Description
DEPARTMENT HEAD AND PROFESSOR
DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN
FAY JONES SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE + DESIGN, UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS
POSITION
The Fay Jones School of Architecture + Design at the University of Arkansas is seeking a transformative academic leader for a full-time twelve-month, tenure track faculty appointment at the rank of Professor and Department Head.
The Department Head reports to the Dean of the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design and supervises faculty in the interior architecture and design department. This position works to develop and manage the academic program. The Head is responsible for the Department’s curriculum and assessment, fiscal management, and student affairs. Experience in leadership and management is an asset. Skills as a mentor and facilitator are critical to this position to help support and develop faculty and to help promote and blend the diverse viewpoints that come from a robust interior architecture faculty. The Head will maintain and contribute to a collaborative culture. Meaningful connections to the profession and contemporary practice and a commitment to maintaining the high quality of the curriculum and teaching are also important.
The Head will work with the Fay Jones School of Architecture + Design to support the School’s strategic plan and contribute to the interdisciplinary capacity of the School in its teaching, research and service mission. The Head will also be the representative of the Department to the University and state and national organizations as well as community stakeholders and partners.
The position start date is July 2026.
FAY JONES SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN
The Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design includes accredited Departments of Architecture, Interior Architecture and Design, Landscape Architecture, Bachelor of Science programs in Architecture and Landscape Architecture, and an award-winning University of Arkansas Community Design Center. A broad range of course offerings at the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design equips graduates with the knowledge and critical agility required to meet the challenges of designing for a changing world; and provides students with critical frameworks for design thinking that also help them assume leadership roles in the profession and in their communities.
In August 2024, the State Department selected the Fay Jones School as the primary commissioner for the US Pavilion at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale.
Established programs at the University of Arkansas Rome Center, along with other study abroad options, and a rigorous Honors program within the School complement all departments. Housed in the center of the main campus, in Vol Walker Hall / the Stephen L Anderson Design Center, an AIA Honor Award winning building designed by Marlon Blackwell Architects, the three departments promote and engage in interdisciplinary collaboration and shared resources including state-of-the-art fabrication workshops and materials lab. Collaboration among disciplines is further encouraged through a growing variety of upper-level interdisciplinary studios and seminars. As part of the growth of this interdisciplinary culture, the school’s recent completion of the Anthony Timberlands in August 2025. Center for Design and Material Innovation, a new 45,000SF building, designed by 2020 Pritzker Prize Winners Grafton Architects, which will include a 12,000 SF high-bay fabrication laboratory, a lecture hall, conference rooms and open-plan studios. The new building will be a center of excellence for innovation in wood design and product development intended to expand the use of wood in architectural design, construction techniques, and product design. Additionally, the school is currently designing and building the Whipple Family Forest Education Center at Garvan Woodland Gardens in Hot Springs, Arkansas.
For more information visit fayjones.uark.edu.
INTERIOR ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN DEPARTMENT
Established 50 years ago, the Interior Architecture and Design Department has more than 280 undergraduate students and a faculty with broad based, scholarly research accomplishment and strong professional practice experience. Graduates have a very strong employment rate at nationally and internationally recognized design firms. The CIDA-accredited professional program requires and provides high-quality international education and cross-disciplinary studio experiences.
Overarching values guiding the faculty are a commitment to a rigorous team-taught, process-driven design education, integration of research/creative activity into classroom teaching, assimilation of teamwork skills by our students, emphasis on inclusive environments, and the realization of sustainable design solutions. Students develop strong conceptual, spatial design and technical skills through experimentation, discovery, iteration, and invention.
Required practice-based internships in locations across the US and internationally build relationships between students and potential employers and produce sophisticated graduates capable of performing in a wide range of creative contexts. A supportive professional advisory board includes successful design leaders from across the country and assists the Department in achieving its goals and promoting the program.
All students are required study abroad; regular studio-based field trips to national urban centers; transdisciplinary collaboration; minors in sustainability, business, hospitality, architecture history and theory, preservation design, urban planning, and interior architecture and design; and graduate concentrations enrich students' creative expression, deepen knowledge bases and cultural awareness, and build critical thinking skills. Student creativity and competency have been evidenced in the recent awarding of eight national Donghia scholarships, two Gensler-Brinkmann Scholarships, seven Metropolis Future 100 honorees, and the 2024 National ASID portfolio competition, as well as numerous ASID student design awards. Please visit our website for additional information about our Department of Interior Architecture and Design.
Website: https://fayjones.uark.edu/academics/interior-architecture-and-design/
THE UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS
The University of Arkansas provides an internationally competitive education for undergraduate and graduate students in more than 200 academic programs. The university contributes new knowledge, economic development, basic and applied research, and creative activity while also providing service to academic and professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the University of Arkansas among only 2 percent of universities in America that have the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the University of Arkansas among its top American public research universities. Founded in 1871, the University of Arkansas comprises 10 colleges and schools and maintains a low student-to-faculty ratio that promotes personal attention and close mentoring.
FAYETTEVILLE + NORTHWEST ARKANSAS
The University’s historic hilltop campus overlooks one of the nation's top college towns and fastest-growing regions. The second largest city in Arkansas with a population of more than half a million regionally, Fayetteville has all the resources and advantages of a large city, yet its unique quality of life sets it apart. Hosting a myriad of events, from off-Broadway plays at the Walton Arts Center, to expansive award-winning farmer’s markets, Fayetteville continues to be ranked within the top ten of U.S. small cities by the Milken Institute for livability. Recently, Fayetteville and its neighboring towns were ranked eighth out of ten of the best economically performing cities in the nation.
Quickly gaining recognition as a nationwide for its creative economy, Northwest Arkansas is home to the world-class Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, designed by Moshe Safdie, whose grounds include the reconstructed Bachman-Wilson House by Frank Lloyd Wright. Crystal Bridges provides the Fay Jones School students and faculty excellent opportunities for teaching and research collaboration. The school’s namesake, internationally renowned architect and AIA Gold Medal recipient Fay Jones, designed multiple homes and sacred spaces in Arkansas including Thorncrown Chapel in nearby Eureka Springs, ranked the fourth best building by an American architect in the 20th century.
Situated in a landscape of natural beauty, the region promotes sustainable, local living through its abundance of lakes, national rivers, spectacular bluffs, waterfalls, and more than 36 miles of bike and walking trails. Three Fortune 500 companies: Walmart, Tyson Foods, and J.B. Hunt Transport make the area their home creating an active business climate, providing investment in cultural programs, and support for the University community. A short drive from Fayetteville, the Northwest Arkansas airport has daily non-stop flights to many major US cities.
Please visit www.accessfayetteville.org for additional information.
SALARY
Salary will be competitive and commensurate with qualifications and experience.
APPLICATIONS
To apply for this position please visit: http://jobs.uark.edu/postings R0080066. The deadline for priority consideration of applications is February 2, 2026. Applications may be considered until the position is filled.
Requirements
REQUIRED
Master’s degree in interior design or closely related field, from an accredited institution of higher education
Candidates currently in academic positions must be full professors at their home institution before the time of hire into this position or be in a declared candidacy and evident readiness for full professor rank
Candidates currently in professional practice who possess an accomplished body of work and merited stature to qualify for the rank of full professor are eligible and encouraged to apply.
PREFERRED
Completion of NCIDQ exam
