Oregon State University-Cascades
Assistant Director of Creative Technologies and Scholarship
Job Description / Duties ~ Descripción del puesto / Deberes
Oregon State University-Cascades is seeking an Assistant Director of Creative Technologies and Scholarship. This is a full-time (1.00 FTE), 12-month, professional faculty position.
This position is located in Bend, Oregon.
The Assistant Director of Creative Technologies and Scholarship is broadly responsible for cultivating an inclusive, cross-disciplinary environment that serves students, faculty and staff across all OSU-Cascades programs. This role leads teaching and training to ensure safe and effective use of creative technologies within our campus’s STEAM-aligned classrooms, shops, and studios.
The Assistant Director actively builds and maintains partnerships both across the OSU-Cascades campus and externally, including collaborations with private-sector partners, community organizations, small shops, nonprofits, and other creative or technical groups, expanding the relevance and visibility of the maker and fabrication environments. The position also collaborates closely with the OSU-Cascades research community, providing fabrication, prototyping, and conceptual support to research efforts. This may include traditional precision machining or low-tech fabrication support that helps engineering and non-engineering researchers alike, including Honors College students, feel welcomed, empowered, and supported in their research pathways.
The Assistant Director oversees lab technical staff, facilities management for machining, maker, and research spaces, and associated budget activities. The role will provide strategic and operational leadership for these spaces, and the services they provide as a defined program within OSU‑Cascades, translating campus and college priorities into short‑ and long‑term operational goals for facilities, staffing, training, and research support. In this capacity, the Assistant Director serves as the operational owner of a defined, campus‑wide creative technologies and research support program delivered through multiple shared facilities. The role has end‑to‑end responsibility for the integrated operation of these services, including facilities oversight, access models, staffing, training standards, budgeting, and external engagement, ensuring the spaces function collectively as a cohesive program serving instructional, research, and service needs across OSU‑Cascades.
The Assistant Director supervises staff supporting program operations, including classified and student employees, ensuring staffing levels, training, and scheduling are aligned with instructional, research, and service demands.
Job Requirements ~ Requisitos de trabajo
Key Responsibilities
25% Supervision:
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- Plan, assign, and evaluate work for classified and student staff supporting maker and research facilities; provide performance feedback, coaching, and corrective action as needed.
- Participate in hiring decisions, training plans, and staffing models to ensure adequate coverage for instructional, research, and outreach demands.
- Supervise all machining lab and maker space personnel, including 5-7 student workers.
- Ensure all users receive appropriate equipment and safety training, fostering a culture of inclusive access and collaborative learning.
- Support professional development emphasizing cross-disciplinary service and community engagement.
- Supervise staffing in support of an integrated creative technologies and research support program, adjusting assignments and coverage in response to changing instructional, research, and service demands.
20% Facilities Management:
- Develop, implement, and periodically update policies, procedures, and safety protocols governing the use of STEAM-aligned classrooms, shops, and studios, ensuring compliance with university policies, risk management standards, and applicable state and federal regulations.
- Ensure consistent documentation and training standards across instructional, research, and open‑access use of facilities.
- Oversee and maintain the machine shop, maker space, capstone design rooms, and teaching and research lab spaces.
- Serve as primary liaison to university facilities.
- Coordinate communications, including protocols, procedures, shop documentation, web updates, and newsletter contributions.
- Direct the integrated operation of multiple creative technology and research facilities as a cohesive program, establishing access models, operating hours, and service configurations that balance instructional, research, student project, and external partner needs.
20% Research Support:
- Serve as an operational partner to academic faculty by supporting research design, fabrication planning, and prototyping workflows that leverage maker and machining resources within the faculty member’s discipline.
- Provide structured research support pathways for undergraduate, graduate, and Honors College students conducting discipline‑based research, including consultation on feasibility, material selection, fabrication methods, and safe use of facilities.
- Coordinate prioritization and scheduling of creative spaces to balance instructional use, student projects, and faculty‑led research activities.
- Serve as the operational owner of campus‑wide fabrication and prototyping research support services, setting priorities, intake pathways, and support models that enable scalable, inclusive research across disciplines.
- Collaborate actively with the OSU-Cascades research community, supporting fabrication needs for faculty, staff, and student research.
- Support both high-tech and low-tech projects, including assisting students and faculty in transforming ideas into prototypes or experimental setups.
- Facilitate inclusive research support opportunities, especially for researchers without engineering backgrounds.
20% Student Project Support:
- Provide consultation and fabrication support for student projects across all OSU-Cascades programs, academic courses, senior capstones, team projects, Honors College work, and individual creative or research pursuits.
