful candidate will contribute to undergraduate and graduate courses in international development and international relations; develop courses with broad appeal in their area of expertise; and contribute to instruction in research methods and/or policy analysis. We are especially interested in scholarship and teaching that engage contemporary policy questions. Relevant professional, policy, or field experience in international development is welcome. This appointment is intended to broaden the department’s curriculum and complement the expertise of its current faculty. Accordingly, we are particularly interested in candidates who would expand the department’s coverage beyond its existing strengths in Latin American politics and migration politics. The successful candidate will demonstrate the potential for excellent and inclusive teaching, effective undergraduate and graduate advising, and an active program of scholarly research. Faculty typically teach a 3–3 course load. The new faculty member will also be expected to participate in departmental, college, and university service, with limited service expectations during the first year.
Department: Department of Psychological Sciences
Position Status: Tenure-track Faculty, Full-time
The Department of Psychological Sciences at the University of San Diego invites applicants for a tenure-track Assistant Professor in Clinical Psychology to start in Fall 2027. Our faculty are dedicated teacher-scholars with a commitment to offering the highest quality teaching and learning environment for students as well as mentoring undergraduates in meaningful research experiences. We embrace our responsibility to create a welcoming and inclusive campus culture and seek candidates who are motivated to contribute to the life of the department, College, and University. The department offers robust mentoring of new faculty to support their success. The Department of Psychological Sciences offers a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology, with the opportunity for students to select an emphasis in Clinical Mental Health, Child/Human Development, Health and Wellness, or Social and Cultural Processes (please visit https://www.sandiego.edu/cas/psychological-sciences/ for more information).
Department: Department of Psychological Sciences
Position Status: Tenure-track Faculty, Full-time
The Department of Psychological Sciences at the University of San Diego invites applicants for a tenure-track Assistant Professor in Cognitive Psychology to start in Fall 2027. Our faculty are dedicated teacher-scholars with a commitment to offering the highest quality teaching and learning environment for students as well as mentoring undergraduates in meaningful research experiences. We embrace our responsibility to create a welcoming and inclusive campus culture and seek candidates who are motivated to contribute to the life of the department, College, and University. The department offers robust mentoring of new faculty to support their success. The Department of Psychological Sciences offers a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology, with the opportunity for students to select an emphasis in Clinical Mental Health, Child/Human Development, Health and Wellness, or Social and Cultural Processes (please visit https://www.sandiego.edu/cas/psychological-sciences/ for more information).
Information forthcoming.
Equitable Hiring Practices
Cluster Hire Initiative
The Cluster Hire Initiative was a multi-year hiring strategy during 2022-2025 and a part of the Horizon Project. The College of Arts and Sciences hired faculty in thematic clusters designed to attract a diverse set of scientists, artists, humanists, social scientists and mathematicians.
The Cluster Hire Initiative served not only as a hiring tool but as a vehicle to bring together scholars to share their work with the campus community, and dialogue around challenging social, environmental and political issues.
Cluster Themes 2022-2025
Climate Change and Environmental Justice
Scholars with interest and/or expertise in fostering opportunities to engage with questions about the impact of the changing climate on humanity, the environment, public policy and the arts.
Technology and the Human Experience
Scholars with a promising program of research in the study of technology and the human experience to prepare students to design, create, regulate and implement accessible and bias-free technologies for a diverse world.
Borders and Social Justice
Scholars with expertise in challenging and contesting the concept of borders as social, political, cultural and physical constructs that act as artificial or natural boundaries within and beyond our imagination.
Equitable Hiring Practices
Teaching Pathway Postdoctoral Program
In 2013 the College of Arts and Sciences created the Teaching Pathway Postdoctoral Program as an effort to support the development of diverse scholars and to bring new ideas and perspectives into the classroom. Numerous alumni of the program have gone on to tenure track positions at USD.
"I really want to make a difference in the classroom, and USD has been the perfect place to develop the talents and skills needed to do that."
Questions about our hiring practices?
Please contact Jillian Tullis at jtullis@sandiego.edu.