Academic Administrator

Position overview

Position title :

Associate Director for the UCLA Practice-based Experimental Epistemology Research (PEER) Lab

Salary range :

The current minimum pay range is $84,246-$116,995, as defined in Table 34 of the UC salary scales.

Application Window

Open date : October 14, 2025

Next review date : Thursday, Nov 13, 2025 at 11 : 59pm (Pacific Time)

Apply by this date to ensure full consideration by the committee.

Final date : Thursday, Nov 13, 2025 at 11 : 59pm (Pacific Time)

Applications will continue to be accepted until this date.

Position description

The UCLA Practice-based Experimental Epistemology Research (PEER) Lab is a multi-disciplinary operation, which will carry out research as well as support fellows' and associates' research projects. In order to effectively run this operation, the assistance of an experienced administrator and scholar within the area of practice-based research is absolutely necessary. The successful candidate will not only assist with research development, including research on selected projects and field ideas and development of research project proposals, but will also help to expand the scope of this research to new areas.

The newly confirmed PEER Lab seeks an Associate Director at Academic Administrator Level III. Currently, the position is for a three-year program at variable 50% of appointment, teaching 1 course per year. The Associate Director will help to administer the PEER Lab, including managing its budget and staff. They will plan, execute, and publicize research projects and programs, and other Lab activities, in collaboration with the Lab's Director, UCLA faculty, and co-sponsoring units. This will include maintaining the Lab's website and social media channels, assisting in applying for funds and grants, securing project needs and accommodation for out-of-town guests, arranging catering, designing programs, and coordinating the activities of planners and participants. The Associate Director will also be responsible for co-supervising graduate students, fellows, and work studies. In the area of outward facing activities, the Associate Director will work with Development officers in the Herb Alpert School of Music, the UCLA Office for Research & Creative Activities, and other campus units to secure ongoing funding, write proposals and grants, and represent the activities of the Lab in interactions with off-campus partners.

As a radically interdisciplinary venture, the PEER Lab's mission is to (1) challenge the ways in which fundamental art phenomena have been understood within given times, places, and cultures, with particular attention to music; (2) provide resources-time, dedicated physical space, campus partners, and research and staff support-to map the limitations, structural inequalities and marginalization embedded within those historically accepted understandings; (3) participate in addressing such injustices by focusing on practice-based inquiry, especially addressing those practices and epistemologies which have been historically excluded from higher education and high art institutions. The Lab's charge is to promote, protect, and legitimize interdisciplinary experimentation and exchange, and to support inward-facing, non-goal-oriented dialogue that may lead to the incubation of new thoughts, ideas, and concepts. The research will occur in the Lab space at UCLA and in the natural environment of the region.

The successful candidate will also teach one to two courses per academic year in UCLA Department of Musicology, aligned with their area of expertise, including music, gender, and politics.

Candidates should have a Ph.D. in musicology, ethnomusicology, or a related humanistic or practice-based field, and at least three years of administrative, grant writing, or teaching experience. Candidates should also have a proven record of scholarly publication.

The Associate Director will report directly to the Lab's PI and Director.

Qualifications

Basic qualifications

Candidates should have a Ph.D. in musicology, ethnomusicology, or a related humanistic or practice-based field.

Additional qualifications

Candidate must have at least three years of administrative, grant writing, or teaching experience. Candidates should also have a proven record of scholarly publication.

Application Requirements

Document requirements

Curriculum Vitae - Your most recently updated C.V.

Cover Letter

Academic Writing Sample

Grant / Fellowship Writing Sample

Reference check authorization release form - Complete and upload the reference check authorization release form

UCLA Mission Statement - As the nation's premier public research university, UC's mission is the creation, dissemination, preservation and application of knowledge for the betterment of our global society. We have a particular responsibility to the people of the state of California which we express in the excellence of the education we provide, the impact of the research we do, the comprehensive, life-saving medical services we provide, and the public service mission we are devoted to. The University of California promotes the social mobility of its students, equips them with the tools and experience that furthers their ambitions, and regards their accomplishments across the life span as evidence of the profoundly positive impact of higher education.

The UCLA campus has expressed these goals in its strategic plan as follows :

Deepen our engagement with Los Angeles

Expand our reach as a global university

Enhance our research and creative activities

Elevate how we teach

Become a more effective institution

Prompt for candidates for recruitment :

Reflecting on your personal and professional experiences, highlight your past contributions and future commitments to advancing UCLA's mission as embodied in the 2023-28 strategic plan. These accomplishments and ambitions may be discussed in the context of describing your teaching, scholarship, and service

Reference requirements

• 2 required (contact information only)

References will only be contacted if candidate is a finalist.

Apply link :

Help contact : stopete@schoolofmusic.ucla.edu

About UCLA

As a University employee, you will be required to comply with all applicable University policies and / or collective bargaining agreements, as may be amended from time to time. Federal, state, or local government directives may impose additional requirements.

The University of California is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age, protected veteran status, or other protected status under state or federal law.

As a condition of employment, the finalist will be required to disclose if they are subject to any final administrative or judicial decisions within the last seven years determining that they committed any misconduct, are currently being investigated for misconduct, left a position during an investigation for alleged misconduct, or have filed an appeal with a previous employer.

Job location

Los Angeles, CA