Job Description
University of Puget Sound
Visiting Assistant Professor - Biology
Job ID: 8577
Location: Biology
Full/Part Time:
Regular/Tempoary:
Faculty Posting Details
Appointment:
Department of Biology, 1-year Visiting Assistant Professor position; begins Fall 2026
Responsibilities:
The Department of Biology at the University of Puget Sound, a predominantly undergraduate liberal arts college in Tacoma, Washington, seeks to recruit a Visiting Assistant Professor for the 2026-2027 academic year. Excellence in teaching is highly valued at Puget Sound and we are seeking candidates with genuine interest in and enthusiasm for teaching introductory biology at the undergraduate level.
The successful candidate will teach BIOL 111 (Unity of Life: Cells, Molecules and Systems) in both Fall 2026 and Spring 2027. This foundational course explores the properties shared across all living organisms from chemical, molecular, and cellular perspectives. This class typically has an enrollment of 42 students. Each section includes an accompanying laboratory component (typically, 3 laboratory sections of 14 students) where students develop hands-on biology research skills and foster critical thinking, independence, collaboration, and science literacy, writing and communication through experiments, data collection, and analysis. The instructor will be teaching 1 out of 2-3 concurrent sections of BIOL 111 and will have the opportunity to work collaboratively with other instructors to coordinate these sections and their labs. All labs have pre-written manuals that can be adjusted as required, or used as-is.
In addition, the successful candidate should be available to teach a laboratory section for Genetics (BIOL 213). For this course, the lecture and laboratory curriculum are coordinated by another faculty member, and laboratory materials, learning objectives, and assessments are provided.
We are particularly interested in candidates with:
- Experience or strong interest in teaching foundational biology courses
- Background in basic cellular, molecular, developmental, or biochemistry topics
- Commitment to creating a supportive, inclusive learning environment
While there is no expectation for research or mentoring, laboratory space and modest funds are available if the incumbent is interested in pursuing professional development activities or research with undergraduates during their stay at Puget Sound. If interested, the individual might also collaborate with researchers at the Puget Sound Museum of Natural History, a world class collection comprising >105,000 specimens of mammals, birds, herps, plants, insects, molluscs, and fossils with strengths in tetrapod vertebrates.
Qualifications:
Ph.D. in Biology or similar discipline (ABD considered).
Application Deadline:
Search and selection procedures will begin when a sufficient number of qualified candidates have been identified. Interested individuals are encouraged to submit application materials no later than March 1, 2026 to ensure consideration.
Compensation and Benefits:
Rank: Visiting Assistant Professor
Salary is commensurate with education and experience.
Faculty salaries at the University of Puget Sound are based on a common salary scale based on experience. Assistant Professor salaries in 2025-2026 begin at $73,904 annualized for an assistant professor without a terminal degree in their field in their first year of full-time post-doctorate teaching through $83,262 annualized based on experience.
Puget Sound offers a generous benefits package. For more information, visit: https://www.pugetsound.edu/sites/default/files/2025-01/Summary%20of%202025%20Benefits%20for%20Faculty%20Members.pdf
Puget Sound has a well-established Shared Faculty Appointments Policy, https://www.pugetsound.edu/policies/faculty-policies/shared-faculty-appointments
About Puget Sound:
The University of Puget Sound is located in Tacoma, Washington, a vibrant, diverse mid-sized urban port city. Within, and near, Tacoma there is ready access to urban, rural, and natural areas as well as opportunities to participate in a wide variety of cultural activities.
Puget Sound is a member of the Higher Education Recruitment Consortium (HERC), Greater Washington State https://www.hercjobs.org/greater_washington_state/
University Diversity Statement:
- We acknowledge the richness of commonalities and differences we share as a university community; the intrinsic worth of all who work and study here; that education is enhanced by the investigation of and the reflection upon multiple perspectives.
- We aspire to create respect for and appreciation of all persons as a key characteristic of our campus community; to increase the diversity of all parts of our University community through commitment to diversity in our recruitment and retention efforts; to foster a spirit of openness to active engagement among all members of our campus community.
