Career Center

The Department of Urban Planning and Policy (UPP) in the College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs (CUPPA) at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) (http://cuppa.uic.edu/academics/upp) is hiring a Bridge to the Faculty (B2F) Postdoctoral Research Associate to begin in August 2022. B2F is a university-level initiative designed to increase faculty diversity through the recruitment, retention, and promotion of scholars from historically underrepresented groups. The program seeks to transition recruited scholars to tenure-track positions after two years of successful work. After the first year, and subject to satisfactory performance and University approval, this position may be re-appointed for a second year. A successful post-doctoral scholar in the Bridge to the Faculty program may have the opportunity to transition to tenure-track faculty at UIC after the conclusion of this post-doctoral position. In addition to their mentorship within UPP, the postdoctoral scholar will benefit from mentoring through the department and will have the opportunity to meet other B2F scholars through the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Engagement. More information on the B2F program can be found here:

 https://diversity.uic.edu/engagement/bridge-to-the-faculty/

Department Information: The Department of Urban Planning and Policy currently offers a growing and highly successful undergraduate program (B.A.) in Urban Studies and three graduate degrees: Master in Urban Planning and Policy (MUPP), Master in City Design (MCD), and Ph.D. in Urban Planning and Policy. Established nearly 50 years ago and comprising five specializations—community development, economic development, environmental planning and policy, spatial planning, and urban transportation—our MUPP program is one of the largest planning programs in North America.

The College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs (CUPPA) was created in 1995 as part of UIC's Great Cities Initiative and is now home to two academic departments and eight research centers. In addition to UPP, the college houses the Department of Public Administration. The college’s eight research centers are: the newly established Government Finance Research Center, the Urban Transportation Center, the Institute for Research on Race and Public Policy, the Urban Data Visualization Lab, the Center for Urban Economic Development, the Institute for Policy and Civic Engagement, the Great Cities Institute, and the Voorhees Center for Neighborhood and Community Improvement.

UIC is a Carnegie Doctoral Research – Extensive institution and serves as the City’s only public research university. With an exceptionally diverse enrollment of over 33,000 students, UIC is designated as both Research-Extensive and Hispanic-serving. Located in Chicago’s thriving Near West Side neighborhood, UIC offers an opportunity to study urban planning, urban policy, and city design in one of the world’s great cities. Our goal is to attract world-class faculty and enrich the educational experience of our bright and motivated students. UIC is dedicated to the goal of building a diverse faculty committed to teaching and working in a multicultural environment and strongly encourages applications from women and underrepresented populations.

Eligibility: We seek candidates with a Ph.D. in urban planning, landscape architecture, urban studies, geography, or a closely related discipline who exhibit a promising research trajectory and a strong commitment to innovative teaching at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. The successful candidate must have completed a PhD within the past five years – no earlier than August 15, 2018, and no later than August 15, 2022. We are seeking applicants who study underrepresented populations and disinvested places through the lenses of racial inequities and/or environmental injustices. We will consider applicants engaged in a wide range of scholarly areas and emergent fields such as environmental racism, environmental health, infrastructural resiliency, Latino urbanism, anti-racist planning, climate justice, design justice, as well as those employing intellectual frameworks of critical race theory, anti-racism, abolition, intersectionality, or decolonizing perspectives in the study of cities and their regions. Priority will be given to candidates who are both theoretically grounded and explicitly engaged in applied urban research, participatory action research or community-engaged research. The successful candidate will bring to their research critical perspectives on the experiences of underrepresented groups in the U.S. as well as on social groups underserved by academic research and teaching generally. Successful candidates will teach one course each academic year for the duration of the B2F program. 

Application Procedure: For full consideration, please apply by February 15, 2022, through https://jobs.uic.edu (Job ID # 158552). A completed on-line application and the following attachments are required for consideration: a cover letter of interest, curriculum vitae, or resume, writing sample, and contact information including the email addresses of three references. For specific questions about the application, please contact Ms. Doris Nelson (doris3@uic.edu). For questions about the position, please contact Faculty Search Committee Co-Chairs, Dr. Sanjeev Vidyarthi (svidy@uic.edu) and Dr. April Jackson (ajacks29@uic.edu). Active screening of applicants begins on February 15, 2022 and will continue until the position is filled. The University of Illinois conducts background checks on all job candidates upon acceptance of contingent offer of employment in compliance with the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

The University of Illinois conducts background checks on all job candidates upon acceptance of contingent offer of employment in compliance with the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

The University of Illinois at Chicago is an affirmative action, equal opportunity institution/employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran or disability status, height, weight, or marital status in employment or the provision of services.