The university has several open positions for full-time professors.
For the Fall 2024 semester, the university is mainly hiring in two departments: the School of Education and the Conservatory of Performing Arts (COPA).
According to Provost Michael Soto, the current open positions in COPA are due to several visiting teaching artists whose three-year contracts are expiring.
“Three years ago we were in the middle of the worst part of the pandemic,” Soto said. “It was unclear what the future of enrollment and therefore faculty needs would look like. Fortunately, enrollment is rebounding and we are looking forward to replacing those expiring visiting artist positions with tenure track faculty.”
Though he wasn’t able to provide details, Soto said that he has been very pleased with the candidates for these positions.
Ganessa Laguerre, a sophomore dance major with a modern concentration, says it makes her nervous that there are several open positions in the dance program.
“Jason McDole is taking a sabbatical and he’s the head of the modern program,” Laguerre said. “It’s unnerving because we don’t know who’s leaving and who’s staying. A lot of students have had the same professors since freshman year and if we have the same professors again next year it will be limiting.”
McDole’s sabbatical was announced in an email sent to students on December 18. The email stated that the modern department was careful in ensuring the class flow would continue without interruption to the best of the modern faculty’s ability.
“The changes being made for spring 2024 are the efforts to balance this more thoroughly and as thoughtfully as it can be,” said McDole. “Creating the modern concentration flow is a phase in phase out process that takes time and will require some shuffling until the cycle is complete.”
McDole said in the email that more information for the Fall 2024 and Spring 2025 semesters will be available once McDole and Susan Stowe, Chair of Dance, have a plan set in place.
“[Modern concentration students] are confused about where the program is heading and we’re sad to see Jason go because he’s a great teacher and a great person,” Laguerre said. “He really keeps the modern department together.”
Garfield Lemonius, Dean of the Conservatory, failed to respond in time for publication.
Soto said the university is always assessing how it can best serve students and is continuously evaluating faculty needs.
“We will continue to assess how we can best staff in other areas as well,” Soto said. “There are some plans in the works to augment our faculty capacities in the other schools.”
“The university employs more than 400 full-time and 400 part-time faculty and staff,” according to the Point Park website.
Of the faculty positions currently open, the university has also posted the open director of Student Activities, Involvement and Leadership (SAIL) position. Keely Sapienza, Coordinator of Student Involvement, failed to respond in time for publication.
There are several coaching positions currently open as well such as Women’s Lacrosse Head Coach, Men’s Lacrosse Head Coach, Women’s Wrestling Head Coach and Men’s Wrestling Head Coach.
“I think that the coaching staff we have [at the university] does a really good job at excelling our student athletes,” said Emma Pavelek, a junior public relations and advertising major. “We have some extremely successful teams on campus and it’s exciting to know that there are going to be opportunities for more sports teams to come in and make an impact on the school and the new conference.”
The university announced on April 8 that the Vice President of Athletics position was filled. In the email from President Brussalis, Scott Swain, the current interim Vice President of Athletics, was named as John Ashalou’s replacement.
Pavelek said she believes the future of Point Park’s athletics is bright, especially with the new Vice President and the new conference. The university announced that Point Park will join the Mountain East Conference (MEC), a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division II league, beginning in Fall 2024.
“[Scott Swain] seems to really care about the athletes and our programs and wants to put us in the best position we can be in to reach our goals,” Pavelek said.
There is also an open position in the IT department. The job title is listed as “Azure Administrator” on the university’s website.
Tim Wilson, Assistant Vice President of Finance and Operations, said an Azure Administrator is someone who oversees the university’s Microsoft 365 environment in order to keep our digital environment secure.
The other open positions are Transfer Admissions counselor, Donor Relations Officer, Admission Operations Specialist, Director of Operations, Academic Research Writing Associate, Coordinator of Student Conduct and Assistant Director of Artistic Recruitment.
All of these positions are posted on the university’s website.
