Go to the University of Minnesota Job Site and search for Job ID 366013. Please refer to the Chemistry & Biochemistry-specific screening rubrics.

General Chemistry Director Position

The Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry in the Swenson College of Science and Engineering (SCSE) at the University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD) invites applications for a General Chemistry Director to be appointed at the Teaching Assistant Professor or Teaching Associate Professor level, depending on qualifications. The position will begin on August 1, 2025 and is a full-time, 10-month position. This position involves a split teaching (50%), administrative (40%), and service (10%) component. This faculty member will teach General Chemistry I & II, lecture and lab and implement high impact practices in the General Chemistry Laboratory courses, including course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs). This faculty will coordinate and oversee the administrative aspects of the General Chemistry curriculum, course scheduling, and teaching assistant (TA) assignments, as well as serve as lead supervisor and trainer for all TAs in the department. The faculty will work with other departments to maintain the General Chemistry curriculum aligned with SCSE educational needs. The faculty will also be the contact person for College in the Schools for our department.

The successful candidate must hold a PhD in chemistry, chemical education, or a related field and have demonstrated evidence of teaching at the university level in General Chemistry or equivalent courses. Preferred qualifications include: 

• Experience as the instructor of record in General Chemistry courses.
• A record of peer-reviewed publications in Chemistry Education.
• Experience designing and implementing high impact teaching practices, including course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs), vertically integrated programs, or other research-based coursework.
• Postdoctoral experience in chemical education research.
• Strong oral and written communication skills.
• Evidence of contributions to diversity, inclusion, equity, and a commitment to justice.
• Supervisory experience, especially in a higher education setting, and familiarity with mentorship best practices is preferred. Service to the Department, College, and University is also expected. 

The Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and UMD are strongly committed to creating an inclusive and equitable working environment. Please see https://z.umn.edu/scsecareers for more information. 

The Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at UMD is an interdisciplinary department spanning all fields of Chemistry. We serve over 300 students in BA and BS degrees in both Chemistry and Biochemistry, as well as approximately 20 students in our Chemistry MS Graduate Program, alongside graduate students in the Integrated Biosciences Graduate Program and the Water Resources Science Graduate Program. Students in these graduate programs comprise our Graduate TAs. In addition, we employ several Undergraduate TAs. Opportunities exist for collaboration in the development of CUREs within our department and College as well as with faculty at the UMN’s College of Pharmacy and the School of Medicine at UMD, as well as scientists at the Natural Resources Research Institute, the Large Lakes Observatory, and the EPA Great Lakes Toxicology and Ecology Division Laboratory. The Swenson College of Science and Engineering strongly supports teaching innovations through the Swenson Active and Innovative Learning (SAIL) Program, which provides logistical support in the form of funding, expertise, and Learning Assistant resources to foster innovative teaching. The new Director is expected to collaborate with this program, leveraging its support for innovations while contributing insights from classroom experiences to help scale effective strategies across the college.

The University of Minnesota Duluth values of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion are essential to achieving excellence. We are especially interested in recruiting and retaining a diverse faculty to maintain the excellence of the Department, College, and University, and to offer students interdisciplinary perspectives and varied ways of knowing and learning. We strongly encourage scholars who are women, Indigenous, LGBTQIA+, Black, Latin American, Asian American, Hawaiian/Island Pacific, or mixed race, and scholars with disabilities to apply. We favor candidates who can contribute to the College's distinctive educational objectives, which promote intercultural understanding with social responsibility and the ethical implications of knowledge and action.

We recognize that excellence in teaching and research form the basis for any successful candidate. To that end, we are implementing an anonymized search process. See https://z.umn.edu/scsecareers for a description of the application steps. Applications must include four PDF documents: (1) an anonymized teaching statement that is understandable to a non-specialist (recommended 1000 words/2 pages max); (2) a statement that demonstrates a commitment to justice, equity, inclusion, and a diverse student population (1000 words/2 pages max); (3) a curriculum vita; and (4) a list of four professional references. Please refer to the Chemistry and Biochemistry-specific application screening rubrics. Go to the University of Minnesota Job Site and search for Job ID 366013. For full consideration, applications must be received by January 31, 2025. Please direct questions about these positions to Dr. Jacob Wainman ([email protected]), chair of the Chemistry and Biochemistry Search Committee. 

The University of Minnesota Duluth campus is the second largest research university within the University of Minnesota public university system. UMD is a comprehensive university of about 9,000 students located along the shores of Lake Superior. Duluth is the largest city in northern Minnesota and is part of the Twin Ports metropolitan area (Duluth, MN and Superior, WI). The Twin Ports area hosts four colleges/universities, two major hospitals, many retail and manufacturing companies, and the largest commercial port on the Great Lakes. Duluth has vibrant music, theater, and arts scenes, and a steadily increasing number of craft breweries and award-winning restaurants. Duluth offers affordable housing, an absence of appreciable traffic, and mixes its historic feel with a dynamic urban economy and many cultural offerings. Named by Outdoor Magazine as one of America’s Best Outdoors Towns, Duluth provides access to hundreds of miles of biking, hiking, and skiing trails and abundant opportunities for fishing, kayaking, and sailing.

UMD is committed to supporting our colleagues. The University of Minnesota has a robust policy with respect to opportunity hires for partners. Parental leaves and on-campus childcare are available. The Swenson College of Science and Engineering has a mentoring program to facilitate professional success.