Job description
School: Ketner School of Business
About the Position
The Ketner School of Business at Catawba College (“Catawba”), ranked No. 1 among Regional Colleges in the South by U.S. News & World Report, welcomes applications for a tenure-track Assistant Professor of Economics, with a focus on environmental economics and sustainability, beginning August 2027. We seek a dynamic and engaged teacher-scholar who is passionate about undergraduate teaching, student mentorship, and program development and who is interested in applying economic analysis to environmental and sustainability challenges.
We welcome applicants whose teaching and research interests lie in environmental economics, natural resource economics, energy economics, climate economics, ecological economics, sustainable development, or related areas of applied economics. Particular areas of interest may include climate and energy policy, environmental and natural resource management, economic valuation, environmental markets, the economics of sustainability and decarbonization, sustainable development, and the economic dimensions of business and public-policy responses to environmental challenges. We are particularly interested in candidates whose work complements Catawba’s institutional commitment to environmental education and sustainability and who value interdisciplinary collaboration and applied learning.
Candidates should hold a Ph. D. in Economics, Applied Economics, Environmental or Resource Economics, or a closely related field by the time of appointment. ABD candidates who expect to complete the doctorate before the start date will also be considered. Candidates should demonstrate the potential for excellence in undergraduate teaching and for an active program of scholarship appropriate to a teaching-centered liberal arts institution.
Primary responsibilities include excellence in teaching a range of economics courses at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. These will include foundational undergraduate courses such as Principles of Microeconomics and Principles of Macroeconomics, as well as upper-level courses in the candidate’s areas of expertise. The successful candidate will also have opportunities to develop courses that strengthen Catawba’s offerings in environmental and sustainability economics, including courses addressing topics such as environmental and natural resource economics, energy and climate economics, sustainable development, environmental policy, and market-based approaches to environmental challenges. Graduate teaching opportunities exist as well, including in the Ketner School’s MBA program. Additional responsibilities include advising and mentoring students, engaging in scholarship, and contributing service to the Ketner School of Business and the College. The typical teaching load at Catawba College is 24 credit hours per academic year. Faculty also have opportunities to develop courses for Catawba’s Honors Program and/or regularly offer a section of the First-Year Seminar as part of their teaching responsibilities.
The successful candidate will join a strategic cluster hire designed to embed environmental education and sustainability across Catawba College’s curriculum and co-curricular initiatives, becoming part of an interdisciplinary cohort of new campus thought leaders. As a member of this cohort, the faculty member will collaborate with colleagues across campus to strengthen students’ sustainability literacy, expand experiential learning, and utilize the campus, including its 189-acre ecological preserve, as a living learning laboratory. Together, the cohort will contribute to advancing Catawba’s mission as a leader in sustainability-driven higher education. Opportunities may also exist to contribute to interdisciplinary programs and initiatives spanning business, environmental studies, data science, public policy, and related fields.
About the Ketner School of Business
The Ralph W. Ketner School of Business embodies Catawba College’s mission to provide an education rich in personal attention that blends the knowledge and competencies of liberal studies with career preparation. The Ketner School builds on the strengths of its liberal arts environment. Students are taught by our exceptional teacher-scholars in both traditional business disciplines such as Accounting, Business Administration, Economics, Entrepreneurship, Information Systems, Marketing, and Organizational Behavior, as well as in business-adjacent disciplines such as Communication, Computer Science, Data Science, Mathematics, and Television, Film, and Streaming Media.
The Ketner School of Business offers a broad portfolio of undergraduate majors, an MBA program, and distinctive internship, co-curricular, and experiential learning opportunities. Faculty also contribute to Catawba College’s online BBA program, designed to serve non-traditional learners.
The Ketner School is a member of the ClimateCAP Initiative and the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) Business Education Alliance. Reflecting its commitment to responsible and sustainable business education, the school has received a Level 4 (“Transforming School”) rating from the Positive Impact Rating (PIR) Association for three consecutive rating cycles (2024, 2025, 2026); in 2026, just six U.S. business schools achieved a Level 4 rating. The Ketner School’s business programs are accredited at both the undergraduate and graduate levels by the Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP).
About Catawba College
Catawba College is ranked No. 1 among Regional Colleges in the South in the 2027 U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges rankings. Catawba also tied for No. 1 among Top Private Colleges in its category and ranks in the top 25 regionally for both Best Value and Social Mobility, recognition of the College’s sustained commitment to academic quality, student success, and outcomes after graduation. The Princeton Review again named Catawba to its Best 392 Colleges guide (2027 edition).
