The Master of Design program at UC Berkeley is currently identifying potential instructors for future teaching opportunities, and specific opportunities for the coming Fall. MDes is a professional graduate degree offered in partnership between the College of Engineering and the College of Environmental Design, with a curriculum focused on designing emerging technologies and the social and cultural contexts in which these technologies are shaped.
We anticipate instructional needs in several areas:
(1) Technically-oriented teaching that helps students develop fluency with emerging technologies, prototyping, fabrication, and hardware / digital systems in the context of human-centered design processes. This area includes AI specifically: understanding the fundamentals of machine learning and modern model architectures for design; integrating generative models into hardware and software projects; exploring physical AI, embodied interaction, and computational systems that operate in the world; and designing agentic systems. Strong candidates would be able to support students in working with the broad spectrum of technologies related to AI as a material of design, and to demystify these technologies for an audience of designers.
(2) Studio-based teaching that introduces graduate students to the culture, methods, and practices of design studio work, including situated research, critique, collaboration, and iteration. Strong candidates would have experience teaching graduate-level studios or in capstone design courses in areas such as interaction design, industrial design, product design, experience design, architectural design, engineering design, or related fields, and would also bring experience as practicing designers in these or other areas relevant to our students.
(3) Seminar-based teaching connected to design theory, systems, methods, and professional frameworks. Strong candidates would bring a deep understanding of historical and contemporary issues in design practice and would be able to support students in positioning a design practice or method within that broader context. This role would likely involve leading a discussion section that meets one evening per week and may offer a lighter introduction to teaching in the program.
Those interested in being considered should apply through the Jacobs Institute / Design Innovation lecturer pool (linked below), which is the formal mechanism through which MDes teaching appointments are reviewed. While all candidates will be considered for all open positions, we encourage applicants to discuss the specific area(s) they would hope to be considered for in their statement of interest.
Apply here:
https://aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF05076
Review of applications will begin no later than June 1st, and continue until the roles are filled. Questions or recommendations may be directed to: mdes-director@berkeley.edu (we will make every effort, but may not be able to respond immediately to every inquiry).