Assistant Professor-Tenure System

The successful candidate will contribute to the School’s vision of creating sustainable and healthy built, natural, and virtual environments. We are seeking candidates whose work advances community-engaged, data-informed, and resilient community planning, with an emphasis on applying emerging methods and technologies to complex planning challenges. We are especially interested in a candidate whose teaching and research incorporates AI and big-data applications to topics such as Transportation, infrastructure, and energy planning; Climate resilience and disaster planning; Urban and community design; or Community-engaged planning and development.   

The candidate should demonstrate the ability to secure funded research, publish peer-reviewed scholarship, and mentor undergraduate and graduate students in innovative and interdisciplinary research. The position is expected to establish a nationally recognized community-engaged research program that contributes particularly to SPDC’s core scholarly areas of Climate-Resilient Communities and Adaptation, Housing Innovation and Community Development, Healthy Environments for Human Well-Being, and Environmental and Social Impact.

A distinctive component of the position will be its integration with SPDC’s Urban Collaborators initiative and MSU Extension. The successful candidate will leverage these partnerships to identify meaningful research questions, develop long-term community collaborations, pursue external funding, and generate both scholarly publications and applied community outcomes. This integration of research and outreach will strengthen SPDC’s interdisciplinary impact while advancing MSU’s land-grant mission through scholarship that directly benefits Michigan communities. 

As an institution of higher learning, Michigan State University is committed to providing a safe environment for its students, faculty, and staff in support of its educational mission. With this commitment, the University conducts criminal background checks and professional misconduct reviews of all applicants for employment in faculty, academic staff, and executive management searches.

A professional misconduct review is a prerequisite for a candidate to be selected for this position. Applicants will be asked to disclose whether they are subject to any pending investigation, findings or sanctions related to professional misconduct. Professional misconduct includes misconduct related to a person’s employment, including, but not limited to, theft, embezzlement, research integrity, discrimination, or harassment under civil rights laws and policies, including protected identity harassment, sexual harassment, sexual misconduct (sexual assault, sexual exploitation, dating violence, domestic violence, stalking, etc.), and retaliation. All applicants will be asked to sign an authorization and release, which authorizes the University to contact the candidate’s current and former employers, for a period of 7 years prior to the date of application, related to any pending investigations, findings of responsibility and/or sanctions related to professional misconduct. Nothing will be sent to current or former employers unless the candidate reaches the semi-finalist stage.

The existence of professional misconduct history does not automatically exclude a candidate from employment. The University will assess the history, including any information provided by the candidate, in determining whether it is compatible with the position. The University may decline to hire a candidate based on the professional misconduct review. All records obtained from external employers will be kept in a secure location, separate from personnel files. If an applicant fails to sign the authorization and release, the application will be deemed incomplete and will be withdrawn.

Please note this is a union position represented by the Union for Tenure System Faculty. The university is working with the union to establish a collective bargaining agreement.

At least one of the candidate’s graduate degrees, either a master’s or doctoral degree, must be from an accredited program in the United States. 

All required degrees must be conferred before the start date. Ability to teach within the Urban and Regional Planning core curriculum is essential.  

The School of Planning, Design, and Construction unites four academic programs related to the built environment: Construction Management, Interior Design, Landscape Architecture, and Urban and Regional Planning, with 46 faculty and academic specialists, and 7 staff members. The School offers 9 degree pathways from Bachelors to Ph.D. – including 5 professionally accredited degrees with over 600 undergraduate and 70 graduate students. The School is administered by the Colleges of Agriculture & Natural Resources. 

The mission of the School is to advance the knowledge, prepare innovative leaders, and support the practice of planning, design, and construction. Our academic activities address sustainability, health, transportation, economic development and communities. Please refer to the School’s homepage available at: https://www.canr.msu.edu/spdc/.