Professor of Photography - NYC - Position Announcement

[andrew vincent]

Assistant to Associate Tenure Track Professor: Photography/Digital Imaging

Description: The Art Department at Stony Brook University invites applications from photographers/artists working in photography to fill a full time, tenure-track faculty position at the level of Assistant or Associate Professor beginning September 2009.

The studio art program at Stony Brook University is committed to a Photography/Digital Imaging curriculum that stress both technical and conceptual skills. Successful applicants will be practicing artists engaging in innovative work with a strong exhibition and/or professional record. Applicants must be able to effectively teach the range of traditional and digital photographic methods to undergraduate and graduate students. They should have a broad knowledge of photographic theory and history as it relates to contemporary art practice as well as an understanding of the practical and theoretical implications of new technologies. The applicant should also be willing and able to work with other areas of the department to integrate contemporary photographic practices into the existing curriculum and advise students at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Additional responsibilities include participation in college committees, student advising, departmental activities and an active artistic practice.

Applicants with professional activity, lab/studio management, experience with a broad spectrum of imaging practices and professional contacts are strongly encouraged to apply.

Qualifications:

• A terminal degree in photography or closely related area.
• Proven commitment to artistic and professional practice, teaching, and service.
• Two or more years of teaching and/or professional experience or the equivalent, and a portfolio that demonstrates artistic excellence.
• The ability to teach black and white, color and digital photography.
• Proven ability to communicate effectively with students and peers as well as evidence of teaching effectiveness.

Salary is competitive and commensurate with experience and qualifications.

Application: Cover letter, artist's statement, teaching philosophy, resume, three letters of recommendation, references, 20 images of personal work and 20 images of student work on CD/DVD (readable for both Mac and PC), and SASE (if you want your CD/DVD returned) to: Chair, Photography Search, Department of Art, Staller Center for the Arts, Stony Brook University Stony Brook NY 11974. Applications must be postmarked by November 8, 2009. No email applications accepted. The University encourages applications from historically under-represented individuals, women, veterans, and persons with disabilities and is an AA/EEO Employer.

[Frank Petronio]

Allow me to, umm, deconstruct:


Successful applicants will be practicing artists engaging in innovative work with a strong exhibition and/or professional record.

Based on the large number of college professors that I know, this line always cracks me up in those academic job descriptions.


A terminal degree in photography or closely related area.

But... But... that would preclude the above....

.
..The University encourages applications from historically under-represented individuals, ...

OMG White Males!?

[Mark Sampson]

How many people graduate with an MFA degree in photography each year? And how many teaching jobs open up? For that matter, what is a 'terminal' degree?

[domenico Foschi]

Thank you, Andrew.

[Walter Calahan]

Is a terminal degree like a terminal illness?

I know Long Island is a terminal moraine, aka, geologic dump.

[David A. Goldfarb]

Is a terminal degree like a terminal illness?

Well, an (A.B.D.) for some can be like a terminal illness, precisely because it's not quite a terminal degree.

Sometimes a "Ph.D. (A.B.D.)" tries to pass itself off as an "M.Phil." which is a terminal degree in some contexts, but is more like a terminal illness in other programs.

[Kirk Gittings]

Geez guys, it is just a public service announcement. Cut the guy some slack.

Thanks Andrew.

[Kirk Gittings]

How many people graduate with an MFA degree in photography each year? And how many teaching jobs open up? For that matter, what is a 'terminal' degree?

Teaching at at university is not the only reason toi get an MFA. There is only one real reason to need an MFA and that is to teach at an institution that offers MFA degrees. But there are many valid reasons to want an MFA degree. Teaching at a university art school has always been a small part of my career for which I needed an MFA (also TBH I think it gave me some credibility in gaining grants etc. too). But the discipline, effort, working in a critical environment, supervised study of art and photography history, interaction with like minded individuals, networking, writing and defending of a thesis, MFA exhibition etc. taught me lessons that have richly contributed to all facets of my photography and I do not regret a minute of the considerable expense or effort. I would do it again without hesitation.

[andrew vincent]

Candidates will probably need an MFA, but the MFA does not necessarily have to be in photography per se. Also, the MFA requirement could possibly be waived depending on exhibition history.

And yes, it is often quite difficult to get serious artists to teach, even if it's only two days a week, you can live in NYC and take the train to work, and you're getting a fairly decent, steady paycheck, excellent medical benefits and a great retirement package. But it's a lot less time and effort than many day jobs or doing lots of client photography.

Please spread the word to anyone you believe might be interested and qualified.
I'd be happy to answer any other questions about the position by PM or email.

