Postdoctoral Scholar, Bentonville Institute of Technology

Art and Wellness Enterprises (AWE) is a professional services organization supporting non-profits founded by Alice Walton, including the Alice L. Walton Foundation, Alice L. Walton School of Medicine, Art Bridges Foundation, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, the Momentary, and Heartland Whole Health Institute.

Job Description:

Job Title: Postdoctoral Scholar

Reports to: Provost and Chief Academic Officer (day-to-day guidance from an assigned faculty mentor)

FLSA Classification: Exempt

Location: Bentonville, Arkansas (On-site)

About Bentonville Institute of Technology

Bentonville Institute of Technology (BIT) is a new higher education institution being developed in Bentonville, Arkansas to advance new models of STEM education and workforce development. The university is designed to deliver a flexible, experiential educational model that combines rigorous STEM instruction with an entrepreneurial and business-infused mindset.

The institution will focus on areas such as artificial intelligence, automation and robotics, mobility, health technology, energy systems, and entrepreneurship. Through strong partnerships with industry and regional organizations, the University aims to prepare students with practical, high-demand skills needed for the evolving knowledge economy.

The university will develop a distinctive educational model based on experiential learning, stackable credentials, flexible entry and exit pathways, and strong industry engagement. The University plans to enroll its first undergraduate class in 2029 and establish a new national model for innovative STEM higher education. Additional information about the university’s founding vision can be found here: https://www.bentonvilleinstituteoftechnology.org/

Initially, faculty and staff will be hired by Art and Wellness Enterprises and immersed in a broader ecosystem on the Crystal Bridges Campus for Art and Wellness, providing shared operational services and subject matter expertise, in close proximity to the Alice L. Walton School of Medicine (AWSOM). 

Founding Context

• BIT is being built without legacy departments or an inherited curriculum. The working academic model is a three-year, 120-credit baccalaureate with a substantial shared academic foundation and four concentration areas – Mobility Systems, Robotics and Autonomous Systems, Health Systems, and Energy Systems – developed within a shared academic identity rather than as departmental silos.
• BIT is planning toward an inaugural undergraduate class in Fall 2029. Postdoctoral scholars join in early 2027, while courses, studios, laboratories, policies, and organizational structures are still being designed, and help shape how technical depth, projects, AI, business, entrepreneurship, human-centered design, communication, and systems thinking come together in one coherent student journey.
• BIT’s graduates are meant to become Builders of Intelligent Systems – people who integrate technical knowledge, AI and data, human-centered design, systems thinking, business and entrepreneurship, communication, teamwork, and real-world implementation.
• BIT is pre-accreditation and pre–Title IV. Accreditation eligibility filing preparation runs fiscal years 2027–2028, with candidacy targeted before the founding undergraduate cohort enrolls in Fall 2029. Curriculum maps, assessment designs, and evidence of learning developed by postdoctoral scholars feed directly into institutional approval and accreditation readiness.
• BIT is an artificial intelligence (AI)-native institution – AI is woven into how the institution teaches, operates, and serves students. Postdoctoral scholars are expected to use AI tools fluently in teaching, curriculum development, and scholarship, and to help students build sound judgment about using AI in technical work.

About The Position

The Postdoctoral Scholar is a full-time, fixed-term developmental appointment for emerging scholars and practitioners who want to grow as educators, applied researchers, and institution builders. Working with faculty mentors and interdisciplinary colleagues, postdoctoral scholars design and test courses, studios, projects, assessments, and learning experiences for BIT’s business-infused, AI-enabled, project-based model, in which students learn by building real solutions to real problems.

Each postdoctoral scholar also pursues a defined program of scholarship, technical practice, curriculum research, or applied project work aligned with their field and BIT’s mission. Once the university opens, postdoctoral scholars teach or co-teach under the guidance of an assigned faculty mentor.

This is a builder role and a developmental appointment. It is not tenure-track. Each scholar has an assigned mentor and an individual development plan, with expectations for teaching, scholarship or professional practice, institutional contribution, evaluation, renewal, and professional development set in writing at the start of the appointment. Completion of the appointment does not guarantee a continuing or faculty position at BIT; postdoctoral scholars may apply for future openings through BIT’s established recruitment processes.

Success in this role requires disciplinary depth, a genuine commitment to undergraduate learning, comfort working across fields, and the energy to build while structures are still taking shape.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

Discipline Focus

Each Postdoctoral Scholar contributes to one or more of the following discipline focus areas based on their expertise and assigned scope.