Founded in 1851, Catawba has pursued the Catawba Ideal, “Scholarship with Character and Culture for Service,” for 175 years. The College provides an education focused on an institutional philosophy of liberal education, which entails a broad range of knowledge, intellectual and practical skills, and individual and social responsibility fostered and developed in all academic programs. Catawba is a learning community that provides students with unique opportunities to explore vocation, helping students to consider their calling, their passions, and their purpose as they prepare to reach their highest potential. Faculty are at the heart of that work; in announcing the 2027 rankings, President David Nelson credited the College’s success to “the leadership of our extraordinary faculty.”
Catawba College’s scenic 276-acre campus, which includes a 189-acre ecological preserve, is located within the historic piedmont city of Salisbury, North Carolina (pop. 37,000), part of the greater Charlotte metropolitan area. With 41 buildings, the campus is a beautiful blend of neogothic architecture set on a shaded hillside adjacent to the Center for the Environment and the ecological preserve. Centrally located, it is only two hours away from the Appalachian Mountains of western North Carolina and four hours away from some of the best beaches on the Atlantic Coast. Salisbury is a 45-minute drive from Charlotte Douglas International Airport, one of the busiest airports in the United States (7th nationwide in passenger traffic in 2024) with links to numerous domestic and overseas destinations.
Catawba offers 70 academic majors to nearly 1,400 students from 35 states and 45 nations, and the College is enjoying a period of considerable momentum. This fall, Catawba welcomed one of its largest incoming classes ever, with a 10 percent increase in first-year students over the previous year, and Catawba Athletics finished No. 10 nationally in NCAA Division II in the Learfield Directors’ Cup. Like the student body, the Catawba faculty, constituting nearly 100 full-time members, is broadly diverse. It embodies a significant range of opinion and philosophy, founded in study at many leading colleges and universities in the United States and abroad. Catawba is deeply committed to access and opportunity: thirty-six percent of students identify as first-generation students, 45 percent of students are Pell-eligible, and 45 percent of first-year students identify as non-white (21 percent African American, 11 percent Hispanic). All Catawba students receive financial aid, and a significant proportion of financial need is met by the College for most students.
Catawba College enjoys a strong financial picture. The College’s endowment of $580 million supports the College’s educational and service activities. In August 2024, the College received a $200 million anonymous gift to its endowment, the third transformative gift of its kind in three years. Two-thirds of the annual distributions of this gift provide unrestricted funding for the College, and one-third is directed to programs that support environmental education and sustainability, a longstanding strategic initiative of the institution. The per-student endowment approaches $500,000.
Catawba’s campus is in the midst of a significant renewal, with more than $120 million invested in capital projects, all in accord with the College’s legacy of environmental stewardship. Centennial Hall, a new 130-bed residence hall built to Passive House (PHIUS) standards, welcomed its first students this fall. The broader renewal of campus includes historic buildings, academic and student spaces, and major infrastructure improvements, including an expanded geoexchange system that will heat and cool 90 percent of the campus with recycled groundwater. The Smokestack, a reclamation of the College’s former coal power plant, will be renovated to Living Building Challenge standards and will provide an additional 10,000 square feet of space for student activities. In April 2023, Catawba became the 13th campus in the United States to achieve carbon neutrality and the 1st in North Carolina. For faculty whose teaching and scholarship engage questions of sustainability, few campuses offer a richer living learning laboratory.
How to apply
Applicants must submit the following materials to [email protected]:
- A letter of application;
- Curriculum Vitae;
- A statement of teaching philosophy (including evidence of teaching effectiveness, if available);
- Evidence of scholarship (maximum of three examples); and
- Contact information for three (3) professional references; references will not be contacted until candidates have successfully advanced through the initial stages of the selection process.
Review of completed applications begins on October 15, 2026, and continues until the position is filled.
Informal inquiries about the position should be directed to Dr. Eric Hake, Chair of the Search Committee ([email protected]), or to Dean Imran Chowdhury ([email protected]).
Catawba College is an equal-opportunity employer. As such, Catawba is committed to providing equal employment opportunities for all employees, regardless of race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, or veteran status, unless allowed by law and deemed necessary to Catawba operations. Candidates must successfully pass a background check and drug screening before employment begins, and Catawba complies with all federal, state, and local laws governing non-discrimination.
