The Department of Urban Planning in the UCLA Meyer and Renee Luskin School of Public Affairs seeks an Assistant Professor of Teaching who will contribute to the Department’s teaching mission, including a new Master of Global Public Affairs.
We seek scholars from urban planning, sociology, geography, political science, public policy, economics, and related fields whose work relates to Global Public Affairs, broadly defined. Relevant topics include, but are not limited to comparative urbanization, land use, public finance and taxation, environment and climate, infrastructure, transportation, social policies, labor, social movements, innovation and technology, human rights, and immigration. Applicants’ research should be policy relevant, and applicants should be prepared to teach core and elective courses to master’s and undergraduate students. The standard teaching load for this position is six courses across three quarters. The successful applicant’s teaching and research should primarily focus on contexts outside of North America, for example in Asia, the Middle East, or Africa.
The Professor of Teaching is a Senate Faculty position series that is used for appointees who are members of the faculty of an academic or professional college, school, division, department, or program of the University whose primary responsibility is teaching and teaching-related tasks and secondary responsibility is professional and/or scholarly achievement and activity, including creative activity, especially as they relate to instruction and pedagogy. The faculty in this series also have responsibility for University and Public Service. “Intellectual attainment, as evidenced particularly in excellent teaching and secondarily in professional and/or scholarly achievement and activity, is an indispensable qualification for appointment or promotion to Associate or Full Professor of Teaching.” (Apm 285). Although this is primarily a teaching position where promotion is determined primarily by teaching quality, the department does prefer a candidate who also has an established research agenda, and that research be a secondary aspect of promotion.
UCLA’s Urban Planning Department currently hosts 21 tenured/tenure-track planning faculty, 6 affiliated tenured/tenure-track faculty, 3 active professors emeriti, 35 PhD students, and 150 master’s students. We are a multidisciplinary department with a tradition of intellectual leadership in urban studies and planning, and our students and alumni have long been known for their passionate commitment to progressive planning ideals. The Department offers a Master of Urban Planning degree, a PhD program, undergraduate courses, a Master of Real Estate Development, and the new position will contribute courses to a new Master of Global Public Affairs (MGPA) to be launched in Fall 2027. The MGPA is a two-year interdepartmental program that emphasizes rigorous training in problem formulation, policy design, and impact evaluation for students planning to work at the intersection of local and global issues across the public, private, and non-profit sectors.
Los Angeles is a global city renowned for its dynamism, robust economy, rich cultural diversity, and spectacular climate. The generously endowed Luskin School of Public Affairs is home to the departments of Public Policy, Social Welfare, and Urban Planning, and undergraduate program in public affairs, and three minors, as well as twelve research centers. UCLA is a leading global university and among the top-ranked public universities in the US.