• Computing, AI, and Intelligent Systems – Develop curriculum and applied work in programming, software systems, data, AI and machine learning, and intelligent-system development, helping students move from computational concepts to reliable working systems, and position computing and AI as enabling capabilities across all concentrations.
• Mathematics, Modeling, and Quantitative Systems – Build the mathematical and quantitative foundations for BIT’s project-based technical curriculum, connecting mathematics to modeling, computation, data, optimization, uncertainty, and real-world decisions, with pathways that support students entering at varied levels of preparation.
• Mobility Systems – Develop learning experiences and projects in the design, integration, testing, and operation of mobility systems, treating vehicles, autonomy, logistics, infrastructure, users, and energy as one integrated system.
• Robotics and Autonomous Systems – Develop hands-on experiences in which students design, build, program, test, and improve physical intelligent systems, connecting sensing, actuation, controls, embedded systems, perception, AI, and safety.
• Health Systems – Develop learning experiences and projects on technologies, data, devices, and processes that improve health and healthcare delivery, integrating technical design with safety, ethics, evidence, workflow, regulation, and implementation.
• Energy Systems – Develop projects in energy generation, conversion, storage, distribution, controls, and intelligent energy management, connecting technical, economic, environmental, and infrastructure considerations.
• Design, Making, and Systems Integration – Develop studios and multidisciplinary projects that take students from human needs and technical requirements to prototypes, tested systems, and implemented solutions.

Teaching and Student Learning

• Develop undergraduate courses, studios, laboratories, projects, and other learning experiences aligned with the scholar’s expertise and BIT’s evolving academic needs.
• Design rigorous, engaging activities in which students apply knowledge to authentic problems, systems, prototypes, and implementation challenges.
• Develop approaches for mentoring students as emerging builders, strengthening technical capability, judgment, communication, teamwork, persistence, and professional practice.
• Develop assessment approaches that gather and use evidence of student learning to improve instruction, curriculum, and student support.
• Once the university opens, teach or co-teach under the guidance of an assigned faculty mentor.

Curriculum and Academic Model Development

• Collaborate with faculty to design and refine courses, project experiences, learning outcomes, assessments, and curricular sequences.
• Integrate technical depth with AI, systems thinking, human-centered design, business and entrepreneurship, communication, and real-world implementation.
• Participate in curriculum mapping, assessment development, and preparation of the academic evidence needed for institutional approval and accreditation readiness.
• Work across fields and concentration areas rather than within conventional departmental boundaries.
• Document curricular prototypes, results, lessons learned, and recommendations for future development.

Scholarship, Applied Research, and Professional Practice

• Carry out a defined program of scholarship, applied research, creative activity, technical practice, entrepreneurship, or industry-engaged work.
• Set scholarly and professional development goals in consultation with the assigned mentor.
• Translate relevant advances in research, technology, industry, and professional practice into curriculum and student learning.
• Share work through publications, presentations, demonstrations, prototypes, technical reports, exhibitions, workshops, or other professional outputs.
• Pursue interdisciplinary collaboration and external engagement consistent with the appointment’s scope.

Projects, Making, and External Engagement

• Develop hands-on, project-based experiences that connect theory to design, experimentation, building, testing, and implementation.
• Develop practices that support student teams working across the technical and nontechnical dimensions of complex problems.
• Engage with industry, community, and other external partners where appropriate and under the guidance of faculty or institutional leaders.
• Contribute to planning for laboratories, studios, maker environments, equipment, and learning infrastructure aligned with the curriculum.

AI-Enabled Learning

• Use current AI tools thoughtfully in teaching, curriculum development, scholarship, technical work, and daily professional practice.
• Develop approaches that help students build the judgment to use AI effectively and responsibly in technical problem-solving and system building.
• Experiment with AI-enabled feedback, learning support, design, analysis, and productivity while preserving human accountability, academic integrity, and transparency.
• Contribute to BIT’s evolving practices for responsible AI use in academic work.

Founding-Institution Contribution

• Help create academic culture, shared standards, faculty practices, and other structures appropriate to a new institution.
• Contribute to academic planning, accreditation preparation, student engagement, recruitment, and launch-readiness work appropriate to the role.
• Collaborate with colleagues in academic affairs, enrollment, student success, technology, facilities, and external partnerships.
• Model a founding culture of accountability, collaboration, stewardship, experimentation, high standards, and follow-through.

