Teaching Professor in Astronomy and Astrophysics

The Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics at Penn State invites applications for a full-time Teaching Professor position (non-tenure track) to begin in Fall 2025. Salary and benefits will be competitive and commensurate with the successful candidate’s qualifications and experience.

Responsibilities will include teaching up to 3 courses per semester and advising undergraduate majors. The courses include both classroom and online formats. The Department also plans to develop a Planetary Sciences Option for the undergraduate Astrophysics major. It is our hope to grow this into a Planetary Sciences major in concert with the Geosciences department and others. The successful candidate will have experience with similar duties and be expected to lead these efforts. Course relief and supplementary salary can be provided given additional service to the department including departmental committee work, New Student Orientation, contributions to outreach, and development of course materials, for example.

A Ph.D. in Astronomy or Physics is preferred, a PhD in a related field with strong astronomy teaching experience will be considered. Experience teaching pre-service or in-service teachers and/or experience in astronomy education research is also preferred. Planetarium presentations and volunteer training experience will be considered.

This is a term position; length of the term will be discussed during the interview process. Continuation past the term length discussed will be based on university need, performance, and/or availability of funding.

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