Graphic Design Teaching Fellow - Mount Mercy Campus

St. Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa, invites applications for a half-time Teaching Fellow position in graphic design at the University's Mount Mercy campus, located in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, for the 2025-2026 academic year. Start date is August 11, 2025.

The successful candidate will possess some combination of the following with respect to credentials and experience:

• Have or be pursuing an MFA in graphic design or a closely related field.
• Possess expertise in Adobe Creative Cloud applications (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, After Effects) and UX/UI software platforms (Adobe XD or Figma).
• Be proficient in digital print and production processes.
• Be knowledgeable in digital photography.
• Applicants with demonstrated university-level teaching experience will receive special consideration.

The individual hired for this position will be expected to enthusiastically embrace the following responsibilities and objectives:

• Teach two (2) in-person undergraduate courses per semester in graphic design at the Cedar Rapids campus, likely to include: Photography, Graphic Design 2, Graphic Design 3, and Typography, with possible opportunities to teach Art Fundamentals and/or Thesis.
• Embrace both the challenges and rewards of working to build a vibrant and sustainable learner-centered model for Catholic higher education across the campuses of Mount Mercy and St. Ambrose University.
• Be committed to supported and guided, evidence-based innovation in pursuit of creating impactful learning experiences for students.
• Contribute to the learning and professional outcomes of students across the university generally as well as in the graphic design program.
• Engage in ongoing professional development appropriate to the faculty member's discipline and academic responsibilities.
• Offer high quality learning experiences for students in a range of modalities (e.g., face-to-face, hybrid, and online), or demonstrate a demonstrable willingness to learn how to do so.

In August 2024, St. Ambrose University and Mount Mercy University signed an agreement to fully combine the two universities. The university recently received approval from its accrediting body and anticipates regulatory approval in the coming months. Mount Mercy employees will become St. Ambrose employees in the summer of 2025, and the two campuses will fully merge operations for the fall 2026 semester. Thus, faculty and staff members hired in advance of the fall 2025 semester will be hired as St. Ambrose employees working on the Mount Mercy campus.

The strategic combination of Mount Mercy and St. Ambrose University represents the proactive and innovative combination of two healthy Catholic universities. The combined university will reduce costs by significantly reducing the duplication of administrative roles across the two universities and combining and streamlining a host of back-office operations. The combined university is also reimagining general education and academic programs with a focus on learner-centeredness, sustainability, strong student outcomes, and engaging and innovative learning experiences.

St. Ambrose University was founded as a diocesan college in Davenport, Iowa in 1882. The Mount Mercy campus of St. Ambrose University was founded in 1928 by the Sisters of Mercy. St. Ambrose has a strong financial profile with an endowment of $247.5 million, of which nearly 80% is unrestricted. Collectively, St. Ambrose and Mount Mercy enroll over 3500 undergraduate and graduate students. The combined university offers more than 40 undergraduate majors and boasts a portfolio of a dozen graduate programs in a variety of fields, including multiple graduate degrees in healthcare, business, social work, counseling, and engineering. You can learn more about the strategic combination between St. Ambrose and Mount Mercy at https://sau.edu/education-together/ .

Qualified candidates should submit (a) a letter of application outlining their qualifications for, and interest in, the position, (b) a curriculum vitae (CV) or resume, (c) contact information for three professional references to https://stambroseuniv.applicantlist.com and (d) a portfolio of creative work (PDF or website link) submissions should be emailed as Microsoft Word or Adobe Acrobat attachments to: humanresources@sau.edu with the subject line: "Graphic Design Search." Only application materials emailed to this address will be considered. Application materials submitted on paper will not be reviewed. To be ensured of full consideration, candidate materials should be received by July 8, 2025. The review of application materials will begin at that time and continue until the position is filled.
EOE