Department: School of Digital Arts

Campus Location: Wichita, KS-WSU Shocker Studios (Harry Street)

Hire Type: Full Time

Pay: Commensurate with qualifications and experience.

Work Schedule: Monday-Friday 8am-5pm: Varies depending upon teaching schedule.

Export Compliance Requirement: No export control requirement.

Job Story

If words like “assembly,” “rough cut,” “offline,” “online,” “deliverables,” “color pipeline,” “dynamic range,” and “mix session” are part of your DNA—and if you’re excited to unpack those processes with students in a way that demystifies and empowers—then you’ll thrive here. You’ll help students understand not just what to do, but why it matters, turning projects into portfolios and portfolios into careers. We seek a filmmaker who sees story not just in the shot, but in the cut. Wichita State University’s School of Digital Arts invites applications for a post-production storyteller who wants to redefine how students understand editing, sound, color, and finishing. We’re not looking for someone to push buttons; we’re looking for a creative partner who knows that the edit is where the film is written again, that color is more than correction, that sound can make or break emotion, and that VFX is the invisible glue holding story and spectacle together. If you’re the kind of filmmaker who leans forward when timelines get complicated, who loves to make sense of chaos, who finds poetry in pacing and catharsis in the grade—then this is the classroom and the cutting room for you.

You won’t be teaching theory in a vacuum—you’ll be teaching inside active productions. Students cut real films, color real spots, build real sound mixes, and composite shots that end up on festival screens and client reels. Your classroom is a lab, a suite, a bay filled with the same tools used in industry: Avid, Adobe, Resolve, After Effects, NUKE, Pro Tools. Your job is to help students translate software into storytelling and then raise their standards to meet industry expectations. You’ll guide them on how to deliver assets cleanly, how to organize a pipeline, and how to build habits that make them indispensable to post houses, agencies, and productions alike.

The Assistant Professor of Filmmaking is a full-time tenure track faculty position that will teach, advise, mentor and recruit undergraduate digital arts students with a focus in Post Production for filmmaking. The academic appointment for this position will be effective August 2, 2026.

About the School of Digital Arts (SODA)
Offering a Bachelor of Applied Arts (BAA) in Media Arts with concentrations in Acting for Digital Arts, Animation, Audio Production, Collaborative Design, Filmmaking, and Game Design, the School of Digital Arts stands out as the fastest growing school within the university. Its enrollment and programmatic expansion are outpacing initial projections and contributes to the institution’s record-breaking growth. The School of Digital Arts at Wichita State University is deeply connected to industry partners, giving students first-hand, applied learning experiences that bridge the classroom and real-world practice. These opportunities prepare students to enter their chosen fields with practical skills, professional networks, and clear career pathways: https://www.wichita.edu/digitalarts

About the College of Fine Arts (CFA)
Wichita State University’s College of Fine Arts includes four schools: Art, Design and Creative Industries, Digital Arts, Music, and Performing Arts. The college is a beacon for arts leadership and economy in the city, state, and region. Learn about the CFA arts and cultural impact: https://www.wichita.edu/about/strategic_plan/documents/2021-WSU-Impact-report-digital.pdf

Job Summary

Teach courses at the undergraduate and graduate levels using various instructional deliveries (e.g., traditional (face-to-face), hybrid, and fully online). To foster applied learning into the course design and engage with industry and local business community applied projects. To advance knowledge through scholarly activities (e.g., active involvement in committees, student mentorship, recruitment and retention initiative, outreach activities, etc.)

Essential Functions

Meet expectations for research, teaching, and service as set forth by the department and college.

Job Duties

Our new colleague will teach courses in Editing I & II, Color Grading, Post-Production Workflows, Sound for Picture, and Compositing and VFX I & II. The position also includes mentorship on senior capstones and large-scale productions and supports interdisciplinary collaboration with animation, acting for digital arts, and audio production.

Students need a mentor who will stand beside them as they wrestle with senior capstones, long-form projects, and collaborative productions that stretch across concentrations. You’ll teach them how to think like editors and finishers: how to make story decisions under deadline, how to deliver clean projects to clients, and how to collaborate with directors, cinematographers, animators, and sound designers so that every frame, every track, and every node earns its place.

Required Education and Experience:

• Terminal degree in direct field
• Teaching experience

Faculty Requirements

• MFA in Filmmaking or related field (must have completed terminal degree by time of application).
• Professional experience in the field.
• Willingness to accommodate a variety of learning styles and strategies in instructional delivery and learning activities, including online and blended learning, flexible teaching methods, and applied learning approaches.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Demonstrated ability to teach undergraduate courses in filmmaking.
• Ability to use and teach industry standard software.
• Proficiency in industry-standard post-production software (e.g. Avid, Adobe Premiere, DaVinci Resolve, After Effects, NUKE).
• Excellent oral and written communication skills.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Professional experience with editing, color grading, post-production workflows, and finishing for film and media.
• 3+ years' of post-production experience.
• Experience with sound for picture workflows (dialogue editing, mixing, or collaborating with sound specialists).
• Record of college-level teaching or equivalent professional training/mentorship in filmmaking or post-production.
• Evidence of creative scholarship or industry projects with regional, national, or international impact.
• Demonstrated ability to mentor student filmmakers through capstones and large-scale productions.
• Experience with interdisciplinary collaboration across animation, acting, and audio production.
• Commitment to applied learning and preparing students for professional careers in film/media industries.

Additional Information:

REQUIRED APPLICATION MATERIALS:
Cover Letter/Letter of Application
Teaching Philosophy
Portfolio of Creative and/or Scholarly Work (URL): include up to 15 examples of your artistic, creative, or scholarly achievements.

For more information, contact Robert Thomas, Filmmaking Program Coordinator, Chair, Filmmaking Search Committee, robert.thomas@wichita.edu

Physical Requirements:

Ability to remain in a stationary position – Frequent 60-90%; Ability to operate a computer and other office equipment including but not limited to phone, printers, copiers, and calculators – Frequent 60-90%

Additional Physical Requirement: