Faculty

Claremont McKenna College’s new Kravis Department of Integrated Sciences seeks four Founding Faculty members who will have a central role in building an innovative and transformational undergraduate science program organized around three challenges: Health (Genomics, Systems Biology, and Health), Brain (Brain, Learning, and Decision Sciences), and Planet (Climate, Energy, and the Environment). The Founding Faculty will have a key role in developing and implementing a program that will serve as an incubator for new approaches and foster a culture of inclusion, creativity, and continuous improvement. While senior and mid-career faculty are particularly encouraged to apply, faculty candidates at all ranks will receive serious consideration.

The Founding Faculty members will be outstanding teacher-scholars with experience in developing and teaching innovative science curricula at the undergraduate level, broad multidisciplinary perspectives, and excellent research programs that can meaningfully involve undergraduates.

The life sciences, computing, and data sciences are central to the new Integrated Sciences program and candidates with backgrounds including (but not limited to) molecular and cell biology, genetics, neuroscience, systems biology, bioinformatics, computational biology, and computational and data science approaches to the natural sciences in general are particularly encouraged to apply.

Claremont McKenna College is a highly selective undergraduate institution of 1300 students ranked among the top liberal arts colleges nationally. It is part of The Claremont Colleges, which also includes Pomona College, Scripps College, Harvey Mudd College, Pitzer College, Claremont Graduate University, and Keck Graduate Institute. Combined, the members of The Claremont Colleges have more than 6000 students. Claremont is located 35 miles east of downtown Los Angeles.

Currently, the shared Keck Science program offers the science general education and major programs for Pitzer, Scripps, and Claremont McKenna Colleges. On its 75th anniversary, CMC is developing its own Integrated Sciences Department to best serve its students and to provide additional resources for the consortium. This is the most ambitious project in the College’s history. The College is making a $400M investment in the Integrated Sciences Program and will hire approximately 25 new faculty members. The Robert Day Sciences Center, designed by the Bjarkes Ingels Group, is slated for completion in AY 2024-25.

The Founding Faculty members will work closely with Ran Libeskind-Hadas (Founding Chair) and Muriel Poston (Vice President for Strategic Initiatives) and be directly involved in (1) planning the department’s academic programs and curricula; (2) developing and teaching transformative new courses including our new integrated science general education courses that will be taken by all CMC students; and (3) recruiting, hiring, and mentoring subsequent cohorts of faculty.

Among the signature elements of the new program are:
• A general education science curriculum that will be taken by all CMC students regardless of their intended major, seeking to develop scientific literacy, particularly in the life sciences, and using computational and data science approaches as vehicles for discovery;
• A set of robust foundations courses for majors that integrate biology, chemistry, physics, environmental science, neuroscience, and computation in creative ways to emphasize the process of scientific discovery and demonstrate important recurring ideas across the sciences;
• New major programs that reflect the department’s themes of health, brain, and planet;
• Collaboration with the College’s social sciences and humanities departments and its unique centers, institutes, and labs to build a program of science in service to society; and
• Rich and ample undergraduate research and project experience.

The successful applicant will have:
• Demonstrated excellence in undergraduate science teaching and mentoring of undergraduate students and a commitment to supporting a welcoming and inclusive environment for all students. Given our institutional value of cultivating an inclusive educational environment, we seek candidates who can demonstrate a commitment to teaching, mentoring, and inspiring students representing a broad range of socioeconomic backgrounds, political opinions, genders, races, ethnicities, nationalities, sexual orientations, and religions.
• Experience in the design and implementation of innovative science curricula including those that use creative approaches and pedagogies, span scientific disciplines, and involve computational and data science methods as vehicles for discovery;
• A strong record of scholarship and ability to meaningfully involve undergraduates in research;
• A commitment to working with colleagues across science disciplines as well as those in the social sciences and the humanities to develop science curricula and programs that serve society;
• Disciplinary background in one or more of the areas that support the department’s efforts to build strengths in the life sciences, brain and decision sciences, and climate and environmental sciences are preferred. Strong background in computational and data science methods is desirable and candidates may come from the natural sciences, computing and mathematical sciences, and other allied fields.

The Founding Faculty will have access to outstanding resources at the College and opportunities to engage with faculty from across the Claremont Consortium.

Application materials should be submitted at https://webapps.cmc.edu/jobs/faculty/faculty_opening.php and include the following:
• A cover letter that indicates how the applicant’s background and interests align with the vision of the program and the desired attributes outlined above;
• A curriculum vitae;
• A research statement that addresses the applicant’s areas of scholarship, record of external funding, and past experience and future opportunities with engaging undergraduates in research;
• A teaching statement that addresses the applicant’s interests, experiences, and aspirations in undergraduate science education, curriculum development, mentoring of undergraduates, including efforts to support students from diverse backgrounds;
• Evidence of teaching effectiveness (e.g., course evaluations and/or other sources of information);
• The names and email addresses of at least three references who can address the applicant’s experience and effectiveness as an educator and scholar; an email will be automatically sent to them with a link to upload their confidential recommendation letter.

While there are no page limits on any of these materials, the teaching and research statements are intended to be overviews rather than exhaustive lists of activities and two pages are expected to suffice for each of those documents.

Applications are being accepted and will be reviewed on a rolling basis until the positions are filled. The founding faculty are anticipated to join the department in July 2023.

Claremont McKenna College is an equal-opportunity employer. In a continuing effort to enrich its academic environment, the department actively encourages applications from women and members of historically under-represented social groups in higher education.

For more background on our program, please visit the Kravis Department of Integrated Sciences (KDIS) website:
https://cmc.edu/kdis
 

Inquiries and questions can also be sent to the department chair, Ran Libeskind-Hadas, at rhadas@cmc.edu.