[Frank Petronio]

Hey Kirk, if I paid $200K to RIT (or $350K to Yale) for 6-7 years of college I'd want to justify it too!

But I'm just teasing you "Masters." If I had an MFA I'd be applying (although I really doubt the femi-nazis would allow me to set foot in the place.)

[claudiocambon]

As far as I know, a terminal degree is that degree which represents the final, maximum degree achievable in that field, which for the studio arts is an MFA, but for photo/art history, for example, or anything in the humanities, is a PhD, not an MA. Just a hunch.

[erie patsellis]

Hey Kirk, if I paid $200K to RIT (or $350K to Yale) for 6-7 years of college I'd want to justify it too!

But I'm just teasing you "Masters." If I had an MFA I'd be applying (although I really doubt the femi-nazis would allow me to set foot in the place.)


Frank,

At 45 I've decided that the year I took off before college (in 1981) is probably about up by now, my wife and I have spent the last few years eliminating debt, and lowering our cost of living, drastically. She's gone back to school to get her administrative assistant degree (who'd of thought you'd need one..)

When she graduates, I'll be starting on a fast track concurrent AFA/ BFA, testing out of pretty much all the practical work, with an MFA to follow. It's not cheap, but given the fact that a quarter century of experience in commercial work means nothing, and a twenty something with no experience will get hired over me, it makes sense. Besides, I get to be around lots of art majors of the opposite sex! (and you know how those art majors are.)

erie

[Jeremy Moore]

How many people graduate with an MFA degree in photography each year? And how many teaching jobs open up?

Yep, that's one of the problems.

*sigh* Another ~2 years and I'll be done, but I hope to be a little more marketable with an MFA in photo and an MA in art history. Guess that's what I get for working full time while going to school, but at least I don't have any additional student loans.

[Scott Knowles]

If I read the Art Department at Stony Brook (SUNYSB) correctly, they have one professor in/with photography and that's more "moving photography", and not really still photography. They have some studio faculty in photography, but they appear to be artist who use photography as a medium than traditional or conventional photography. Maybe they really do need a real photographer?

As for the requirements, read any academic vacancy announcement, they're cookie-cutter, just change the discipline and specifics. I'm just not sure what a PhD in photography, if that's their idea of "terminal degree", entials without being in the realm of art than really photography, otherwise an . They seem to imply they want a photographer, but also more to intergrate with the arts than photography.

Hey, look at this way, you get to hobnob with artists and academcs. Don't they have an immunization for that now?

[andrew vincent]

Scott, that's correct - we now have several faculty who utilize photography in their work, but studio photography courses are currently being taught on a part-time basis by our artist-in-residence, Gary Schneider:

http://www.art.sunysb.edu/schneider.html
http://www.tfaoi.com/aa/4aa/4aa272.htm

We've (finally) received authorization for a full-time, tenure-track position, rather than the lower-paid, adjunct lecturer position we've had in the past.

[Walter Calahan]

I have no problem with advanced degrees, MFA or otherwise.

The phrase ' A terminal degree' is what caught my funny bone.

But the announcement did say NYC. Stony Brook, Long Island is almost as far away from New York City as Trenton, NJ is from NYC. So this is not a job in 'The City.'

Now I have to go back to proofreading the paper I wrote for my Master of Liberal Arts course on American Art History. William Sidney Mount is pretty darn cool.

Is an MLA a terminal degree?

[BrianShaw]

The phrase ' A terminal degree' is what caught my funny bone.

I was tickled by the "historically under-represented part". Where I work folks without terminal degrees are historically under-represented... but nobody seems to think that counts.

[David A. Goldfarb]

"Terminal degree" is just the jargon that one finds in job descriptions where the highest degree isn't standardized, like a Ph.D. for jobs in the humanities.

The "historically under-represented" business is just standard boilerplate. Of course departments do encourage minorities and women to apply, and administrations sometimes offer incentives for a minority hire, but when it comes down to the final selection, those considerations are pretty far down the list after academic/professional qualifications, prestige the candidate can bring to the department, ability to fill gaps in the curriculum, and a personal sense that the candidate will be a good colleague.

Stony Brook is definitely not in the city, but it's not so unusual for people to live in Manhattan or one of the outer boroughs and commute to a place like Stony Brook. Commuting time depends on a lot of factors other than distance, like convenient access to public transportation that goes where you need to go. For a few years my wife had a job in Brooklyn while we lived on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, and it would have been faster for her to get to Philadelphia.

[alec4444]

For a few years my wife had a job in Brooklyn while we lived on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, and it would have been faster for her to get to Philadelphia.