Mentorship and Professional Development

• Establish an individual development plan with the assigned faculty mentor at the start of the appointment.
• Meet regularly with the mentor to review progress in teaching, scholarship or professional practice, institutional contribution, and career preparation.
• Participate in professional development on teaching, project-based learning, mentorship, responsible AI, communication, leadership, and interdisciplinary collaboration.
• Build a portfolio documenting contributions to teaching, curriculum, scholarship, applied work, projects, and institutional development.
• Participate in periodic developmental reviews based on clearly communicated goals and expectations.
• Prepare for the next career stage in academia, industry, entrepreneurship, public service, or another professional setting.
• Perform other duties and responsibilities as assigned to support evolving organizational needs.

Qualifications and Requirements

Education and Experience

• Doctoral degree in a relevant STEM field or closely related discipline, completed before the appointment begins.
• Demonstrated expertise in one or more of the discipline focus areas listed above.
• Evidence of research, technical practice, design, building, experimentation, curriculum development, or other substantial work relevant to the position.
• Scholarly, creative, technical, or professional outputs appropriate to career stage.
• Evidence of the ability or strong potential to teach and mentor undergraduate students effectively.
• Experience teaching, mentoring, tutoring, or supporting undergraduate students preferred.
• Experience with project-based, experiential, studio-based, maker-centered, or design-based learning models preferred.
• Experience designing or substantially revising courses, projects, laboratories, or learning materials preferred.
• Industry, entrepreneurial, applied-research, product-development, clinical, laboratory, or field experience relevant to the discipline preferred.
• Experience with academic assessment, accreditation, program review, or evidence-of-learning processes preferred.
• Experience in a founding, start-up, rapidly growing, or substantially redesigned organization preferred.

Skills and Abilities

• Strong communication skills, including the ability to explain complex technical ideas to students, colleagues, partners, and broader audiences.
• Ability to collaborate across disciplinary and organizational boundaries, including on complex systems with technical and human dimensions.
• Familiarity with current AI tools and demonstrated use in daily work, with sound judgment about responsible use in teaching and professional practice.
• Effective use of AI, computation, data, or intelligent systems within the scholar’s own field preferred.
• Interest in developing as an educator, scholar, practitioner, and collaborative institution builder.

Competencies and Attributes

• Builder mindset – Energized by creating from a blank page, testing ideas, learning quickly, and improving them.
• Developing teacher and mentor – Committed to student learning, high expectations, and continued growth as an educator.
• Technical credibility and intellectual curiosity – Brings disciplinary depth while staying eager to learn across fields.
• Collaboration – Collaborative and low ego; shares ownership and builds with colleagues across disciplines and functions.
• Applied orientation – Values the connections among theory, design, experimentation, making, and implementation.
• Responsible AI use – AI-fluent; uses emerging tools thoughtfully and helps others develop sound judgment about them.
• Adaptability – Comfortable with ambiguity; makes progress while structures, policies, and processes are still being built.
• Growth – Reflective and receptive to feedback; uses mentorship, evidence, and constructive critique to improve.
• Institution builder – Treats curriculum, culture, student experience, partnerships, and academic practice as shared responsibilities.

Physical Demands and Work Environment

The physical demands and work environment characteristics described here are representative of those required by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this position. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform these functions.

Physical Demands: In the work environment described, this position requires utilizing a computer and a telephone for prolonged periods of time, good hand-eye coordination, bending and stretching, and the physical stamina to lift and transport a minimum of 10 pounds. Laboratory, studio, and makerspace work may require standing for extended periods and safe use of tools and equipment. Visual acuity to review written materials is required for this job.

Work Environment: Work is performed on-site (Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m.) in a professional, climate-controlled office environment with standard office equipment, including computers, printers, and telephones. This role requires working in an open setting near colleagues. The noise level is typically low to moderate. The role also requires regular interaction with both the public and internal team members in a professional and courteous manner. Occasional travel may be required. A flexible schedule may be necessary to accommodate business needs, including occasional evening and weekend work hours.

About Art and Wellness Enterprises

Art and Wellness Enterprises (AWE) supports operating non-profits founded by Alice Walton, including the Alice L. Walton Foundation, Alice L. Walton School of Medicine, Art Bridges, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, the Momentary, and Heartland Whole Health Institute.

Art and Wellness Enterprises, LLC is an equal opportunity employer committed to building and maintaining a workplace that is free of discrimination and harassment of any kind. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, veteran status, or any other status protected by the laws or regulations in the locations where we operate. 

All offers of employment are contingent on successful completion (where permitted by state law) of a confidentiality agreement and background check. In addition, the employee must provide proper identification verifying eligibility to work in the United States.