ɬÀï·¬ is planning to hire two tenure-track positions, beginning in Fall, 2026. One position is for a neurobiologist and the other for a neuroscientist. To help clarify the distinct nature of these two positions, we provide the following explanation.
For the Neurobiologist position, we are seeking a colleague who will reside in and contribute to all levels of the curriculum in the biology department, including advising and supervising student research. The teaching will include BIO 150: Introduction to Biological Inquiry, BIO 251: Cells, Molecules and Organisms, and BIO 363: Neurobiology. Interested parties can read about our pedagogical approach, curriculum, departmental resources, and more on our departmental web page on the ɬÀï·¬ website. As a good example of our general philosophy, we draw attention to our innovative introductory course, BIO150: Introduction to Biological Inquiry, a course that focuses on skill development and the research enterprise as opposed to broad content delivery.
The Neuroscience position is quite different in the following ways.
First, this person will be integral to expanding the neuroscience concentration into interdisciplinary areas outside the STEM disciplines that traditionally support neuroscience. There are many ways this might be accomplished, but we anticipate that at the very least, this person will develop and teach a new course that engages students in the challenge of connecting neuroscience to humanistic and societal concerns. For example, such connections might include but not be limited to economics, political science, education, philosophy, art, dance, music, literature, religion, and sociology.
The second distinct aspect of this position is that the home department is not pre-defined. This will depend on the candidates interests and disciplinary connection; however, we anticipate that the home department will be in the sciences – biology, chemistry, physics, math, computer science, and psychology.
Third, a portion of the candidates teaching responsibilities will be within the neuroscience concentration. Several current faculty from the departments of biology, chemistry and psychology share in the duties of teaching our two core courses, NRS 250, an intro course with lab. and NRS 495, a senior seminar capstone course (view the curriculum).
We expect all our new colleagues will develop a research program that will involve undergraduates. All faculty at ɬÀï·¬ teach our first-year tutorial approximately once every 4 – 5 years and participate in faculty governance at the department, division, and college-wide level.
We also share below some thoughts on what it is like to teach and conduct research in the sciences at ɬÀï·¬, and well as a bit about the greater ɬÀï·¬ community.
ɬÀï·¬ is a highly selective liberal arts college with a well-deserved reputation for undergraduate teaching. A ranks ɬÀï·¬ 7th per capita among schools from which science and engineering Ph.D.’s received their bachelor’s degrees.
ɬÀï·¬ has a strong commitment to social justice, revealed, in part, by our need-blind admissions process. We do not consider ability to pay in making admissions decisions for domestic students, and we meet the full demonstrated financial need of all students we accept (including international students). The science departments are also active in institution-wide diversity efforts, such as the ɬÀï·¬ Science Project (GSP), which has been honored with the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring for more than twenty years of successful efforts to increase the number of students from underrepresented groups who earn degrees in the sciences.
ɬÀï·¬ students are an amazing and rewarding group to teach. Class sizes are small (~24 per class at the 100 & 200-level, ~12 per class at the 300-level), and the high priority placed on advising means students and faculty get to know each other well.
The teaching load is five course equivalents per year, lecture counting as one course and lab counting as half of a course. As a result, a typical yearly teaching load for a faculty member in the sciences might be three or four separate courses plus lab sections. Note that new tenure-track faculty hires teach a four-course-equivalent load in their first year, and all faculty are guaranteed a one semester (three course) leave prior to tenure.
Teaching at ɬÀï·¬ can take place in many settings. Beyond traditional lecture halls and labs, there are opportunities for course-embedded travel and wonderful teaching spaces at the Conard Environment Research Area (CERA), ɬÀ﷬’s 365-acre remote campus that serves as a biological field station.
Given our research-forward curriculum and commitment to learning-through-doing, faculty at ɬÀï·¬ are expected to be productive scholars. A significant mode of research across campus is faculty-mentored student research in the form of what are called Mentored Advanced Projects (MAPs). MAPs can be conducted during the semester or summer. Students earn academic credit for the MAP and are awarded funds to support the project. During the summer, the program also provides students with funds to support living expenses during ten weeks of full-time research. Faculty also receive a stipend for supervising summer MAPs. MAPs are popular and a part of our rich culture of student-faculty research. Student demand for these research experiences always exceeds supply; however, faculty are not required to conduct MAPs.
Beyond MAPs, the College provides support for faculty scholarship in a number of ways:
ɬÀï·¬ resides in the city of ɬÀï·¬, a community of approximately 9,000 people situated in rural Iowa. The College actively seeks to engage with the local community. (athletic, fine arts, etc.) are free and open to the public. While many faculty members find the community of ɬÀï·¬ a great place to live, some faculty and staff do commute from cities such as Iowa City and Des Moines.
Explore the Visitor Guide, including links to the community calendar and the ɬÀï·¬-Newburg School District.
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