Faculty
Location: Bar Harbor Maine
Applications and/or questions should be sent to teaching-fellow@coa.edu
College of the Atlantic (COA) invites applications for a one-year full-time Visiting Teaching Fellow in Biology, beginning September 1, 2023. We are interested in candidates with a strength in natural history in the New England region, ecology, evolutionary biology, and/or ecophysiology. The strongest candidates will have a demonstrated ability to teach field-based courses in organismal biology (e.g., herpetology, mammalogy, ornithology, entomology) in terrestrial or freshwater systems. Teaching responsibilities are 5 courses over 3 10-week terms and can include classes with longer lab/field sessions in local ecology and natural history, as well as more general classes in evolution, ecology, or environmental physiology, or a class taking advantage of the candidate’s organismal expertise. We expect classes to range from introductory to at least one advanced undergraduate class. The exact classes taught will be decided by conversations between the successful candidate, the biology faculty, and the COA Academic Affairs committee.
We prefer candidates who can commit to the entire 2023-24 academic year, but we encourage all qualified candidates to apply and note your term availability in your cover letter. We could see this position filled by a recent Ph.D. or a more advanced teacher looking for a sabbatical opportunity.
Description
COA is a non-departmental interdisciplinary college of approximately 350 students and 35 faculty where theory is tied to practice through intentionally small classes (average class size is 12-14). Our educational approach integrates knowledge from all academic disciplines and seeks to understand and improve the relationships between humans and their built, natural, and sociocultural environments. Catalog descriptions of all COA courses can be found here and current courses in ecology and natural history at this link.
This position is to fill a gap in classes in biology with the retirement of a permanent faculty member. We expect to fill this vacancy by September 2024, so this temporary position is intended to be for the 2023-24 academic year.
College of the Atlantic is committed to increasing diversity, fostering inclusion, and working towards equity and justice. We encourage applications from candidates who demonstrate how their teaching, service, and research would contribute to making the college more inclusive, equitable, and diverse. We are particularly interested in candidates’ experiences working with students, colleagues, and communities who identify with groups historically excluded, under- represented or marginalized in higher education.
Qualifications
Candidates must have completed a Ph.D. by August 2023 and must have experience teaching undergraduates (as a TA or instructor of record). Candidates who have taught field courses in New England strongly preferred.
Application Instructions
Review of application materials will begin May 15 and continue until the position is filled. Applicants should submit electronically a cover letter, a curriculum vitae and a brief statement of teaching experience and philosophy, and the names and contact information for three referees. Applications and/or questions should be sent to teaching-fellow@coa.edu
Employment is contingent upon successful completion of a background check.
College of the Atlantic invites applications for a 1-year visiting instructor in Earth science for a year-long sabbatical replacement of our Earth science faculty member. We invite applications from instructors in the broad fields of soil science, climate science, paleoclimate, geographic information systems, earth system science, hydrology, petrology, and/or surface processes, beginning 1 Sept 2023. Applicants with a preference for a two-term appointment starting January 1, 2024 or a one-term appointment starting on April 1, 2024, will also be considered.
The college currently offers courses that cover topics such as: principles of geology, field methods, climate science, Earth history, rock and mineral identification, watersheds, GIS, and geohazards (see course offerings here). We seek a colleague who can teach courses that cover some of these areas and welcome ideas for courses that expand the curriculum into new areas not currently covered, e.g. coastal geomorphology and soil science.
The College of the Atlantic is uniquely positioned next to Acadia National Park with easy access to a range of field sites and striking landscapes suitable for field-based introductory geology, hydrology, and geomorphology. The college also has a satellite property at North Woods Ways with access to field sites reflective of the regional Maine landscape, and two working farms Beech Hill (73 acres) and Peggy Rockfeller (125 acres).
At COA, courses are spread across three ten-week terms. The successful candidate will teach one or two courses per term for a total of 5 classes (e.g. 1-2-2). Applicants beginning in January 2024 or April 2024 will teach two courses per term for a total of 4 or 2 classes respectively. The courses taught would include a range of introductory (2-3) and intermediate-level courses (1-2) in geoscience suitable for a liberal arts curriculum, with specific topics based on the successful candidate’s interests and expertise. For candidates starting in September our preference is that they would teach a field-based course suitable for first year students. The exact classes taught will be decided by conversations between the successful candidate, search committee, and the COA Academic Affairs committee.
