Tenure-Track Faculty Position Announcement

Department: Special Education

Faculty Hire Number: #25-30

Rank: Assistant Professor

Effective Date of Appointment: August 20, 2025 (Subject to Budgetary Approval)

Salary Scale: $80,004 to $84,000 (Dependent upon qualifications)

CSUN’s Commitment to You:

CSUN is committed to achieving excellence through teaching, scholarship, learning and inclusion. Our values include a respect for all people, building partnerships with the community and the encouragement of innovation, experimentation, and creativity. CSUN strives to cultivate a community in which a diverse population can learn and work in an atmosphere of civility and respect. CSUN is especially interested in candidates who make contributions to equity and inclusion in the pursuit of excellence for all members of the university community.

As a Hispanic-serving Institution (HSI), inclusiveness and diversity are integral to CSUN’s commitment to excellence in teaching, research, and engagement. As of Fall 2024, CSUN enrolls 36,848 students, where 56.3% are Latinx, 18.9% are White, 8.7% are Asian-American, 5.3% are Black/African American, 0.1% are Native American, and 0.1% are Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander.

For more information about the University, visit: http://www.csun.edu

About the College:

For information about the Michael D. Eisner College of Education, see: https://www.csun.edu/eisner-education

About the Department:

The Special Education Department at CSUN is committed to preparing educators who advocate for and provide service to students with all levels of support needs.  Our program strives to dismantle systems that categorize, segregate, or limit student expectations on the basis of perceived disability label, level of support need, assumptions about language access or cultural/linguistic background, with special attention to multiply-marginalized students. In this way, we prepare educators to be strength-based service providers and advocates who focus on adaptation of the learning environment and materials to meet the support needs of each student and their family.

For more information about the Department of Special Education, see: https://www.csun.edu/eisner-education/special-education

Position:

The department of Special Education at California State University, Northridge (CSUN) is seeking a tenure-track faculty member in Mild/Moderate to Extensive Support Needs (MMESN) at the rank of Assistant Professor with background and qualifications for Educational Therapy (ET).

The successful candidate will teach Special Education teacher preparation and Master’s Degree and certification courses in the Special Education department including Educational Therapy courses. The typical teaching assignment is 12 units each semester, plus student advisement, and committee assignments. The successful candidate may be required to teach on weekdays, evenings, weekends, and/or online and will be held to the standards and requirements of the college and department in which they are housed for recommending tenure and promotion. Tenure Track faculty are eligible for a reduced load of 3 units (equivalent to one class) each semester during the first two years of teaching. Opportunities for reassigned time and other projects are also available.

In addition to teaching, the position requires advisement, weekly office hours, attending faculty meetings, service to the department, college, university, and maintaining research and scholarly activities. The position also includes collaboration with the Special Education Department faculty on matters of recruitment, enrollment and admissions; collaboratively coordinating the Educational Therapy program; overseeing the Educational Therapy Internship experience; and supervising students in school-based, clinical, and virtual settings. We value candidates who can effectively mentor and supervise students using multiple pedagogical formats (i.e., face-to-face, hybrid, online formats), as well as the ability to prepare students to become justice-oriented educators. The candidate will collaborate with the Association of Educational Therapists (AET) and other community agencies, the Special Education Department and ET program instructors.

Given CSUN’s commitment to excellence in teaching, research, and engagement in a diverse environment, the successful candidate will help the Department achieve equitable academic outcomes for all students through teaching, student mentorship, scholarship, and service.

Required Qualifications:   

• Doctoral degree in Education or related fields from an accredited institution, including Special Education, Communication Disorders, and Psychology. Terminal degree must be completed prior to the first day of employment.
• Minimum of two years virtual or in-person teaching and/or clinical experience with students in schools and related settings.
• An awareness of and sensitivity to the educational goals of a multicultural population as might have been gained in cross-cultural study, training, teaching and/or other comparable experiences.
• Able to communicate pedagogical or collaborative strategies that serve the educational and/or therapeutic goals of a multicultural/multilingual population as might have been gained in cross-cultural study, training, teaching and/or other comparable experiences.
• Strong ability or potential to coordinate programs and supervise adjunct faculty and support staff.
• Strong ability or potential to teach a variety of credential and graduate courses including Educational Therapy, across the Special Education credential in Mild/Moderate and Extensive Support Needs addressing the California Teacher Performance Expectations (TPEs).
• Strong ability or potential to provide advisement to students for efficient and timely program completion and support.
• Strong ability or potential to supervise clinical interns and student teachers as they complete their practicum.

