Infrastructure Equity Faculty Cluster Hire – Assistant, Associate, or Full Professor of Urban Planning and Public Policy

The Department of Urban Planning and Public Policy (UPPP) at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) invites applications for one faculty position whose research, teaching and service contribute to UCI’s Black Thriving Initiative (BTI) and the Infrastructure Equity Cluster Hiring Initiative, which solidifies UCI’s leadership in addressing social, environmental, and racial disparities in infrastructure planning, design, and implementation. The position is open at the the rank of a tenure-track Assistant Professor or Associate Professor or Full Professor with tenure. We are interested in candidates whose research extends UPPP’s focus on sustainability and social justice by advancing distributional and procedural equity for Black communities and other groups adversely impacted by past and future investments. The successful candidate will demonstrate a strong record of research and teaching focused on physical (transportation, water, land use, housing, energy, broadband, etc.) and/or social/civic (access to services, community capacity, structures, and processes for collective engagement, etc.) dimensions of infrastructure. We are particularly interested in scholars whose work addresses the following types of questions: (1) How do infrastructure investments impact the design, social fabric, and lived experiences of Black communities?; (2) How do historic or contemporary infrastructure planning and policy practices produce and reinforce systems of power that exclude Black and other historically marginalized communities?; (3) How can infrastructure planning, design, and implementation processes be transformed to ensure greater distributional and procedural equity and racial, economic, and environmental justice for Black communities?

This position is part of a campus-wide Infrastructure Equity faculty cluster hiring program which amplifies UCI’s Black Thriving Initiative by recruiting engaged scholars across the fields of planning, policy, engineering, environmental science, and law to address social, environmental, and racial disparities in infrastructure planning, design, and implementation. The initiative includes the Department of Urban Planning and Public Policy in the School of Social Ecology; the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering in the Henry Samueli School of Engineering; the Department of Earth System Science in the School of Physical Sciences; and the School of Law. The cluster’s curriculum and programming components foster cross-campus collaborations, build a community of scholars trained in community-based research, and engage with community organizations and governmental agencies in Black communities in Southern California and beyond. For more information, consult the cluster website: https://sites.uci.edu/iecluster/.

Launched in 2020 during the racial reckoning, the UCI Black Thriving Initiative mobilizes the entire university to transform UCI into the nation’s foremost destination for Black people to thrive as students, faculty, staff, and communities served by the university. To this end, it consists of three action platforms that seek to inform choices, decisions, and priorities as a great public research university. These are: change the culture, leverage the mission, and engage with communities. A major feature of BTI involves advancing understanding about the multifaceted Black experience and drivers of well-being in support of Black communities. The associated faculty cluster hiring program builds on and expands our shared values of diversity, equity and inclusion and commitment to social justice. Selected from a multi-year competition, the three BTI hiring clusters reflect the power and promise of interdisciplinary collaboration. They are: Environmental Health Disparities, Infrastructure Equity, and Poetic Justice. To accelerate and elevate the impact of the research, teaching, and service of participating and affiliated faculty, each cluster will receive dedicated programming support for three years. For more information, consult the BTI website: https://inclusion.uci.edu/action-plan/msi/uci-black-thriving-initiative/.

Priority will be given to applications received by October 15, 2022; however, applications will be accepted until the position is filled. Candidates must have completed a Ph.D. in public affairs, public policy, urban planning, economics, geography, sociology, political science, or a related field by the position start date, July 1, 2023 (teaching duties will begin Fall 2023). UPPP recognizes the value of diversity in its faculty and strongly supports UCI’s mission for equity and inclusiveness. We are committed to ensuring accountability, providing training and education, conducting responsive research, and building sustainable partnerships. All qualified applicants are encouraged to apply.

The University of California is committed to creating and maintaining a community dedicated to the advancement, application, and transmission of knowledge and creative endeavors through academic excellence, where all individuals who participate in University programs and activities can work and learn together in a safe and secure environment, free of violence, harassment, discrimination, exploitation, or intimidation. With this commitment as well as a commitment to addressing all forms of academic misconduct, UC Irvine conducts institutional reference checks for finalists to whom the department or other hiring unit would like to extend a formal offer of appointment into Ladder Rank Professor or Professor of Teaching series, at all ranks (i.e., assistant, associate, and full). The institutional reference checks involve contacting the administration of the applicant’s previous institution(s) to ask whether there have been substantiated findings of misconduct that would violate the University’s Faculty Code of Conduct. To implement this process, UC Irvine requires all candidates of Ladder Rank Professor or Professor of Teaching series, at all ranks (i.e., assistant, associate, and full) to complete, sign, and upload the form entitled “Authorization to Release Information” into AP RECRUIT as part of their application. If the candidate does not include the signed authorization to release information with the application materials, the application will be considered incomplete. As with any incomplete application, the application will not receive further consideration. Although all applicants for faculty recruitment must complete the entire application, only finalists (i.e., those to whom the department or other hiring unit would like to extend a formal offer) considered for Ladder Rank Professor or Professor of Teaching series, at all ranks (i.e., assistant, associate, and full) positions will be subject to institutional reference checks.

Applications must include a cover letter, curriculum vitae, statement of current and future research plans, statement of teaching, and contact information to request three reference letters. A separate statement that addresses past and/or potential contributions to diversity, equity and inclusion (e.g., mentoring activities, committee service, research or teaching activities) must also be included in the application materials. For an appointment at an advanced Assistant, Associate, or Full Professor rank, evidence of success in securing extramural funding to support research and graduate students is desired.

The University of California, Irvine is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer advancing inclusive excellence. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age, protected veteran status, or other protected categories covered by the UC nondiscrimination policy.