Assistant Professor

POSITION DETAILS


Employment based visa sponsorship will be considered for this position.

Position Number: 105770
Classification Title: Assistant Professor
Working Title: Assistant Professor of Museum Studies

Department: Dept of Art and Design
FLSA Status: Exempt
Salary Range: Commensurate with education and experience
Pay Basis: Annually

POSITION OVERVIEW

JOB SUMMARY:


The University of West Florida Department of Art & Design invites applications for a full-time, tenure-track Assistant Professor of Museum Studies. This position will play a central role in developing the new interdisciplinary Minor in Museum Studies and expanding the Art History Major into Museum Studies, both designed to provide students with foundational knowledge and hands-on experience in museums, galleries, collections management, exhibition production, interpretation, preparatorship, and public-facing cultural work. The salary for this position will be commensurate with education and experience.


This initiative supports the university's area of expertise in Public Archaeology and Community Heritage and is intended to serve undergraduate and graduate students in Art, Art History, History, Archaeology, Anthropology, Public History, Graphic Design, Arts Administration, and related disciplines. The program will leverage the University's unique partnerships and resources, including TAG, The Art Gallery at UWF, the Pensacola Museum of Art, the Pensacola Museum of History, the Pensacola Children's Museum, the UWF Historic Trust, the UWF Archaeology Institute, and the Florida Public Archaeology Network (FPAN).

The successful candidate will contribute to the development and growth of the Museum Studies Minor and Art History and Museum Studies Major while also helping to guide The Art Gallery at UWF (TAG) as a teaching gallery, exhibition space, and experiential learning site. The position emphasizes interdisciplinary learning, applied museum practice, and student-centered professional development through coursework, internships, exhibitions, collections work, public programming, and collaborative cultural projects.

The faculty member will be housed in the Department of Art & Design in the College of Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities at the University of West Florida. The Department is strongly committed to fostering a welcoming, collaborative, and student-centered learning environment grounded in interdisciplinary practice, experiential learning, and community engagement.

Position Responsibilities:

This is a full-time, tenure-earning position with benefits. The successful candidate will contribute to developing an interdisciplinary Museum Studies Minor and an Art History and Museum Studies Major, teaching courses across museum studies, curatorial practice, gallery operations, collections management, museum education, public history, and audience engagement.

Teaching responsibilities may include undergraduate courses within the Department of Art & Design, as well as courses that support interdisciplinary connections with History, Public History, Archaeology, Anthropology, Art Administration and related majors and programs. Depending on the candidate's expertise, courses may address topics such as:

-Museum Studies
-Exhibition Practices
-Curatorial Methods
-Collections Management
-Museum Education and Interpretation
-Gallery Operations
-Preparatorship and Exhibition Installation
-Public History and Community Heritage
-Museum Writing and Audience Engagement
-Digital Interpretation and Public-Facing Cultural Work
-Art History
-Architectural History

The successful candidate should demonstrate the ability to curate exhibitions and develop exhibition-related learning opportunities in collaboration with TAG, the Pensacola Museum of Art, the UWF Historic Trust, the UWF Archaeology Institute, FPAN, and other regional museums, galleries, archives, archaeological organizations, and cultural institutions.

Experiential Learning & Museum and Gallery Engagement:

The position connects classroom learning directly to applied gallery and museum practice by guiding exhibitions as teaching opportunities and experiential learning sites, coordinating exhibition and experiential learning opportunities through partnerships with TAG, The Art Gallery at UWF, the Pensacola Museum of Art, the Pensacola Museum of History, the Pensacola Children's Museum, the UWF Historic Trust, the UWF Archaeology Institute, and the Florida Public Archaeology Network (FPAN). The faculty member will coordinate the department's experiential learning ecosystem and provide mentorship across all stages of exhibition production. This includes leading student-centered initiatives such as exhibition and event graphic design, administrative and preparatorial operations, and an annual faculty-partnered exhibition series that connects coursework with faculty research. Together, these opportunities allow students to engage in the full lifecycle of exhibitions-from concept development and design to installation, programming, and documentation-as the Assistant Professor strengthens curricular connections and expands partnerships with regional cultural institutions.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:


Holds the highest degree appropriate in Museum Studies, Art History, Public History, Anthropology, Archaeology, Arts Administration, Exhibition Design, Curatorial Studies, or a related field, or possesses equivalent qualifications based on professional experience, and be otherwise qualified to perform assigned duties. The appointee engages in teaching, scholarship and creative projects, and/or service and other related activities.