- We act to achieve an environment that welcomes and supports diversity; to ensure full educational opportunity for all who teach and learn here; to prepare effectively citizen-leaders for a pluralistic world.
Puget Sound is committed to an environment that welcomes and supports diversity. We seek diversity of identity, thought, perspective, and background in our students, faculty, and staff. To learn more please visit: http://www.pugetsound.edu/about/diversity-at-puget-sound/
Required Documents:
Applicants submitted without the required attachments will not be considered.
- Curriculum vitae
- Letter of Interest
- Teaching statement
- Diversity Statement (see prompt below)
- Contact Information for 3 References. You will be prompted to enter the contact information for three (3) reference providers. The system will automatically email these reference providers to request a letter.
Note: In the online application system, please submit curriculum vitae when prompted to submit resume. Additional documents can be attached within the application.
Applicant's Diversity Statement:
As a department and university, we are strongly committed to creating an inclusive and effective teaching, learning, and working environment for all. In their diversity statement, applicants should reflect on how they will advance the values articulated in the University Diversity Statement in all aspects of their future work as faculty and members of the university community.
All offers of employment are contingent on successful completion of a background inquiry.
The University of Puget Sound is an equal opportunity employer.
How to Apply
For complete job description and application instructions, visit: www.pugetsound.edu/employment
About Puget Sound
Puget Sound is a selective national liberal arts college in Tacoma, Washington, drawing 2,600 students from 48 states and 20 countries. Puget Sound graduates include Rhodes and Fulbright scholars, notables in the arts and culture, entrepreneurs and elected officials, and leaders in business and finance locally and throughout the world. A low student-faculty ratio provides Puget Sound students with personal attention from faculty who have a strong commitment to teaching and offer 1,200 courses each year in more than 40 traditional and interdisciplinary fields, including graduate programs in occupational and physical therapy and in education. Puget Sound is the only nationally ranked independent undergraduate liberal arts college in Western Washington, and one of just five independent colleges in the Pacific Northwest granted a charter by Phi Beta Kappa, the nation’s most prestigious academic honorary society. Visit "About Puget Sound" (http://www.pugetsound.edu/about) to learn more about the college.
As a strategic goal and through our core values, University of Puget Sound is committed to an environment that welcomes and supports diversity. We seek diversity of identity, thought, perspective, and background in our students, faculty, and staff. EOE/AA
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Application Details (to apply use the Apply Now button below.)
Jobs at the University of Puget Sound.
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Our Story
Founded in 1888 in a vibrant port city in the Pacific Northwest, the University of Puget Sound is an independent, residential, and predominantly undergraduate liberal arts college, with graduate programs in education and health sciences. Our beautiful 97-acre campus supports connection with the world it serves, from the tide flats of Tacoma to the Pacific Rim and beyond.
A Puget Sound education is rooted in an inspiring confluence of histories and cultures and ideas, and centered on our 2,600 students who are open-minded, outward-reaching, and passionate about putting their educations to work. Guided by our motto To the Heights, we seek to educate the whole person, and to give each student space to discover and room to rise to meet new challenges both locally and globally.
Our faculty challenge and support each student individually as they grow into broadly and deeply educated lifelong learners, prepared to become the world’s next generation of exceptional leaders. Perhaps that’s why the Princeton Review called out our faculty-student interaction as one of the best in the nation, and we are designated as one of only 40 Colleges That Change Lives.
Puget Sound offers a small community of independent thinkers, a launch pad for adventurers, and an incubator for entrepreneurs. We are makers, shakers, and doers—and we never stop learning.
To see additional information about our job opening(s) or to apply, please click on the “Apply Now” button at the bottom of our job posting.
Jobs at the University of Puget Sound. When inquiring or applying for jobs at the University of Puget Sound, please also reference AcademicCareers.com
Applicants with dual-career considerations can find university jobs such as professor jobs, dean jobs, chair / department head jobs, and other faculty jobs and professional and administrative staff employment opportunities with the University of Puget Sound and at other institutions of higher education in the region on AcademicCareers.com
To receive email alerts when new jobs at the University of Puget Sound are posted, please sign up for new job openings at the University of Puget Sound.
