Employment positions

Job Title: Assistant Professor of Acting (Voice & Speech), Tenure Track
Job ID: 2018385

The Department of Dramatic Arts at the University of Connecticut invites applications from outstanding specialists in voice and speech for the actor for a full-time, tenure-track faculty position at the rank of Assistant Professor. The position will include teaching in the BFA and MFA acting programs and serving as one of the performance coaches for productions of Connecticut Repertory Theatre (the performance arm of the department that operates under an AEA/URTA contract).

The University of Connecticut (UConn) is in the midst of a transformational period of growth supported by the $1.7B Next Generation Connecticut (http://nextgenct.uconn.edu/) and the $1B Bioscience Connecticut (http://biosciencect.uchc.edu/) investments and a bold new Academic Plan: Path to Excellence (http://issuu.com/uconnprovost/docs/academic-plan-single-hi-optimized_1). We are pleased to continue these investments by inviting applications for a faculty position in the Department of Dramatic Arts.

The Department of Dramatic Arts and its theatre production arm, the Connecticut Repertory Theatre (CRT), combine to create an exciting center for excellence in the dramatic arts. Each year young theatre artists from across the United States choose to pursue education, training, and production experience through undergraduate and graduate study in the Department of Dramatic Arts and CRT. The goal of the department is twofold. First, it aims to provide the finest possible professional training through classroom and studio instruction. Second, it aims to supplement and enrich that classroom and studio training by providing maximal opportunities for students to obtain professional level production experience through active participation in plays produced by the Connecticut Repertory Theatre.

Connecticut Repertory Theatre (CRT) is the production organization of the Department of Dramatic Arts. Through CRT, the Department produces a subscription series of plays and musicals during the academic year, as well as a separate series of plays during the summer. In mounting and producing plays, CRT operates in a manner that is essentially identical to a typical regional repertory theatre and it does so with similar artistic aspirations. In fact, CRT seeks to maintain active, working associations with regional repertory theatres whereby co-sponsored productions may originate at CRT and tour to the co-producing professional theatres. The CRT’s contract with the Actor’s Equity Association permits our acting majors, both graduate and undergraduate, to participate in the Equity Candidacy Program through which many of them are eligible for union membership upon their graduation.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

The successful candidate will teach graduate and undergraduate courses in the following areas:

1. Speaking-Voice Production (without strain or potential injury) including aesthetic voice improvement, range extension, and vocal variety—also the ability and willingness, necessary, to coordinate efforts with university-affiliated speech-language pathologists.
2. Speech/articulation improvement with goal of students, if needed, being able to perform roles in non-regional American English.
3. Text analysis including the framing and contrasting of operative words, use of rhetorical devices (figures of speech), etc.—and their integration with moment-to-moment process.
4. Adaptation and expansion of the above for application to heightened, classical text and blank verse.
5. Understanding of and skill using IPA and lexical word sets.
6. Able to teach a wide range of accents from the British Isles, North America, Eastern and Western Europe European, Asian, African and Caribbean, and others.
7. Voice Over/Voice Acting skills, including microphone technique, reading of commercial copy, and methods for creating character voices for puppets and cartoons without vocal strain.
8. Teach undergraduate and graduate voice and speech courses as assigned (2/3 teaching load), serve as an advisor to one class of undergraduate BFA Acting majors.
9. Other responsibilities include: coordinate her/his efforts with those of acting and movement teachers in the performance program, directors, artists, and production representatives; participate in national recruiting for students in the Acting Program; and serve on committees as assigned; Drama faculty frequently have obligations on evenings and weekends.
10. Other duties as assigned.

The successful candidate must also be willing and able to coordinate her/his efforts with those of acting and movement teachers in the performance program and directors and other artistic-staff members of CRT productions. The successful candidate will be expected to contribute to research and scholarship through extramural funding, high-quality productions, and impact as measured through national recognition, reviews or award nominations. In the area of teaching, the successful candidate will share a deep commitment to effective instruction at the undergraduate and graduate levels, development of innovative courses and mentoring of students in research, outreach and professional development. Successful candidates will also be expected to broaden participation among members of under-represented groups; demonstrate through their research, teaching, and/or public engagement the richness of diversity in the learning experience; integrate multicultural experiences into instructional methods and research tools; leadership in developing pedagogical techniques designed to meet the needs of diverse learning styles and intellectual interests.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

