Position Description

Contributes to the university’s mission through teaching, research and service, some variation by academic unit.

About the Department and/or College

The Department of Animal and Food Sciences seeks to fill the new Mark and Celia Miller Endowed Chair for Teaching Excellence with an associate or full professor. It is expected that this individual will promote excellence in the department through a strong teaching program focused on meat science. Additionally, it is expected that this individual will further promote meat science research within their area of expertise in collaboration with current faculty. Finally, this individual will contribute significantly to the meat science program and departmental outreach and engagement needs. This will be accomplished, in part, through enhancing relationships with stakeholders. Among stakeholders, primary emphasis will be given to outreach and engagement activities which promote meat science at Texas Tech University and recruitment of the highest quality undergraduate students.  This position will also have an expectation of service to the department, college, university and professional associations.   

The Department of Animal and Food Sciences is one of seven departments within the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources at Texas Tech University.  The department is housed in a modern research and teaching facility and has excellent research support.  There are 31 faculty members in the department, many of whom are leading researchers in their respective fields.  Areas of research emphasis include meat science and muscle biology, food science and safety, animal nutrition, health, and welfare, and companion animal science.  This position is an integral part of focused strategic areas for growth of research on campus. The successful applicant will be expected to provide leadership in their area of expertise and to build collaborative programs with faculty members in the department, as well as other departments in the College and University, the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, and/or the newly established School of Veterinary Medicine in Amarillo.

Texas Tech University is one of four major state-supported universities within the Texas Tech University System.  The University consists of 10 colleges, the School of Veterinary Medicine, School of Law, and the Graduate School.  Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center sits adjacent to the university.  In Fall 2019, Texas Tech was designated a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI), making it one of only 16 HSIs that are also Carnegie Research 1 institutions. Currently, more than 40,000 students attend classes at the Lubbock campus.  The City of Lubbock has approximately 266,000 residents, a moderately low cost of living, and enjoys 264 sunny days per year on the Southern High Plains, a major agricultural production region of Texas.

Major/Essential Functions

This is a 9-month, tenure-track position with 50% teaching, 30% outreach and engagement, 15% research, and 5% service appointment. The candidate should have demonstrated expertise in meat science and an understanding of animal agriculture. Additionally, the ideal candidate will have the capacity to effectively communicate about these topics to a broad range of audiences, including but not limited to, undergraduate and graduate students, high school students, industry professionals, and meat scientists. The successful candidate will be expected to collaborate and instruct with other faculty in animal science disciplines including nutrition, meat and food science, judging, physiology, behavior, welfare, and others as related to their expertise. The successful candidate will build an outreach and engagement portfolio to achieve excellence by serving as a catalyst, collaborator and connector to foster mutually beneficial partnerships between the university and the community (https://www.depts.ttu.edu/provost/outreach-engagement/).  Additionally, the successful candidate will build an extramurally funded research program that targets relevant funding agencies, such as commodity groups, foundations, and private industry. In addition to these, the candidate may also lead efforts to apply for federal funding to enhance scholarship of teaching in the meat science program and department. Likewise, the candidate may contribute to other federally funded research or integrated proposals, with emphasis on meeting deliverables related to outreach or teaching within integrated proposals