Job opening for Assistant Professor for Socially Integrated Housing and Development, Department of Urban Planning and Community Development, School for the Environment, University of Massachusetts Boston
Job Description
The Department of Urban Planning and Community Development in the School for the Environment at the University of Massachusetts Boston invites candidates for a full-time, tenure-track Assistant Professor position to begin in the fall of 2023. The ideal candidate will have a research, teaching, and outreach agenda focused on affordable housing policy making and planning; housing production, finance and management, and urban real estate market analysis. Of particular interest are candidates committed to investigating innovative forms of socially integrated housing that address the escalating shelter costs and rising rates of residential segregation by race and class in multiple U.S. cities.
The UPCD Department seeks to advance the University’s urban mission through engaged scholarship and is committed to recruiting a highly skilled candidate interested in partnering with local organizations and stakeholders to achieve more just housing planning processes and outcomes. Priority will be given to candidates with an engaged scholarship agenda who is interested in innovative approaches by involving students in applied courses and collaborative planning studios undertaken with external partners.
Responsibilities
A successful candidate for this position will be expected to develop and maintain an active research agenda supported by internal and external funding while teaching four high-quality graduate-level courses within the Department of Urban Planning and Community Development each year. Depending on the Department’s needs, candidates would also be expected to develop courses for UPCD’s undergraduate community development program. Furthermore, the successful candidate is expected to contribute to our core courses in urban planning and develop new courses in our Housing and Community Development Concentration. Established as a graduate program in 2015, the UPCD Department is currently in the final phase of its first Planning Accreditation Board review process. For this hire, priority will be given to individuals who can assist the Department in meeting the accreditation standards in their areas of expertise.
The successful candidate will be expected to supervise professional project reports in the graduate planning program and dissertations in the School for the Environment’s Environmental Science Ph.D. Additionally, the individual will be asked to serve on departmental, school, and university-level committees while connecting their research to the planning needs of non-profits and public agencies committed to addressing the mounting shelter crisis facing communities within the New England region.
Qualifications
A PhD in Urban and Regional Planning is required. Preference will be given to candidates with a professional planning degree and a record of accomplishment, in the field of affordable housing. Active participation in professional associations and national meetings of organizations committed to advancing innovative, affordable housing policy solutions, such as the American Planning Association, Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning, Urban Affairs Association, Community Development Society, Urban Land Institute, and Smart Cities USA, is also desirable. In addition, successful candidates must demonstrate a strong commitment to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion through their scholarship, teaching, and service.
Finally, a history of organizing and managing successful partnerships (e.g., community/university partnership planning projects, engaged studios, and community-based projects) in the housing area is highly desirable, including PhD-level experience in applied research. The search committee will consider all-but-dissertation (ABD) students who are in a position to complete their terminal degrees by August of 2023.
UMass Boston
The University of Massachusetts Boston is the Commonwealth’s public urban serving research university that has a dynamic teaching and learning culture and a special commitment to urban and global engagement. Nearly 16,000 students are enrolled in UMB’s seventy-nine undergraduate and one hundred fifteen graduate programs. UMB boosts the most diverse student body in New England, with nearly 60% of its students being first-generation college attendees. Located along the recently completed forty-seven-mile oceanside Harbor Walk in Boston, UMB shares the Columbia Point Peninsula with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Archives, the John F. Kennedy Presidential Museum and Archive, and the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the US Senate.
School for the Environment
SFE’s mission is “to generate, communicate, and activate knowledge aimed at promoting the health, sustainability, and resilience of coastal ecological systems and communities.” SFE pursues its environmental health and justice research, teaching, and outreach agenda through a transdisciplinary approach designed to enhance the problem-solving capacity of local communities and institutions. SFE’s thirty-seven faculty support four undergraduate programs (community development, environmental science, environmental studies, and marine science), three master’s degree programs (environmental science, marine science, urban planning, and community development), and PhD Programs in Environmental Science and Marine Science. One of the most productive research units at UMass Boston, SFE is a major contributor to the campus’s Sustainable Solutions Lab and Stone Living Lab. It is also home to PRI’s award-winning environmental news program – Living on Earth.
Department of Urban Planning and Community Development
UPCD was established as a graduate program designed to meet the professional education needs of those working in the urban planning, design, and development sectors without the benefit of graduate planning degrees. Launched with five students in 2015, UPCD’s graduate student enrollment has grown to more than forty students. In 2021, UMB Administration added a BA in Community Development Program to UPCD, transforming the unit into the campus’s newest Department. In January 2022, UPCD was granted “Program Candidacy Status” by the Planning Accreditation Board, paving the way for a fall site visit by this body before a final vote on its accreditation takes place in mid-January of 2023.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
The University of Massachusetts Boston provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, age, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, disability, military status, genetic information, pregnancy or a pregnancy-related condition, or membership in any other protected class. The University of Massachusetts Boston complies with all applicable federal, state and local laws governing non-discrimination in employment in every location in which the University operates. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment.
UMB’s Policy on Background Checks
As a condition of employment, the University will conduct appropriate background reviews for all new hires once an offer has been accepted. This policy will be implemented in a manner consistent with the rights of privacy, equal opportunity, and academic freedom afforded to those who serve the University.
How to Apply
Interested individuals have to submit the following documents:
- Curriculum Vitae
- Statement of Research, Teaching, and Community Service Philosophy
- Statement of Diversity and Values
- Names and contact information of three references
Candidates can submit required materials through the UMB’s Career Portal at: https://employmentopportunities.umb.edu/boston/en-us/listing/
Application Deadline
For maximum consideration by UPCD Housing Search Committee, materials should be submitted, via the UMB Employment Portal, by Monday, November 21, 2022, 12 am (EST).
For More Information
Contact Antonio Raciti, Associate Professor for Community Planning and Ecological Design, Department of Urban Planning and Community Development, School for the Environment, The University of Massachusetts Boston -