- Serve as a welcoming resource for non-engineering students, with emphasis on creating positive, supported experiences for students with limited technical backgrounds.
- Implement and maintain structured student project support pathways as part of the creative technologies service program, ensuring consistent, equitable access to facilities, training, and expertise across programs and experience levels.
10% External Partnerships, Visibility, Accountability
- Cultivate and manage external partnerships that enhance instructional, research, and applied learning opportunities, including applied research collaborations, sponsored projects, and community‑engaged scholarship using OSU-Cascades creative technologies and capabilities.
- Represent OSU‑Cascades maker and fabrication capabilities to external stakeholders to increase visibility, relevance, and responsible use of facilities.
- Establish partnership engagement standards and operating expectations to ensure external collaborations align with program capacity, safety requirements, and academic and research priorities.
- Assess usage, outcomes, and effectiveness of maker, machining, and research support services; use data and feedback to refine operations, training models, and access practices.
- Provide reports or recommendations to college leadership related to capacity, impact, and future needs of creative and research technologies.
5% Budget Oversight:
- Develop and manage operational budgets for maker, fabrication, and research support activities, including equipment acquisition, maintenance, consumables, and staffing support.
- Make operational decisions and recommendations related to budget priorities, reallocation, and sustainability of services.
- Manage and track budgets related to facilities, equipment, shop operations, and related programmatic initiatives.
- Exercise program‑level budget accountability by evaluating trade‑offs among equipment investment, staffing support, maintenance needs, and service sustainability in alignment with instructional and research priorities.
Minimum Qualifications
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- Bachelor’s degree in a field related to engineering, manufacturing, industrial technology, applied sciences, creative technologies, or a closely related STEAM discipline; or an equivalent combination of education and experience demonstrating competency in fabrication, maker-space operations, and interdisciplinary collaboration.
- Demonstrated experience working in maker spaces, fabrication labs, or creative technology environments with a broad set of users.
- Demonstrated track record of cross-disciplinary engagement, supporting users from varied fields (e.g. Arts, Engineering, Natural Sciences, Design, Humanities)
- Strong written and oral communication skills.
- Demonstrated experience fostering inclusive learning and working environments in hands‑on, technical, or creative settings.
This position is designated as a critical or security-sensitive position; therefore, the incumbent must successfully complete a criminal history check and be determined to be position qualified as per OSU Standard 576-055-0000 et seq. Incumbents are required to self-report convictions and those in youth programs may have additional criminal history checks every 24 months.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience working in an Academic STEAM Ecosystem
- Experience building and sustaining external partnerships (e.g., industry, community organizations, nonprofits, small shops, or outdoor‑industry brands).
- Experience supporting research fabrication, prototyping, or laboratory work across multiple disciplines.
- Experience supervising students or staff in a learning‑focused, inclusive environment.
- Experience with facilities and/or lab management in machining, fabrication, or creative‑technology spaces.
- Demonstrated commitment to fostering welcoming environments for novice learnings and non-technical users.
How to Apply ~ Cómo aplicar
Apply at this link: https://jobs.oregonstate.edu/postings/180163
When applying you will be required to attach the following electronic documents:
1) A resume/CV; and
2) A cover letter indicating how your qualifications and experience have prepared you for this position.
3) A Statement on Supporting Scholarly Activities
(upload as Other Document 1)
You will also be required to submit the names of at least three professional references, their e-mail addresses and telephone numbers as part of the application process.
Starting salary within the salary range will be commensurate with skills, education, and experience.
For additional information please contact: Johana Hernandez, Johana.Hernandez@osucascades.edu
We are an Equal Opportunity Employer, including disability, protected veteran, and other protected status.
OSU will conduct a review of the National Sex Offender Public website prior to hire.
OSU is a fair chance employer committed to inclusive hiring. We encourage applications from candidates who bring a wide range of lived experience including involvement with the justice system. This job has “critical or security-sensitive” responsibilities. If you are selected as a finalist, your initial job offer will be contingent upon the results of a job-related pre-employment check (such as a background check, motor vehicle history check, sexual misconduct reference check, etc.). Background check results do not automatically disqualify a candidate. Take a look at our Background Checks website including the for candidates section for more details. If you have questions or concerns about the pre-employment check, please contact OSU’s Employee and Labor Relations team at employee.relations@oregonstate.edu.
Salary Range / Estimate ~ Rango de salario / Estimación
$37.50+/hour
Link to job description or application ~ Enlace a la descripción del trabajo o solicitud
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