Assistant, Associate, Professor in Biology/Human Biology

Job Description

Job Description

Assistant, Associate, Professor in Biology/Human Biology

School of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Department

Academic Affairs

Tsaile Campus

Duty Schedule:

40 hours per week.

Summary/Objective of Position:

The Assistant/ Associate/ Professor is a full-time faculty member responsible for contributing to the program's academic, research, and service missions. The successful applicant must have the background and experience to teach courses in Human Anatomy and Physiology, Biology, and Physiology, including Pathophysiology, Developmental Biology, Invertebrate Biology, and majors and non-majors biology. A PhD is preferred, and the ability to mentor graduate-level thesis students is highly recommended.

A college faculty is critical in creating, maintaining, assessing, and reflecting upon a learning environment where academic discipline interweaves with the college's mission to support student learning and Dine Education Philosophy.

Description of Essential Functions of the Position

Disclaimer: This is not necessarily an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties, skills, efforts, requirements, or working conditions associated with the job. While this list is intended to reflect the current job accurately, management reserves the right to revise the job or to require that other or different tasks be performed as assigned. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential functions.

The School of STEM of Diné College invites applications for a full-time faculty position in the 2026-2027 academic year, beginning January 05, 2026 .

• 90% Instruction, Research, and Scholarship:
• The successful applicant must have the background and experience to teach courses in Human A & P, Biology, and Physiology, including Pathophysiology, Developmental Biology, invertebrate biology, and majors and non-majors biology.
• Support other programs within the school as needed.
• Assist in developing and updating course curricula, prepare course syllabi, and align courses with HLC standards and/or other accrediting bodies as needed. Participate in articulation and accreditation processes for biology/ biomedical sciences degree programs as needed.
• Apply for grants in the areas of research and other academic initiatives.
• Collaborate with faculty, staff, and administrative leadership to enhance program excellence and equity.
• Monitor national and international initiatives in the field of biology/ biomedical sciences, as well as programmatic innovations and best practices.
• Attend professional development conferences and training courses as required.
• Maintain an active and sustainable research agenda aligned with indigenous communities and youth needs, community-based participatory research, or related fields. Conduct research leading to publications.
• (5%) Mentoring, Advising, and Supervision:
• Mentor and serve as an advisor to students in the concerned Programs.
• Provide mentorship to capstone and integrated research students, train, and supervise personnel in conducting research at the undergraduate and graduate levels.
• Participate in committees of other graduate students. Supervision of technical staff if grants are developed.
• Maintain scheduled office hours for student engagement and advisement.
• (5%) Service:
• Must be comfortable working with diverse faculty, staff, and students.
• Service on different standing committees.
• Faculty are expected to be collegial members of their programs, and to perform appropriate service that contributes to the effectiveness of their programs, departments, the College, and their professions.
• Service includes outreach to the greater Diné community to better position the college within the community.
• Support service initiatives at the school and university levels
• Time release of up to 40% may be provided to faculty who establish competitive and sustainable research programs, subject to budgeting such release in external funding proposals.
• 1% Assessment of courses and programs.
• 1% Academic advising and mentoring.
• 1% Service on committees.
• 1% Service to the College through student organization advising, service learning, disappearing task force, grant management, research, or specific academic endeavors, etc., or
• 1% Perform additional duties as assigned.

QUALIFICATIONS

Education & Experience

Minimum:

• MS in Biology or related field. Four years of experience to include:
• A minimum of two years of satisfactory or above college teaching experience.
• A minimum of two years' experience in an institution of higher education.

Preferred:

• To teach 100 and 200 level courses, a Master's Degree in Biology/ Human Biology/ Biomedical sciences or related field. To teach 300 and 400-level courses, a PhD is preferred with a minimum of 16 credit hours of upper-division courses in the discipline to be taught.
• 3-5 years of teaching experience at the university level; experience with research and publications
• Record of, or potential for, collaborative, multidisciplinary research, especially in research contributing to the Diné people.
• Record of successful outreach with stakeholders and extramural funding.

Knowledge:

• Applicants must hold a terminal degree in Biology/ Biomedical Science or related field at the time appointment begins, must provide evidence of scholarly achievement or demonstrate potential as a scholar (i.e., publication record, research plans, and past, current, or potential external funding).
• Previous experience in teaching and mentoring successful undergraduate research is preferred. Willingness to assume leadership role(s) in response to future department needs.

Skills:

• Effective written, spoken, and non-verbal communication skills.
• Problem-solving and decision-making skills.
• Oral fluency in Navajo is highly desirable, but not mandatory.
• Navajo/American Indian preference is exercised but not mandatory.
• Bilingual and bi-literate Navajo preferred, but not mandatory.
• Microsoft Office 360, Outlook, SPSS, ANOVA, SAS, NVivo or equivalent qualitative analysis software, online teaching platforms (Canvas, Zoom, Blackboard)
• In addition, a faculty member is expected to utilize academic-specific programs for course delivery (face-to-face, synchronous, asynchronous, blended, hybrid), and course maintenance (such as grade submissions, posting of syllabus, etc).

Abilities:

• Commitment to the Dine College mission and to advancing health equity through education, research, and service.
• Demonstrated understanding of inclusive and community-based pedagogical approaches.
• Strong interpersonal and collaboration skills with faculty, students, and community partners.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities, adapt to change, and sustain attention to detail while contributing to dynamic team-based and community-focused efforts.

Physical Requirements, Work Environment & Travel:

• 9-5 pm, M-F, Weekends, Remote potential.
• Instruction and research are generally indoors, but can include outdoor work in adverse weather conditions.
• Weekend and/or evening work may be necessary.
• Travel to other campuses, research sites, or other locations for outreach events is expected.

Other Requirement(s):

• This position requires driving a college GSA vehicle or a personal vehicle on behalf of the college; therefore, the incumbent must successfully complete a motor vehicle training and history check, and possess and maintain a current, valid driver's license in their state of residence, be determined to be position qualified and self-report convictions as per College Policy.