1. A terminal degree (MFA or equivalent) in theatre/dramatic arts with the bulk of the training being in performance.
2. Substantial training in and experience using several different acting-related techniques of voice & speech pedagogy.
3. Certification in acting-related techniques of voice & speech pedagogy or terminal degree in voice studies.
4. Expertise and significant experience teaching/coaching in at least three of the areas on the above lettered list AND qualifications and some teaching/coaching experience in at least three others.
5. Three years fulltime experience teaching voice & speech to actors-in-training on the MFA and/or BFA level at a university or equivalent at a recognized professional acting studio or substantial vocal and speech coaching in the professional theatre.
6. Experience coaching voice, speech, text, and/or accents in at least four significant professional theatre productions.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

1. Four or more years of fulltime teaching including the production-coaching of voice and speech for MFA and BFA actors at the college/university level.
2. Proven experience teaching, solo or with a colleague, a three-year voice/speech progression for MFA actors in an acknowledged actor training program.
3. Significant years of professional voice and speech coaching for stage, film or TV.
4. Expertise and significant experience teaching/coaching in six areas on the above-lettered list

APPOINTMENT TERMS

This is a full-time, 9-month, tenure track position with an anticipated start date of August 23, 2018. The successful candidate’s academic appointment will be at the Storrs campus, though faculty members may also be asked to teach at one of UConn’s regional campuses as part of their ordinary workload. Salary will be commensurate with qualifications and experience.

TO APPLY

All applicants must apply through the University’s employment application system, UConn Jobs at http://hr.uconn.edu/jobs/. Please submit the following materials:

• Cover letter
• Curriculum vitae
• Teaching statement (including teaching philosophy, teaching experience, commitment to effective learning, concepts for new course development, etc.)
• Commitment to diversity statement (including broadening participation, integrating multicultural experiences in instruction and research and pedagogical techniques to meet the needs of diverse learning styles, etc.)

Evaluation of applicants will begin March 15, 2018, and continue until the position is filled. Employment of the successful candidate is contingent upon the successful completion of a pre-employment criminal background check. (Search # 2018385)

All employees are subject to adherence to the State Code of Ethics which may be found at http://www.ct.gov/ethics/site/default.asp.

 

Job Title: Assistant/Associate Professor in Residence and Director of MFA Program in Arts Administration
Job ID: 2018481

The Department of Dramatic Arts in the School of Fine Arts (SFA) at the University of Connecticut invites applications for an Assistant/Associate Professor in Residence (APIR) position in the area of Arts Administration. The individual hired will serve as Director of the School of Fine Arts and Graduate School’s MFA program in Arts Administration as well as overseeing undergraduate courses, graduate distance-learning and certificate programs in the same field. The department is seeking a talented, collegial, insightful individual with experience both as a professional arts administrator and as a teacher of that subject, who is dedicated to training and mentoring the next generation of arts administrators. This position will spend time at the new UConn Arts Administration Center at the Wadsworth Athenaeum Museum of Art, and the main Storrs, CT campus.

The University of Connecticut (UConn) is in the midst of a transformational period of growth supported by the $1.7B Next Generation Connecticut (http://nextgenct.uconn.edu/) and the $1B Bioscience Connecticut (http://biosciencect.uchc.edu/) investments and a bold new Academic Plan: Path to Excellence (http://issuu.com/uconnprovost/docs/academic-plan-single-hi-optimized_1). As part of these initiatives, UConn has hired more than 450 new faculty at all ranks during the past three years. We are pleased to continue these investments by inviting applications for a faculty position in the Department of Dramatic Arts.

The Department of Dramatic Arts and its theatre production arm, the Connecticut Repertory Theatre (CRT), combine to create an exciting center for excellence in the dramatic arts. Each year young theatre artists from across the United States choose to pursue education, training, and production experience through undergraduate and graduate study in the Department of Dramatic Arts and CRT. The goal of the department is twofold. First, it aims to provide the finest possible professional training through classroom and studio instruction. Second, it aims to supplement and enrich that classroom and studio training by providing maximal opportunities for students to obtain professional level production experience through active participation in plays produced by the Connecticut Repertory Theatre.

Connecticut Repertory Theatre (CRT) is the production organization of the Department of Dramatic Arts. Through CRT, the Department produces a subscription series of plays and musicals during the academic year, as well as a separate series of plays during the summer. In mounting and producing plays, CRT operates in a manner that is essentially identical to a typical regional repertory theatre and it does so with similar artistic aspirations. In fact, CRT seeks to maintain active, working associations with regional repertory theatres whereby co-sponsored productions may originate at CRT and tour to the co-producing professional theatres. The CRT’s contract with the Actor’s Equity Association permits our acting majors, both graduate and undergraduate, to participate in the Equity Candidacy Program through which many of them are eligible for union membership upon their graduation.

