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The 2025-2026 search for a new Assistant Professor in the Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences is open to any area of astrophysics.

Applicants to this faculty search should submit a cover letter, a curriculum vitae and list of publications, and a teaching and mentoring statement. Guidance on these items follows:

Cover Letter

The cover letter should be a brief (1- to 2-page) expression of interest and may provide any background information that does not appear elsewhere in the application package. It is an opportunity to introduce yourself to the selection committee. This letter should frame your application, highlight what you are most proud of, why you are excited about CU, and why you think you are a good fit for this position.

Curriculum Vitae and List of Publications

The CV should include information relevant to an application for a teaching, mentoring, curriculum development, and service position. Commonly, these items may include educational history; research, teaching, and mentoring experience; positions held; grants, awards, fellowships, and successful observing proposals; service work; open-source codes you work on; important presentations; or other content relevant to your professional career. The list of publications can include peer-reviewed publications and non-refereed articles, book chapters, white papers, and abstracts (with clear demarcation between categories).

Teaching and Mentoring Statement

This statement should be up to 3 pages describing your goals and any previous experience in teaching including pedagogical philosophy, innovative educational ideas, and classes you want to teach within or beyond our department’s existing offerings (see ). Please also include in this statement your plans, thoughts, or experience on student mentoringÌý(advising graduate and/or undergraduate students in research), outreach (for example, activities promoting science to the public), and/or service (work to support the scholarly community at the departmental, university, or national/global level). We also invite applicants to please include discussion on their plans or previous work that promotes a more equitable scientific community, incorporates inclusive educational practices into teaching and mentoring, or brings new perspectives toward promoting a more diverse scientific workforce.ÌýÌý

Evaluation Criteria

Your submitted application will be carefully reviewed by a panel of faculty in the Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences. If invited for an interview visit, you will present a sample classroom lecture and discuss future plans as a faculty member, meet with members of the department, and participate in interviews with separate faculty and graduate student panels. We will evaluate applications with the following criteria:

• Teaching, Mentoring, Outreach, Service: We are looking for candidates with experience, potential, and/or enthusiasm for mentoring and teaching students at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. Be sure to articulate your vision for your role as a classroom instructor and as a research mentor. We are looking for candidates who can serve as effective educators for diverse groups of junior scientists, who will contribute to a more inclusive academic community, and who will take their responsibilities seriously as stewards of future generations of scientists. Both past experience and future plans are relevant to the evaluation, recognizing that some candidates may have had limited opportunities to teach or mentor students in their previous positions.ÌýÌý

The APS Department will also be coordinating an internal search for one teaching faculty member to support Sommers-Bausch Observatory (SBO), which includes a laboratory classroom, a classroom with ~36 computer workstations, two 0.5-meter telescopes, and one 0.6-meter telescope. The Department plans to arrange a ~50% course release for this position to support technical and educational needs associated with the observatory. Job duties include: continual lab curriculum development/improvement, coordinating class usage of SBO, leading/supervising outreach activities, participating in telescope training activities, providing on-call telescope support, and addressing additional tasks as needed.Ìý

• If you are interested in this hybrid teaching/observatory support role, please indicate this in your cover letter and address qualifications for this role in addition to the traditional teaching roles indicated above.ÌýÌýÌý

Need Help?

The departmental Faculty Job Description and Duties page provides information about what to expect as a new APS faculty member. Questions about the application process, what to expect, life and work in APS and CU Boulder, or other topics can be addressed to APS Business Manager Adele Labrador-Ronen (Adele.Ronen@colorado.edu). Ms. Labrador is not involved in the evaluation or selection of candidates.