Assistant Professor - Chemistry

Tenure-Track Chemistry / Biochemistry Faculty Position

The College of New Jersey

The Department of Chemistry at The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) invites outstanding applicants for a tenure-track Assistant Professor position in biochemistry, broadly defined, to join our community starting August 2020.

TCNJ has a strong commitment to inclusive excellence and to supporting a healthy work-life balance for our faculty of teacher-scholars. TCNJ has been recognized by The Chronicle of Higher Education on its honor roll of “Great Colleges to Work For.”

For this position, we seek a broadly trained scientist who has the potential to establish a highly visible undergraduate research program and who will be passionate about teaching chemistry at all levels of the curriculum in a primarily undergraduate, residential, liberal arts-centered institution. We are especially interested in candidates whose research and pedagogy will connect and integrate chemistry with other disciplines and who have the potential to collaboratively contribute to interdisciplinary curricular and scholarly efforts within the School of Science and at the College. The successful candidate will also display dedication to inclusive excellence in STEM and higher education.

The Department encourages applications from all areas of biochemistry including but not limited to: chemical biology, bioanalytical chemistry, environmental chemistry, marine chemistry, biopolymers, computational biochemistry, biocatalysis, biosensors, lipodomics, proteomics, and metabalomics. We particularly welcome candidates whose research interests complement those of the current faculty and who can make good use of our extensive instrumentation. The successful candidate will teach introductory and advanced chemistry courses, contribute to the department’s Biochemistry and Biophysical Chemistry Specialization, and establish a student-centered research program. Candidates should have a Ph.D. in Chemistry or a closely related field. Although post-doctoral experience is preferred, other backgrounds will be considered; ABDs will be considered only if the degree will be completed prior to the start date. 

Teaching and research are mutually supportive activities at TCNJ. Candidates should be strongly committed to the teacher-scholar model, to maintaining both high-quality teaching and an active and productive research program involving highly motivated undergraduates, and to seeking external funding consistent with this mission. Faculty members also serve as academic advisors and have service responsibilities within the Department, School, and College. A dedicated research laboratory in our newly expanded and renovated building and competitive start-up funds will be provided.

To Apply

To apply, compile a single PDF containing the items listed below.

• Letter of application

• Curriculum vitae

• Statement of teaching philosophy (3 pages maximum)

• Description of research interests and goals, including the role of undergraduates and a project management timeline (5 pages maximum)

• A table of estimated start-up cost needs, including major equipment and instrumentation required to accomplish research goals

• Up to three representative publications with scholarly contributions described

• Statement of commitment to inclusivity and diversity that reflects upon TCNJ’s mission and our core values (3 pages maximum)

• Unofficial copies of all undergraduate and graduate transcripts

Submit online using the link for the position that can be found here: https://chm.tbe.taleo.net/chm03/ats/careers/v2/viewRequisition?org=TCNJ&cws=37&rid=1011

In addition, three confidential letters of recommendation are required, including at least one commenting on teaching effectiveness. Letters should be emailed directly by the recommenders to chem@tcnj.edu with the name of the candidate in the subject line.

Applications are due by October 1, 2019 Late submissions will be considered if a suitable candidate pool is not identified by the deadline. Final offer of employment will be contingent upon successful completion of a background investigation.

About the Department of Chemistry

The Department of Chemistry is comprised of 15 full-time faculty members and 3 full-time staff members. Our tenure-line faculty members are active in mentoring, writing, and obtaining nationally competitive research, equipment, and pedagogical grants to accomplish departmental goals. We teach a 3/3 course load with in-load credit for mentoring students in research and with many additional opportunities to support scholarly activities. The Department includes approximately 150 undergraduate Chemistry majors and offers three baccalaureate degrees, two of which are American Chemical Society certified, and two specializations. About 90% of our students participate in mentored research projects.

The Department occupies a newly expanded and renovated Chemistry Building, which is part of TCNJ’s six-building STEM Complex, providing tremendous opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration. The Chemistry Department offers state-of-the-art teaching and research facilities with extensive instrumentation. Major instruments within the department include NMRs (two 400 MHz), EPR/ESR, GC-MS, GC-MS/MS, LC-ESI-MS, MALDI-TOF MS, Flame AA, and two XRDs (single-crystal and powder). Chemistry faculty members also have access to a high-performance computing cluster, AFM, FESEM with EDS, and confocal microscopy resources. TCNJ’s Department of Chemistry is consistently ranked by the American Chemical Society as a national leader in the graduation of ACS-certified chemistry majors and ranks among the top 10 Chemistry departments in the nation in the percentage of undergraduate alumni who complete doctoral degrees in Chemistry. For more information about our faculty, instrumentation, and program, visit: https://chemistry.tcnj.edu/.

About TCNJ

Founded in 1855, TCNJ is a selective public primarily undergraduate institution that has earned national recognition for its commitment to excellence. TCNJ emphasizes the residential experience for our nearly 6,600 full-time undergraduate students, 30% of whom are self-described as members of groups traditionally underrepresented in academe and STEM. Students benefit from a 13-to-1 student-to-faculty ratio and an average class size of 21 students, which has led to TCNJ attaining a first-year to sophomore retention rate of 94% and a graduation rate of 86%. TCNJ has also received national recognition for the adoption and promotion of the teacher-scholar model for our faculty and deep engagement of our undergraduates in research. TCNJ was awarded the inaugural “Campus-wide Award for Undergraduate Research Accomplishment” from the Council on Undergraduate Research in 2015. In part because of TCNJ’s intentional and comprehensive integration of research into our undergraduate curricula, institutional culture, and residential summer research experience program, an increasing number of TCNJ graduates have pursued and completed doctoral degrees over the past ten years. TCNJ was awarded, in 2006, a Phi Beta Kappa chapter—an honor shared by less than 10 percent of colleges and universities nationally. A strong liberal arts core forms the foundation for programs offered through TCNJ’s seven schools—Arts and Communication; Business; Education; Engineering; Humanities and Social Sciences; Nursing, Health, and Exercise Science; and Science. TCNJ is located within an hour of New York City and Philadelphia. The College’s campus is set on 289 tree-lined acres in suburban Ewing Township and is known for its natural beauty. For more information, visit www.tcnj.edu.

To enrich education through diversity, TCNJ is an Equal Opportunity Employer. TCNJ has a strong commitment to inclusive excellence and to achieve diversity among faculty and staff. We strongly encourage a host of diverse, intersectional populations and cultures to apply including, but not limited to, identities based on race, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, disability, national origin, and veteran status.

TCNJ is the proud recipient of an Inclusive Excellence grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), which supports our work to provide access and foster success for all students studying science and math, especially those traditionally underserved by STEM and higher education. TCNJ has also been a recipient of a National Science Foundation (NSF) ADVANCE grant, which has worked to support the careers of women faculty members in STEM disciplines.