The Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (EcoEvo) studies life in all its expressions, past complexes, and future states, carrying out an integrated mission of research, teaching, service, and outreach. Central to our mission are the many education and outreach programs that integrate different scholarly disciplines and educational achievement levels in our unit. We seek an Academic Coordinator to collaboratively vision, plan, implement, evaluate, and operate these key education and outreach programs with faculty, staff, students, and stakeholders of our department, with the goal of enhancing the overall impact of our collective research and teaching. The successful candidate will focus on three major areas of work, including the outreach, engagement, and education programs in the Center for Environmental Biology, program administration and participation in the Masters in Conservation and Restoration Ecology, and research/implementation of ephemeral outreach programs collaboratively developed with our unit’s members.

Requirements: Doctorate degree in higher education or related disciplines; A minimum of ten years of experience in working with K-12, university, and outreach programs related to the environment and environmental education; Experience with education program design and evaluation; Experience supporting a diverse population; Capacity to carry out community stakeholder workshop management; Experience with strategies focused on inclusive excellence and diversity; Experience in research related to STEM for underrepresented populations. Experience with administrative and oversite processes of UC programs.

Competencies

  • In partnership with the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (EcoEvo) establishes strategic plans and objectives for organizational development, effectiveness, and strategic planning
  • Is a subject matter expert on meaningful engagement in STEM between faculty, students, administrators, stakeholders, and staff
  • Establishes objectives and determines how to use resources to meet EcoEvo goals of strategic priorities
  • Identifies functional objectives for the organization and determines the resources necessary to achieve those objectives
  • Represents EcoEvo in school campus-wide initiatives focused on outreach, engagement, and education
  • Provides leadership, direction, and managerial oversight to achieve departmental goals
  • Supervises program staff and students and provides professional development opportunities for trainees interested in contributing to Education and Outreach initiatives
  • Holds leadership roles on campus initiatives focused on bringing departments together to create programs, and strategies, that streamline efforts, opportunities and resources available through authentic education and outreach programs to community partners.
  • Enhances partnerships with UCI departments, community colleges, UCs, and industry partners to provide EcoEvo students with comprehensive support and resources
  • Participates in the research endeavor of the department to bring meaningful education and outreach programs to sponsored EcoEvo projects
  • Has extensive knowledge about pervasive research on meaningful engagement in STEM for URM communities, and strategies that may be employed to enhance inclusive spaces at EcoEvo.
  • Has experience in developing and writing annual and quarterly reports, including grants, and evaluation designs. Extensive experience writing, evaluating, analyzing and interpreting a variety of data to enhance the academic and co-curricular experience of URM students in Bio Sci.
  • Has excellent oral and written communication skills and the ability to communicate with a variety of stakeholders.

Faculty and Administrative Support

  • Curriculum design and implementation
  • Budget forecasting, evaluation, and assessment
  • Provides inclusive pedagogy resources for faculty, students, administrators and teaching assistants
  • Strategizes on retention, persistence, and success associated with utilizing empirical research, best practices, and emergent data on our program participants. 
  • Facilitates faculty and staff consultations related to enhanced success in learning programs

Student Support

  • Creates programs and events focused on research experiences in the environment and learning
  • Creates courses that focuses on successful academic habits of mind, meaningful engagement in STEM, and graduate school preparation
  • Provides community building activities for students participating in EcoEvo programs
  • Outreaches to STEM professionals in industry and/or academia to diversify STEM representation provide professional development opportunities and enhance program participants’ success
  • Provides space for EcoEvo students to voice their feedback on their experience in programs to inform the work being done in the Department
  • Conducts faculty, students, and administrator panels, discussions, and other events to ensure that their voices are at the center of the work being done at the school

Campus Engagement

  • Represents EcoEvo by serving as a subject matter expert on campus-wide committees focused on developing environmental education programs
  • Creating partnerships between EcoEvo and other STEM schools and departments to enhance the impact of EcoEvo programs.
  • Lead talks, working groups, and campus projects

Research and Evaluation

  • Prepare and submit NSF and other external funding grant proposals for STEM outreach/education programs, Research Experience for Undergraduates, and Community Engagement programs
  • Implement reporting structures to capture relevant data to inform the work of the unit
  • Conduct empirical research on various STEM education support programs and outcomes and publish results 
  • Conduct qualitative and quantitative analysis to inform programmatic efforts
  • Provide recommendations to the Chair of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Review of applications will begin on April 6, 2022, and the recruitment will remain open until filled. Qualified candidates should apply to the following on-line recruitment https://recruit.ap.uci.edu/JPF07396.

The University of California, Irvine is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer advancing inclusive excellence. 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 categories covered by the UC nondiscrimination policy.