Northeastern University is seeking multiple tenure track faculty for positions in Game Design and Interactive Media within the College of Arts, Media and Design starting September 1, 2012. Positions will be filled at the assistant, associate or full professor rank depending on the qualifications of the candidate. Northeastern may also consider a multidisciplinary ‘cluster hire’ where several candidates elect to form a team which proposes an innovative and translational research direction responding to one or more of these positions.
Job code: 114408
Details after the jump
1. Game Design/Interactive Media and Animation: Animation is fundamental to Game Design/Interactive Media to simulate the physical and kinetic properties of characters, objects and contexts in motion, in space, and in time. The simulation of environments requires sophisticated research into motion, lighting, surfaces and perspective. The simulation of characters requires creating expressive and accurate facial and body-motion qualities. This requires interdisciplinary research into physiology, kinesiology and psychology. Core features and technologies of virtually all the current top commercial game projects are based on such simulation.
2. Game Design/Interactive Media and Games Usability: Games Usability focuses on how users interact with games and media to facilitate and optimize user interface, including usability analysis, user experience, and behavioral trends. Games usability research is a specialized growth area that includes research, such as analysis of gameplay temporal data collected from real players to deduce behavioral trends (large data analysis). This area may take advantage of existing methodologies within CCIS and leverage new interdisciplinary collaborations with Psychology and the behavioral sciences.
3. Game Design/Interactive Media and Social and Cooperative Games: Social and cooperative games is a major trend in Game Design/Interactive Media whereby users are connected globally and can interact as individuals in a virtual crowd. Social and cooperative gaming is a major trend for current and future growth for the game industry, and an area that may stimulate significant research that requires interdisciplinary skills and partnership. Research and education on social and cooperative games is needed and coherent with Northeastern¿s capacity for interdisciplinary work. This field could benefit from interdisciplinary collaboration with other colleges, especially the social sciences.
4. Game Design/Interactive Media and Arts Industry and Entrepreneurship: Arts Industry and Entrepreneurship is critical to harnessing the social and economic power of Game Design/Interactive Media as the future medium of social and commercial connectivity. Production management, media development and cross-discipline project opportunities are critical areas in this rapidly changing field.
5. Game Design/Interactive Media and Core Design and Development: Core Design and Development is a joint hire with the CCIS. Building on the foundation of interdisciplinary undergraduate degrees in game design and interactive media, the successful candidate will play a central role in creating innovative programmatic efforts that combine a deep knowledge of the artistic and computing disciplines, and will advance our research and educational agenda. This search has already been posted as Requisition Number 114350. Go to: http://www.northeastern.edu/camd/ or http://www.ccs.neu.edu/
Qualifications
We expect successful candidates to demonstrate a strong commitment to teaching and an excellent record in research/scholarship in any of the core areas listed above. Should possess experience with applications in areas such as interactive narratives, social games, health games, mobile games, or educational games. Applicants must have a terminal degree of either a PhD in related areas, or an MFA in game design or related areas.
Additional Information
Northeastern University is a national research university in the heart of Boston and world leader in experiential learning. In the past few years, Northeastern University has made a major commitment to interdisciplinary education and research in select fields with the goal of achieving international leadership in these fields. The Game Design and Interactive Media program is one of the areas selected for growth and is being developed as a joint effort between the colleges of Arts, Media and Design and others including the Computer and Information Science, the College of Business Administration, and the College of Social Science and Humanities. We seek tenure track faculty members who can play a major role in shaping the research and academic goals for our programmatic efforts in Game Design and Interactive Media. In particular, we seek five hires strategically selected to project this field beyond a focus on entertainment to redefine how we receive, disseminate and interact with information in a non-linear, user-generated environment.
Equal Employment Opportunity
Northeastern University is an Equal Opportunity, Affirmative Action Educational Institution and Employer, Title IX University. Northeastern University particularly welcomes applications from minorities, women and persons with disabilities. Northeastern University is an E-Verify Employer.
How To Apply
To apply, visit the College of Arts, Media and Design website at:
http://www.northeastern.edu/camd/
and click on the Faculty Positions button.
Applications should include:
– Cover letter expressing interest
– Applicant’s CV
– Research statement
– Teaching statement
– Names and addresses of 3-6 references
Full consideration will be given to applications received by December 30, 2011
For questions about the search or to submit external references, please call the search committee co-chairs, Terrence Masson and Magy Seif El-Nasr at: 617-373-7645 or 617-373-3928, or email us at terrence.masson@gmail.com or magy@neu.edu.