R. Buckminster Fuller Professor in Practice of Design Science (part-time), Associate Professor in Practice of Design Science (part-time), or Associate Professor in Design Science (full-time, tenure track)Harvard University

Honoring the legacy of R. Buckminster Fuller as a designer, inventor, and scientist who was committed to addressing pressing planetary and societal concerns, this newly established endowed professorship will support a visionary scholar and/or practitioner at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design. We seek individuals who support and expand upon the school’s mission by demonstrating a systemic, ethical, and innovative approach to global issues, through scholarship and/or design of contemporary relevance and urgency. The future of our planet and the quest for sustainable design solutions rank high among these issues.

We are especially interested in someone with a record of cross-disciplinary research and/or practice. The successful candidate will be appointed within the department that is most appropriate to their primary field of expertise but will be expected to bridge across all the disciplines represented in the GSD’s academic departments and non-departmental programs, as well as establishing collaborative research and pedagogy with other Harvard schools. This position is envisioned with a certain degree of latitude. The role is for a full-time tenure track associate professor or a part-time junior or senior practice position that will engage with and teach in one or several of the school’s degree programs. These include architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning and design, design studies, design engineering, and doctoral studies. Importantly, the successful candidate will have the capacity to address the needs of the Master in Design Studies and Master in Design Engineering programs in particular.

The successful candidate will also be an effective and experienced teacher and can demonstrate a record of outstanding creative research through scholarship and/or practice that advances one or more disciplines.

Academic qualifications depend on the profile of the successful applicant. Candidates who pursue largely scholarly research are generally expected to hold a Doctoral degree, while design practitioners may have an alternative terminal degree, appropriate to support the appointment rank.

The faculty search committee will review applications on a rolling basis starting in March 2026.

Candidates should submit:

At a later date, candidates advancing in the selection process will be asked to provide additional material.

Emmy Ly, Senior Coordinator, Faculty Affairs