Jonathan Lash Endowed Chair of Environmental Education and Sustainability

Search:	#1157
Date Posted:	02/08/2023
Type/Department:	Faculty in Cognitive Science
Search Status:	Position Filled
Apply Now:	Currently we are not accepting resumes for this position.

Hampshire College

Job Title: Jonathan Lash Endowed Chair of Environmental Education and Sustainability Position

Type: Full Time

Pay Range/ Status: $65,000–$82,000

Anticipated Start Date: July 1, 2023

As part of a major hiring initiative across its new curriculum, Hampshire College welcomes applications for the Jonathan Lash Endowed Chair of Environmental Education and Sustainability, an interdisciplinary position intended to further the College’s leadership on the issues of environmental sustainability, social justice, and community service. The Lash Chair will bring together natural and social sciences to help us understand how best to convey ideas that can lead to real environmental progress. Applicants from any discipline in the natural and social sciences are invited to apply.

The intent of the Lash Chair is to create environmentally literate change makers able to leverage scientific concepts and evidence when engaging in political and social action, decision making, and everyday discourse. This position will prepare students to become educators, teachers, activists, policymakers, and leaders for change. The Lash Chair will encourage students to transform their ideas about environmental education and sustainability into action, as well as how social- and ethical-justice issues converge with environmental studies. Candidates should be interested in combining critical pedagogy, environmental science, sustainability studies, and community-engaged learning to ensure that our treatment of sustainability and environmental education encompasses issues of importance to BIPOC communities.

Hampshire College is an experimenting institution with a mission to advance social justice and transform higher education, and we seek creative and collaborative colleagues to join its faculty. Hampshire’s academic program is unique within higher education in the United States. Students draw from multiple disciplines and methodologies to develop their own concentrations, and every student completes a year-long substantial project synthesizing their course of study as a condition of graduation. Students are provided narrative evaluations of their work instead of grades. Our student community is distinctively diverse: this year 39% are BIPOC or international, 37.5% receive Pell Grants, approximately a third are neurodivergent, and a substantial majority identify as LGBTQIA+. Hampshire is a member of the Five College consortium (Amherst College, Smith College, Mount Holyoke College, and the University of Massachusetts), and located in Amherst, MA.

Building on its student-driven approach, Hampshire is implementing a radically new academic program that emphasizes urgent challenges, transdisciplinarity, antiracism, community engagement, and project-based skills. We convene transdisciplinary Learning Collaboratives that assemble faculty, students, and staff to address urgent questions developed by and voted on by the community. Additionally, Hampshire has implemented a “Race and Power” requirement that ensures students, staff, and faculty alike will engage in critical reflection on racial justice and equity throughout their Hampshire careers. In the letter of application, candidates are encouraged to explain how their teaching and scholarly/artistic work does or could contribute to this curricular and pedagogical vision.

The successful candidate will:

• Connect at least half their normal teaching course load each year with one or two of the urgent challenges described here
• Work in individual or group settings to advise and mentor an increasingly diverse body of Hampshire students;
• Collaborate with faculty colleagues across disciplines and actively participate in governance and service committees;
• Participate in events and forums organized by one of the Learning Collaboratives;
• Be eager to participate in continuous pedagogical experimentation.

For this position, the terminal degree or its equivalent in professional work experience is required by the time of appointment. Qualified candidates must have demonstrated teaching experience at the undergraduate level and an active research agenda. An ability to communicate and work effectively within a culturally diverse and multi-disciplinary campus community is essential. This position involves full-time teaching, as well as substantial student advising and participation in program and college governance.  This position is advertised at the assistant professor level, but under certain circumstances, we may consider candidates at higher ranks.

Hampshire College is an equal opportunity employer and deeply committed to a community of excellence, equity, diversity, and inclusion. We're particularly committed to revealing and combating the social and institutional structures that support racism and white supremacy in all phases of employment and college life. We believe that the educational and employment environment is enhanced when diverse groups of people with diverse ideas come together to work and grow. We encourage applications from women, underrepresented minorities, persons with disabilities, sexual minority groups, veterans, and other candidates who will contribute to the diversification and enrichment of ideas and perspectives. Hampshire College is committed to removing barriers to employment faced by equity-seeking groups and encourages (but does not require) members of these groups to self-identify in their application materials. Applicants whose work incorporates a global perspective and a demonstrated commitment to issues of diversity in the work environment are particularly encouraged to apply.

Candidates should submit the following to apply:

• a cover letter describing your teaching (including titles of specific courses at the introductory, intermediate and advanced levels) and scholarly interests, and how you will contribute to addressing one or more of Hampshire’s urgent challenges;
• a statement addressing your approach to justice, equity and antiracism (JEA) in teaching philosophy and practice;
• a curriculum vita;
• names, titles, and contact information for three referees; and
• up to 20 pages of professional work

Please submit your cover letter, statement, CV, references, and work samples via our website: https://jobs.hampshire.edu. No hard copies will be accepted.

If you have general questions about this search, please email dof@hampshire.edu.

Review of applications will begin on March 10, 2023, and applications will be accepted until the position is filled.

 

Hampshire College is an equal opportunity institution, committed to diversity and inclusion in education and employment.