About James Madison University
Mission

We are a community committed to preparing students to be educated and enlightened citizens who lead productive and meaningful lives.

Vision

To be the national model for the engaged university: engaged with ideas and the world.

Who We Are

Located in the heart of Virginia’s beautiful Shenandoah Valley, the city of Harrisonburg is approximately 120 miles from Washington, D.C. and Richmond, VA. With a population of just over 53,000, Harrisonburg is one of the most diverse communities in the Commonwealth of Virginia. JMU is a selective, public institution with a growing national reputation for offering experiences that lead to an outstanding education and inclusive environment for students, faculty and staff. The student body includes approximately 20,000 undergraduate and 1,900 graduate students, with over 1,000 full-time instructional faculty.

JMU offers thriving programs in the liberal arts, science and technology, and professional disciplines at the undergraduate, master’s and doctoral levels. The university is committed to expanding diversity, fostering equity and inclusion, and supporting superlative teaching and scholarship. JMU has achieved national recognition for the high quality of its academic programs, focus on maintaining strong student/faculty interaction, and innovative faculty research.
General Information
The Department of Biology at James Madison University invites applications for a tenure-track Assistant or Associate Professor position with specific expertise in Plant Biotechnology. This is a full-time position with an anticipated start date of August 2023.

The successful candidate will join a thriving community of more than 50 biologists with broad sub-disciplinary diversity and preferably will expand further this diversity in the plant sciences through expertise in area such as translational biotechnology, applied biotechnology, molecular biology, genomics, bioinformatics, computational biology, data analytics, or related disciplines (Details about existing faculty research expertise are available at: https://www.jmu.edu/biology/graduate/research-opportunities.shtml).

The Department of Biology is housed in a modern 90,000 ft2 Bioscience building, with numerous facilities to support the scholarly and educational pursuits of faculty and students. These include the Center for Genome and Metagenome Studies (CGEMS), an automated greenhouse, herbarium, a state-of-the-art Light Microscopy and Imaging Facility, and BSL-1 and BSL-2 laboratories. An Industrial Hemp Research Program is housed at JMU, fostering collaboration between researchers at JMU, hemp growers, and the local community (https://www.jmu.edu/research/hemp/index.shtml).
Duties and Responsibilities
This faculty member will be expected to mentor bachelor’s and possibly master’s students in discipline-specific research as well develop and teach plant biotechnology courses in our undergraduate biotechnology program. Preferred candidates would also teach upper-division plant biology or plant physiology courses in the biology program. Collaborative scholarship with other faculty members within and beyond the department is encouraged. The College of Science and Mathematics offers a minor in data analysis and is particularly interested in candidates who could connect data analytics and biology/biotechnology curricula. If interested, opportunities to move into leadership positions within the biotechnology program will be available.

The Department is committed to creating an equitable and inclusive environment that will enhance recruitment and retention of a diverse population of faculty, staff, and students; the successful candidate is expected to contribute to this environment through their teaching, mentorship, scholarship, and service to the institution. Towards this end, applicants should address diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in their cover letter, their statement of teaching philosophy, and their student-centered research statement, as described in the relevant section below. The Department currently offers B.S., B.A., and M.S. degrees in Biology and in collaboration with other departments, a B.S. in Biotechnology.

Expectations for the position also includes establishing and maintaining an externally funded research program that includes mentoring and publishing with student co-authors. The successful candidate will teach and develop courses in the undergraduate biotechnology program, and upper division plant biology courses in the Department of Biology. They may also teach lower division biology courses and have the option to develop graduate level courses.
Qualifications
Applicants should have a Ph.D. in Plant Biotechnology or a related area. Post-doctoral experience is preferred. Demonstrated interest or previous success in teaching and research mentoring primarily at the undergraduate level is expected.
Conditions of Employment
Employment is contingent upon the successful completion of a criminal background check.

E-Verify Notice: After accepting employment, new hires are required to complete an I-9 form and present documentation of their identity and eligibility to work in the United States. James Madison University uses the E-Verify system to confirm identity and work authorization.