Professor of Practice and Curator in Charge, Vertebrate Paleontology Laboratory; Professor of Practice and Curator in Charge, Non-vertebrate Paleontology Laboratory

Description

The Jackson School of Geosciences (JSG) at The University of Texas at Austin seeks to hire two full-time, non-tenure track Professors of Practice (open rank) for multi-faceted roles including active contributions to the research and educational missions of the school and museum and responsibility to serve as Curator-in-Charge and oversee staff and operations for either the Jackson School Museum of Earth History Vertebrate Paleontology Laboratory (VPL) or Nonvertebrate Paleontology (NPL) Laboratory. These are 12-month, salaried appointments with a three-year rolling contract.

The primary expectation for these positions is facilitating the full integration of the collections into the research and teaching programs of the Jackson School through collection-based research, active collaboration with JSG stakeholders and campus partners, curation and conservation of these substantial collections for academic research and global access, and teaching one course per year in our undergraduate program. Stakeholders include JSG faculty who are research curators, active researchers in other UT colleges, and an independent, public-facing museum, the Texas Science & Natural History Museum. While the Laboratories conduct a modest level of public outreach and engagement, that is not a primary mission of the Laboratories.

The Vertebrate Paleontology Laboratory (VPL; est. 1949) is the principal repository for vertebrate fossils collected from state and federal lands in Texas and contiguous areas, amongst the largest (2M specimens) and most-highly cited fossil vertebrate collections in North America (see https://www.jsg.utexas.edu/vpl), as well as an extensive collection of extant vertebrate skeletons. The VPL maintains a fossil preparation laboratory and a library and archive of research materials from contributing researchers. General strengths of the collections are in its holdings from Early Permian terrestrial sediments, Late Triassic terrestrial sediments, Late Cretaceous marine and terrestrial sediments, Tertiary terrestrial sediments, and rich Quaternary cave deposits.

The Non-vertebrate Paleontology Laboratory (NPL; est. 1999) is a vast repository (4M specimens) drawn from a wide array of geological research. It is known for its rare and important specimens with a type and figured collection of over 22,000 specimens, and for its innovative approaches to the management of an unconventional collection. The focus of the NPL is invertebrate and paleobotanical fossils, but these are complemented by a wealth of recent marine, freshwater and terrestrial specimens, and an extensive rock, mineral and impact-related collection (see https://www.jsg.utexas.edu/npl)

The Jackson School Museum of Earth History is a research organization without public exhibits, however, it maintains close ties to UT's Texas Science and Natural History Museum, which exhibits outstanding specimens from the VPL and NPL collections.

Key Responsibilities

The Professors of Practice and Curators in Charge of the VPL and NPL are expected to contribute to the strong reputation of the paleontology programs at the University of Texas at Austin in several ways, including:

Paleontological Research -

• Conduct independent paleontological research and publish in appropriate peer-review journals. Support and collaborate with other faculty researchers at the Jackson School and UT Austin, and support research on VPL and NPL collections by UT graduate and undergraduate students. We especially seek researchers whose scholarship would utilize the museum's vast fossil collections.
• Seek external funds for paleontological research and collection development. Work with the development officers of the Jackson School to pursue foundation and donor support for Lab activities.

Curation and Laboratory Management -

• Serve as member of the museum steering committee, which sets research priorities and collection/conservation goals for both VPL and NPL.
• Serve as curator-in-charge of collections, in consultation with faculty research curators.
• Facilitate ongoing collaborations among UT researchers and catalyze new ones. Advocate for the collections and their use in research and teaching.
• Oversee and work constructively with laboratory staff, including the laboratory collections manager (VPL, NPL) and fossil preparator (VPL only), managing the operations of the laboratory in alignment with school priorities, and seeking to proactively address operational challenges. With only a few full-time staff, laboratory employees must occasionally step into each other's roles to meet the needs of the lab.
• Conduct collections acquisition to strengthen and enhance collections for research, education, and exhibit purposes, while also managing sample intake consistent with museum priorities and limited staff time.
• Consult on fossil preparation, relevant loan and destructive sampling requests upon referral of the collections manager and fossil preparator.
• Plan and manage the laboratory budget comprised of endowment income, gifts, external funding and support from the Jackson School. Work with the Jackson School development team to identify and support philanthropic fundraising efforts.

