Career Center

The Human-Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon University is pleased to announce an adjunct faculty opening to co-teach the course Interaction Design Overview (IxDO). Adjunct faculty attend class in-person two days per week and arrive before class starts to prep with their co-teacher, a full-time faculty member who is experienced delivering the class. During class adjunct faculty lecture, facilitate discussion and critique, demonstrate interaction design methods and and guide students through team projects. Outside of class adjunct faculty coordinate with co-teachers, grade student projects, prepare assignments, review lectures in Google Slides and read student discussions in Canvas and review lectures. Adjuncts occasionally meet individual students and student teams outside of class times. 

Adjunct faculty must be available on both Monday and Wednesday for at least one of the sections as follows;

• Section A: 10:10am to 12:00pm

• Section B: 1:25pm to 3:15pm 

When applying please indicate your availability and preferences for the sections above. Please explicitly identify sections for which you are not available.

The effective date of appointment is August 2022. Salary is $10,000 for the fall semester paid monthly between September and December 2022.

We seek practicing interaction designers who have many years of experience delivering interaction designs to clients. We need instructors with expertise in design thinking, design presentation, and user-centered design methods across the full lifecycle: user research, problem framing, sketching, prototyping, evaluation, and socialization. Candidates should present evidence of their mastery of the following capabilities:

• Interpreting and synthesizing qualitative research, quantitative research, and behavioral theory

• Using models for sensemaking and storytelling (e.g. customer journey maps, service blueprints)

• Shaping projects, reframing and developing design strategy and concepts to create value

• Generative design: Rapid idea generation using scenario-based design, storyboards, sketching, 5 Whys and other techniques 

• Experience prototyping, body storming, and user enactments

• Designing user interfaces for devices with screens (e.g., desktop, tablet, phone, watch) and non-screen devices (e.g., IoT, conversational UI)

• Designing responsive mobile websites and native applications

• Typography, color, and composition to develop clear and attractive visual/information designs

• Prototyping designs: low-fidelity to high-fidelity; conceptual design to prototyping 

• Facilitating critiques and teaching students how to give and receive critique

• Developing arguments and narratives and pitching to clients

• Leading project teams that contend with complexity, ambiguity, disagreements and conflict

We seek an interaction design practitioner whose design knowledge is broad and deep, and is regarded as a leader by peers. The qualified applicant can demonstrate a history of conveying knowledge to others and mentoring. The qualified candidate will be able to draw on industry experiences to illustrate the interplay between interaction design, research, business strategy and technology.

Adjunct faculty use the Canvas learning management system (LMS) to release materials, grade, comment on assignments, assemble teams, conduct peer evaluations, mark attendance and review data from tests. Adjuncts deliver lectures and facilitate discussions among students. Adjuncts embrace a dialogic approach to education that is consistent with a design studio experience that involves contending with open-ended problems and ambiguity. Adjuncts occasionally meet students and teams outside of regularly scheduled class times. Adjuncts arrive before class starts to prep with their co-teacher, debrief after each class and record improvement opportunities. 

After teaching Interaction Design Overview, the selected candidate(s) will have opportunities to teach other courses in the future such as Interaction Design Studio 1, Interaction Design Studio 2, MHCI Capstone Project, BHCI Capstone, Service Design, Digital Service Innovation or others.

Applications must include (1) resume or curriculum vitae, (2) a link to a web portfolio or PDF file (3) a description of prior teaching experience, mentoring experience in an industry setting and/or personal approach to teaching.

The HCII will review applications as we receive them; however, the final deadline to receive materials is Friday, 15 July 2022 or until the position has been filled.

If you have questions, please feel free to contact Jennifer McPherson at jmcpherson@cs.cmu.edu.

Carnegie Mellon University is an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer committed to excellence through diversity and strongly encourages applications from women, minorities, and other under-represented groups. CMU is responsive to the needs of dual career couples and is dedicated to work-life balance through an array of family-friendly policies.

Carnegie Mellon University shall abide by the requirements of 41 CFR §§ 60-1.4(a), 60-300.5(a) and 60-741.5(a). These regulations prohibit discrimination against qualified individuals based on their status as protected veterans or individuals with disabilities, and prohibit discrimination against all individuals based on their race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. Moreover, these regulations require that covered prime contractors and subcontractors take affirmative action to employ and advance in employment individuals without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, protected veteran status or disability.