Preferred Qualifications:

Preference will be given to candidates with demonstrated expertise in one or more of the following areas:

• Understanding and applying inclusive, culturally sustaining, and equity pedagogies in teaching, scholarship, and clinical settings.
• Record of effective teaching and supervising in higher education settings and experience adopting inclusive approaches to mentoring.
• Experience teaching and working closely with students from diverse backgrounds, including those from historically marginalized communities.
• Experience working with ET clients in private or public schools in accordance with AET guidelines; Board Certified educational Therapist (BCET) certification preferred.
• Experience in writing successful grant applications.
• Proven ability to collaborate cross-discipline in both research and teaching working with students from diverse backgrounds.
• Familiarity with high-leverage practices (HLP) for effective teaching; strong knowledge of core content subjects, Universal Design for Learning (UDL), and Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS).
• Understanding of student needs during transitions across K-12 and into adulthood.
• Expertise in positive behavior supports and knowledge of social justice practices, including restorative approaches and creating a student-centered learning environment.

Application Deadline:

Preferred application deadline is December 31, 2024 and applications received after this date may be considered on an as needed basis. However, the position will remain open until filled.

How to Apply:

Candidates should apply by completing the CSUN online application. To apply and for more detailed information on the application and hiring process, please visit this link: www.csun.edu/careers  

Applicants must submit to the website in the section above:

• A cover letter that directly addresses each of the required qualifications and any of the preferred qualifications that apply to their experience/ expertise (3 pages recommended);
• A statement that demonstrates how the candidate addresses social justice and a commitment to diversity through their scholarship, teaching, and service (2 pages recommended);
• Curriculum vitae;
• The names of three references who can address the candidate’s teaching, research, and service qualifications;
• Unofficial transcripts

In later stages of the search process, applicants may be requested to provide additional materials (e.g., course syllabi, teaching demonstration, letters of recommendation, teaching evaluations, scholarly writing sample that exemplifies a line of their research, verification of terminal degrees, licenses and certificates, and/or evidence of other relevant certifications).

At time of appointment, the successful candidate, if not a U.S. citizen, must have authorization from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to work in the United States.

Inquiries may be addressed to:

Dr. Vanessa Goodwin, Search and Screen Chair

vanessa.goodwin@csun.edu

General Information:

In compliance with the Annual Security Report & Fire Safety Report of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act, California State University, Northridge has made crime-reporting statistics available on-line here. Print copies are available by request from the Department of Police Services, the Office for Faculty Affairs, and the Office of Equity and Diversity.

The person holding this position may be considered a 'mandated reporter' under the California Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act and is required to comply with the requirements set forth in CSU Executive Order 1083 as a condition of employment.

A background check (including a criminal records check) must be completed satisfactorily before any candidate can be offered a position with the CSU. Failure to satisfactorily complete the background check may affect the application status of applicants or continued employment of current CSU employees who apply for the position.

In accordance with the California State University (CSU) Out-of-State Employment Policy, the CSU is a state entity whose business operations reside within the State of California and prohibits hiring employees to perform CSU-related work outside of California.

CSUN is an Equal Opportunity Employer and prohibits discrimination based on race, color, ethnicity, religion, national origin, age, gender, gender identity/expression, sexual orientation, genetic information, medical condition, marital status, veteran status, and disability. Our nondiscrimination policy is set forth in Interim CSU Nondiscrimination Policy. Reasonable accommodations will be provided for applicants with disabilities who self-disclose by Reasonable accommodations will be provided for applicants with disabilities who self-disclose by contacting Department of Special Education at 818-677- 2596.