Teaching and Mentoring -

• Teach one undergraduate course per year in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences. A wide range of course opportunities are possible, depending on departmental needs and the candidate's background and interests. All teaching activity is coordinated with the department chair. Co-teaching contributions to additional undergraduate and graduate courses may be considered on an occasional basis.
• Contribute to the academic enterprise by serving as a member of graduate thesis committees or less formally mentoring graduate and undergraduate students in independent research. The Jackson School will match external or museum endowment funds for undergraduate research assistants or undergraduate work-study wages. Professors of Practice may serve as principal graduate thesis advisor with a memo of nomination by the museum steering committee and approval by the JSG Graduate Studies Committee and the Graduate School.
• Incorporate innovative teaching or outreach methodologies utilizing museum collections for teaching and to impact students or public communities.
• Public outreach is not an emphasis of our work, but the laboratories host occasional events for public engagement. There is opportunity to co-develop public events with the Texas Science and Natural History Museum (formerly the Texas Memorial Museum).

Distribution of Effort

As for any multi-faceted role, the distribution of effort between these areas of job responsibility is expected to vary considerably, depending on circumstances. An approximate distribution of time and effort would be 20% personal research program (including collaborative research), 20% facilitation of research by faculty and students, 50% to roles of curator in charge and lab management, including fundraising efforts, 10% teaching (e.g., one course per 12 month year).

Working at the Jackson School of Geosciences

Faculty will be appointed in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences in the Jackson School of Geosciences. The School also includes two organized research units, the Institute for Geophysics and the Bureau of Economic Geology. The Jackson School hosts a talented cadre of ~125 tenure track, research and professional track faculty, as well as research technologists and administrative staff. We currently enroll ~400 undergraduates and ~200 graduate students across our degree programs. We are a world-class community of scholars with a remarkable range of specialties and access to outstanding research facilities and support. We seek a faculty member who will develop new and/or expand collaborations among faculty, staff, and students across the JSG and other units on campus. The university is located in the thriving Austin metropolitan area with a vibrant community of over 2 million people.

Professional track faculty in the Jackson School are valued individuals encouraged to create their own, unique set of contributions based on the job classification, interest, skill sets, and school need, and may contribute to the academic enterprise in many ways, including service, research, and student mentoring. Professional track faculty are non-tenure track, but follow a typical faculty promotion process. The Laboratories are sited at the UT Austin J.J. Pickle Research Campus, a dedicated research campus approximately 9 miles north of the main campus. The campuses are connected by free shuttle buses and a nearby rail connection. UT Austin is a residential campus and all faculty are expected to work primarily onsite, in order to facilitate meaningful interactions with peers and students. Relocation to the Austin area is required.

Salary

The positions provide a competitive, 12-month salary, depending on experience.

UT Austin provides an outstanding benefits package including, but not limited to:

• Competitive health benefits (employee-only health insurance premiums covered at 100%)
• Voluntary Vision, Dental, Life, and Disability insurance options
• Paid vacation, sick time, and holidays
• Retirement plans with generous employee matching funds.
• Free rides on all UT Shuttle and Austin CapMetro buses with staff ID card
• For more details, please see: https://hr.utexas.edu/current/services/my-total-rewards.

Applicants must hold a Ph.D. in Geoscience or a related field. The ideal candidate will have established, or have the potential to establish, an independent paleontological research program as demonstrated by peer-reviewed publications and other scholarly contributions, have prior experience in paleontological curation or collections management, and have formal or informal teaching and mentoring experience at the undergraduate level. Proven grantsmanship, formal university teaching experience and excellent communication and interpersonal skills are highly desired.

We are eager to fill these positions as soon as possible. Review of applications will begin October 27, 2025 and continue until the positions are filled. Interested applicants should submit: a CV, the names and contact information for three individuals who would be able to provide letters of reference, and a brief letter of interest (maximum 5 pages) addressing which position you are applying for, your qualifications for the position and how you would contribute to and develop the research, curation, teaching impacts of the Laboratory collections in support of the academic missions of the Jackson School. Submit copies of these materials through Interfolio's 'Apply Now' option. Questions concerning the positions should be should be addressed to julia.clarke@jsg.utexas.edu.

The University of Texas at Austin, as an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer, complies with all applicable federal and state laws regarding nondiscrimination and affirmative action. The University is committed to a policy of equal opportunity for all persons and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, disability, religion, or veteran status in employment, educational programs and activities, and admissions.