POSITION QUALIFICATIONS:


Terminal degree, PhD, MFA, or equivalent, in Museum Studies, Art History, Public History, Anthropology, Archaeology, Arts Administration, Exhibition Design, Curatorial Studies, or a related field, completed by the start date of appointment.

Professional experience in museums, galleries, archives, collections, cultural institutions, exhibition spaces, or related organizations.
Teaching experience at the university level or demonstrated potential for effective undergraduate teaching.

Demonstrated ability to support gallery, museum, exhibition, collections-based, or public-facing cultural learning experiences for undergraduate students.

Demonstrated commitment to experiential learning, interdisciplinary collaboration, and student professional development.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:


Experience developing or teaching interdisciplinary Museum Studies coursework.

Experience directing, managing, or coordinating a museum, university gallery, exhibition space, archive, collection, cultural program, or public-facing arts initiative.

Experience with exhibition production, collections management, curatorial practice, museum education, preparatorship, archives, public programming, or cultural heritage interpretation.

Experience curating exhibitions or developing exhibition-related projects in collaboration with museums, galleries, archives, archaeological organizations, public history sites, community-based cultural institutions, or university partners.

Experience supporting experiential learning, internships, undergraduate research, project-based learning, or high-impact educational practices.
Experience mentoring students in applied museum, gallery, exhibition, design, archival, or public history contexts.

Ability to contribute to interdisciplinary collaboration across Art, Art History, Graphic Design, History, Archaeology, Anthropology, Public History, Arts Administration, and related fields.

Experience working with student exhibition teams, design teams, preparator teams, gallery interns, or museum education programs.

Experience teaching in multiple modalities, including in-person and online instruction.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS:

• Physical Requirements: Regularly involves lifting, bending or other physical exertion. Often exposed to one or more disagreeable environmental factors, such as heat, cold, noise, dust, dirt, chemicals, etc., with often to the point of being objectionable.
• Impact of Deadlines: Routine deadlines. Usually sufficient lead time. Variance in work volume, seasonal, and predictable. Priorities can be anticipated. Some interruptions are present. Involves occasional exposure to demands/pressures from persons other than immediate sup.
• Standing: Daily
• Walking: Daily
• Sitting: Daily
• Reaching with hands and arms: Daily
• Climbing or balancing: Daily
• Stooping: Daily
• Use of hands to handle objects: Daily
• Lifting up to 10lbs: Daily
• Lifting up to 25lbs: Occasionally
• Lifting over 25lbs: Occasionally
• Talking as express or exchange of ideas verbally: Daily
• Hearing as perceive sound by ear: Daily
• Vision as distinguish colors & depth: Daily

Special Requirements or Considerations of the Job:

• This position requires a criminal background screening.

Special Instructions to Applicants: Candidates must apply online through the University of West Florida website: Applicants are required to attach a cv, letter of interest and contact information for three references. References will be contacted upon submission of this application. An opportunity to upload these documents will be provided during the application process. For assistance, please contact Human Resources at View phone number on click.appcast.io or email View email address on click.appcast.io.

If one or more of your advanced degrees is awarded from an institution outside of the United States, UWF will require a credential evaluation and/or translation prior to onboarding. This credential evaluation should include original documents received directly from your institution so that the agency can evaluate and attest that your credential is equivalent to a similar degree earned at a US institution. If your credential is not in English, this evaluation should also include a translation to US English.

UWF does not endorse any particular approved agency; however, typically any current National Association of Credential Evaluation Services (NACES) member agency is acceptable. You are advised to check with the agency first to make sure your educational background can be evaluated as some agencies do not evaluate all international degrees.

When necessary, these credential evaluations will be requested as part of the Offer Letter with instructions on where and to whom these documents should be submitted.

ADDITIONAL POSTING DETAILS


Number of Vacancies: 1
Work Hours: Dependent on course schedule
FTE: 1.0
Preferred Response Date: 12/01/2026