The successful candidate will be expected to contribute to research and scholarship through extramural funding, high quality publications, impact as measured through citations, performances and exhibits, and national recognition as through honorific awards. In the area of teaching, the successful candidate will share a deep commitment to effective instruction at the undergraduate and graduate levels, development of innovative courses and mentoring of students in research, outreach and professional development. Successful candidates will also be expected to broaden participation among members of under-represented groups; demonstrate through their research, teaching, and/or public engagement the richness of diversity in the learning experience; integrate multicultural experiences into instructional methods and research tools; and provide leadership in developing pedagogical techniques designed to meet the needs of diverse learning styles and intellectual interests.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
•Leading the Arts Administration program and activities for the in-residence MFA students and online certificate program.
•Collaborating with the newly hired Assistant Professor of Arts Administration in the Department of Art & Art History to lead the activities at the UConn Arts Administration Center located at the Wadsworth Athenaeum in Hartford, CT.
•Recruiting students for both the online certificate and MFA programs.
•Teaching graduate-level and some undergraduate level courses in Arts Administration.
•Advising/mentoring graduate students in Arts Administration.
•Consulting with the campus Arts Organization leadership (Connecticut Repertory Theatre, Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts, BIMP, Contemporary Art Galleries, Benton Museum) in determining administrative assignments for graduate assistants and other students.
•Establishing a national presence in professional organizations and among peers in academic and professional theatre administration.
•Collaborating with the newly hired Asst. Professor of Arts Administration in the Department of Art & Art History in designing curricula and developing courses for the program’s online graduate certificate in Arts Administration.
•Managing program budget.
•Attending faculty functions and meetings as required and engaging actively in institutional governance by serving on Department, SFA, and University committees.
•Other duties as assigned.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS
•An advanced degree in Theatre Administration or a closely related field (i.e. Arts Administration, Arts Leadership, Masters of Business Administration, etc.)
•Minimum 5 years of professional leadership in arts administration
•Successful university teaching at the graduate level.
•Experience in financial management and budgeting.
•Excellent written and oral communication skills.
•Demonstrated ability to manage multiple projects with overlapping timelines and to work effectively in a flexible, dynamic environment.
•Proficiency in Blackboard or similar media platforms and technologies.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
•10 plus years of defined expertise in a high-ranking administrative position within a professional arts organization in the non-profit or for-profit sector.
•Demonstrated excellence in data management and fact-based communications planning.
•Experience with community outreach and fundraising for a professional theatre or arts organization (theatre, gallery, museum, orchestra, etc.)
•Demonstrated success in audience development/arts marketing.
•Teaching and advising experience at the graduate level.
•Experience developing and teaching online courses.
•Experience working successfully in a highly collaborative environment.
•Active in the field of study with demonstrated work as a consultant or published writing.

APPOINTMENT TERMS

This is a 9 month APIR position. Salary and benefits will be commensurate with qualifications and experience. This position will be based on the Storrs campus and have a satellite location at the Wadsworth Athenaeum in Hartford, though faculty members may also be asked to teach at other UConn regional campuses as part of their ordinary workload.

TO APPLY

Please submit an application online via UConn Jobs, www.jobs.uconn.edu, reference search number 2018481. Applications must include: cover letter (2-page maximum), a detailed curriculum vitae or resume, a statement of academic/artistic leadership philosophy that references responsibilities and qualifications within the position description, commitment to diversity statement (including broadening participation, integrating multicultural experiences in instruction) and a list of five professional references with contact information (including phone numbers and e-mail addresses). Review of applications will begin immediately and the position will remain open until filled. Employment of the successful candidate is contingent upon the successful completion of a pre-employment criminal background check. (Search # 2018481)

All employees are subject to adherence to the State Code of Ethics which may be found at http://www.ct.gov/ethics/site/default.asp.

The University of Connecticut is committed to building and supporting a multicultural and diverse community of students, faculty and staff. The diversity of students, faculty and staff continues to increase, as does the number of honors students, valedictorians and salutatorians who consistently make UConn their top choice. More than 100 research centers and institutes serve the University’s teaching, research, diversity, and outreach missions, leading to UConn’s ranking as one of the nation’s top research universities. UConn’s faculty and staff are the critical link to fostering and expanding our vibrant, multicultural and diverse University community. As an Affirmative Action/Equal Employment Opportunity employer, UConn encourages applications from women, veterans, people with disabilities and members of traditionally underrepresented populations.