Tenure Track Faculty Position in Chemistry 

The College of New Jersey, Ewing NJ

The Department of Chemistry at The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) invites outstanding applicants for a tenure-track position starting August 2021. TCNJ has a strong commitment to inclusive excellence in our community and to supporting a healthy work-life balance for our faculty of teacher-scholars. TCNJ has been recognized as one of the “Great Colleges to Work For 2018” by The Chronicle of Higher Education. TCNJ’s Division of Inclusive Excellence, https://diversity.tcnj.edu, houses several faculty and staff affinity groups including the Minority Executive Council, Women’s Professional Network, Parenting Network, LGBTQ+ Pride, and Multicultural Greek Affinity Group. 

We seek a broadly trained chemist who has the potential to establish a highly visible undergraduate research program and will be passionate about teaching chemistry at every level of the curriculum in a primarily undergraduate, residential, liberal arts-centered institution. The successful candidate’s training should qualify them to teach chemistry courses in the biochemistry and/or analytical curriculum and develop innovative, upper-level courses that complement and diversify the department’s offerings. Teaching responsibilities will also include rotation through the general chemistry and/or organic chemistry curriculum. We are especially interested in candidates whose research and pedagogy have the potential to collaboratively contribute to interdisciplinary curricular and scholarly efforts within the School of Science and at TCNJ. The successful candidates will also demonstrate dedication to inclusive excellence in STEM and higher education.

Teaching and research are mutually supported activities at TCNJ. Candidates should be strongly committed to the teacher-scholar model, to maintaining both high-quality teaching and an active and productive research program involving highly motivated undergraduates, and to seeking external funding consistent with this mission. Our tenure-track faculty are active in mentoring, writing, and obtaining nationally competitive research, equipment, and pedagogical grants to accomplish departmental goals. Faculty members also serve as academic advisors and have service responsibilities within the Department, School, and College. A dedicated research laboratory and competitive start-up funds will be provided. 

We welcome candidates in all areas of research specialization, especially those that complement and diversify the department’s existing strengths. An earned doctorate in chemistry, or a closely related field, is required. Although post-doctoral experience is preferred, other backgrounds will be considered; ABDs will only be considered if the degree will be completed prior to the start date. 

To Apply:

Compile and submit a single PDF file containing the following items:

• Letter of application stating specific interest in the position
• Curriculum vitae
• Statement of teaching philosophy (3 pages maximum)
• Description of future research goals and plans, including the role of undergraduates (3 pages maximum)
• A table of major equipment and instrumentation required to accomplish research goals
• Statement of commitment to equity, inclusivity, and diversity that reflects upon TCNJ’s core values and mission (3 pages maximum)
• Unofficial copies of all undergraduate and graduate transcripts
• Representative reprints of published research papers with scholarly contributions described (no more than three)
• Names, addresses, telephone numbers, and email addresses of three references who will be asked to submit confidential recommendation letters (one reference must comment on teaching effectiveness)

Review of applications will begin by November 15, 2020. The review will continue until the position is filled. Final offer of employment will be contingent upon successful completion of a background investigation.

About the Chemistry Department

The Department of Chemistry is composed of 14 full-time faculty members, 3 full-time staff members, and a visiting Teacher Scholar Fellow. We teach a 3/3 course load with in-load credit for mentoring students in research and additional opportunities are available to reduce teaching load with scholarly activities. The Department houses approximately 140 undergraduates and offers three baccalaureate degrees, of which two are American Chemical Society certified, and specializations in materials science and biochemistry. About 90% of our students participate in mentored research projects. The Department occupies a newly expanded and renovated Chemistry Building, which is part of TCNJ’s six-building STEM Complex, providing many opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration.  The Chemistry Department offers state-of-the-art teaching and research facilities and instrumentation, including NMR spectrometers (two 400 MHz), MALDI-TOF MS, LC MS, XRD (single-crystal and powder), and a high-performance computing cluster. TCNJ’s Department of Chemistry is consistently ranked by the American Chemical Society (ACS) as a national leader in the graduation of ACS-certified chemistry majors and is among the top producers in the U.S. of students who complete doctoral degrees. The department is very active with ACS and other professional societies. TCNJ and the Trenton Local Section of the ACS will be hosting the 2022 Mid Atlantic Regional Meeting of the ACS. Our ACS student chapter is consistently recognized as a top chapter in the country. For more information about the department, visit: https://chemistry.tcnj.edu/. To learn more information about chemistry at TCNJ, we will be hosting virtual tours of our department. Dates and times will be shared on our website and by social media. 

About TCNJ

Founded in 1855, TCNJ is a selective, public primarily undergraduate institution that has earned national recognition for its commitment to excellence. TCNJ emphasizes the residential undergraduate experience for our 7,000 full-time students, 30% of whom are self-described as members of groups traditionally underrepresented in academe and STEM. Students benefit from a 13-to-1 student-to-faculty ratio and an average class size of 21 students, which has led to TCNJ attaining a first-year to sophomore retention rate of 94% and a graduation rate of 86%. TCNJ has also received national recognition for the adoption and promotion of the teacher-scholar model for our faculty and deep engagement of our undergraduates in scholarship and creative activity.

TCNJ School of Science is the proud recipient of an Inclusive Excellence grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), which supports work to provide access and foster success for all students studying science and math, especially those traditionally underserved by STEM and higher education. TCNJ has also been a recipient of a National Science Foundation ADVANCE grant, which has worked to support the careers of women faculty members in STEM disciplines by developing systemic approaches to increase the representation and advancement of women.  The Chemistry Department has received multiple NSF S-STEM and IUSE grants that have improved the attitudes, success, and outcomes of marginalized student populations and have catalyzed faculty transformation towards inclusive excellence.

TCNJ was awarded the inaugural “Campus-wide Award for Undergraduate Research Accomplishment” from the Council on Undergraduate Research in 2016. TCNJ was awarded, in 2006, a Phi Beta Kappa chapter—an honor shared by less than 10 percent of colleges and universities nationally. A strong liberal arts core forms the foundation for programs offered through TCNJ’s seven schools—Arts and Communication; Business; Education; Engineering; Humanities and Social Sciences; Nursing, Health, and Exercise Science; and Science. TCNJ is located within an hour, by train, of New York City and Philadelphia. The College’s campus is set on 289 tree-lined acres in Ewing Township. For more information, visit www.tcnj.edu.

To enrich education through diversity, TCNJ is an Equal Opportunity Employer. The College has a strong commitment to inclusive excellence and to achieving diversity among faculty and staff. The Chemistry Department strongly encourages applications from diverse, intersectional populations and cultures including, but not limited to, identities based on race, ethnicity, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation, disability, national origin, and veteran status. We also encourage applications from candidates with a wide range of professional and personal paths. Each candidate is invited to discuss their unique pathway in their application materials.