David, remember there's other New Yorkers on this forum to keep exaggerations like that in check.... C'mon now. :D

Regarding the "terminal degree" thing, I'm sure they'd take an MFA who also has a PhD in a related field. An MFA in photography with a PhD in Art History, would certainly be more highly regarded than someone who just has the MFA in photography. Educational institutions of course have a pretty strong bias when it comes to the value of college degrees. To them it's amazing that someone without one can even spell camera much less use one or impart knowledge.

One of life's little ironies, I suppose. If I were running a college and looking for instructors, I think experience, desire to teach, and presentation skills would trump just about anything else. But that and $45 will buy you a round trip ticket from NYC to Philadelphia. :D

[andrew vincent]

Stony Brook has a Manhattan campus in midtown which offers courses for the Art and Philosophy programs. There are regularly held guest lectures there as well. Art Practice classes often do tours of Chelsea Galleries and Art History classes often use the MET and MoMA. Finally, about 80% of the art dept faculty live in the city. Whether that's a good thing or not depends on how you look at it.

[Turner Reich]

..The University encourages applications from historically under-represented individuals, ...

When I graduated with a BS I applied to everything from picking up shit in the street to scraping old food off airline trays.

I applied for a job at a local University as an offset printer helper and was told by the nonwhite guy that I wasn't the right color for the job and need not apply for any further positions.

Before I left I informed him that the title of the position I wasn't qualified for was really called "Offset Printer Helper" and not "Offset Supplicator Helper". He said, "Oh I got that one wrong".

[Walter Calahan]

We'll if I worked at Stony Brook, the home of William Sidney Mount, the father of American Genre Painting, I'd try to find an old potato farm (if they even still exist) further out on the island, and let the other 80% of the faculty live in NYC (the city of my birth). I've had it with cities. Too slow. Country living is far more fast pace. In the city there are too many people in your way. You've got to rush here and rush there to get a simple task done. You can waste an entire day simply by waiting for others. In the country, you want to get something done, you just do it. No one in your way. That's why Jackson Pollock moved to the end of Long Island instead of living in the city. Outside the city one can THINK.

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

I'll stick to teaching at my local 4-year liberal arts college where the historically underrepresented are farmers. Grin.

Today my class goes on a walking field trip with cameras. FUN.

[David A. Goldfarb]

I knew someone who lived in a house that belonged to an old potato farm in Long Island City in Queens, just over the Triborough Bridge. It was a great place with a huge old style kitchen.


David, remember there's other New Yorkers on this forum to keep exaggerations like that in check.... C'mon now.

No joke about the commute from the Morningside Heights to Brooklyn. We were living near Columbia U. and she was working in Mill Basin, which was two subways, a bus, and a walk--around two hours each way. Penn Station to Philadelphia is about an hour and fifteen minutes to two hours by train.

[andrew vincent]

I regret to inform everyone that this search has been canceled due to the ongoing NY State Budget Crisis.

[Kirk Gittings]

I regret to inform everyone that this search has been canceled due to the ongoing NY State Budget Crisis.

Not surprising, I think this will be happening across the country.

[Kuzano]

At the UofO, an alternative name for "Terminal Degree" was "Career Student" which could be defined as a decades long student with no "real world concepts or experience".

Another definition of "Terminal Degree" meant to have achieved the final degree in any field, shortly before the onset of death, regardless of age at death.

It's very likely that the shock of finding out the true value of higher degrees in the real world, causes the onset of death.

[Don7x17]

Allow me to, umm, deconstruct:


.The University encourages applications from historically under-represented individuals,

OMG White Males!?

Hmmm, they must mean photographers doing competent large format landscape photography by either Female or Male, by any ethnic background,etc.

Such traditional f64 style B&W has been under-represented for soooooooo many years with university programs..... ;)

[paulr]

Many excellent artists have "terminal degrees" these days. Many don't. But since this is a notice for an academic job, I don't see why it's strange to ask for academic credentials. They're expected in every other department at every other university, except in special cases.

At any rate, they can ask for whatever they want. They will probably get many hundreds of applications. The tragedy of an MFA is that it results in as much debt as any other degree, but makes you eligible only for jobs that turn up every couple of years!

I'm willing to bet that whoever gets the job is overqualified for it.

[paulr]

Hmmm, they must mean photographers doing competent large format landscape photography by either Female or Male, by any ethnic background,etc.

Such traditional f64 style B&W has been under-represented for soooooooo many years with university programs..... ;)

kinda the way people doing frescoes, or cave drawings with burnt sticks, are underrepresented in painting programs.