COA is a non-departmental interdisciplinary college of approximately 350 students and 35 faculty where theory is tied to practice through intentionally small classes (average class size is 12-14). Our educational approach integrates knowledge from all academic disciplines and seeks to understand and improve the relationships between humans and their built, natural, and sociocultural environments. Catalog descriptions of all COA courses can be found on the college website and current courses in geosciences on our Earth Science faculty page.
Qualifications
Preferred applicants will have an advanced degree (e.g. Masters or ADB, PhD, EdD) in Geology or a related field, demonstrated teaching experience, and experience and/or demonstrated commitment to teaching, mentoring, and advising a diverse population of students. We could see this position filled by a professional, Ph.D. candidate or recent Ph.D. or a more advanced teacher looking for a sabbatical opportunity.
Application Instructions
We will begin reviewing applications on June 17. The review and interview process will continue until the position is filled.
Applicants should submit electronically a cover letter, a curriculum vitae and a brief statement of teaching experience and philosophy, and the names and contact information for three referees. Applications and/or questions should be sent to earth-science-search@coa.edu.
We welcome applications from members of groups historically underrepresented and excluded in the geosciences. All offers of employment are contingent upon the completion of a background check.
Staff
Department: Student Life
Reports to: Dean of Student Life
FLSA: Exempt
Submit cover letter and resume to: ihill@coa.edu.
The Director of Residence Life and the Student Experience is a full time, live-on employee, who manages the college’s residence life program including supervision of the resident advisor team and will be responsible for managing processes related to student conflict, discrimination, and other behavioral issues. Living on campus will be a condition of employment. Electronic applications only, please. Review of applications will begin immediately and continue until the position is filled.
Essential Job Functions:
- Direct the residence life program
- Select, train, and supervise the college’s team of approximately 12 Resident Advisors
- Support RAs in building house community and managing issues and interpersonal conflict arising in campus housing
- In collaboration with others, provide support and programming to help students thrive
- Serve as a member of the Student Support Team
- Provide crisis response (some nights, weekends, and breaks) as part of the on-call team
- Collaborate with the Director of Student Support and Wellness and/or the Dean of Student Life to respond to student mental health issues, when the aforementioned are unavailable
- Oversee prevention, education, response, and resolution efforts related to incidents of student conflict and behavioral issues
- Resolve issues of student behavior falling outside our community expectations, including discrimination and bias, using formal and informal complaint and conflict resolution processes
- Serve, as needed, as chair of student social misconduct hearing boards
- Work with relevant groups to respond to discrimination and bias, possibly including a Bias Response Team
- Work closely with the Campus Safety Coordinator to ensure a safe and welcoming campus environment
- Collaborate with the Student Life Operations Manager to support the housing selection process and facilitation of mid-year housing changes
- Membership on appropriate committees relevant to the position
- Perform other duties as assigned
Qualifications
- Bachelor’s Degree required (Master’s in Higher Education, Student Personnel Administration, Counseling, or related field preferred) with 3+ years of post-grad experience in higher education
- Familiarity with supporting students with mental health issues and with negotiating student privacy and confidentiality
- Knowledge of and experience with traditional and alternative methods of resolving student conduct issues, including mediation, restorative justice, etc.
- Excellent interpersonal skills including the ability to respond and adapt to dynamic situations
- Experience with and ability to work with students and staff from diverse cultures and of diverse identities
- Capacity to balance competing priorities in a highly demanding environment
- Sense of humor and willingness to work as part of a team
- Willing to work some nights and weekends
COA has committed to an institution-wide effort to enact an affirmatively anti-racist college and to put in place policies and practices that enable all students, staff, and faculty to flourish regardless of background and identity. It is essential that the incumbent be able to contribute to these efforts.
Department: Mapping Ocean Stories Project
Reports To: Dr. Laurie Baker, Professor of Computer Science
FLSA: Exempt
Background
Mapping Ocean Stories (MOS) is a collaborative project between College of the Atlantic, Island Institute, Maine Sea Grant and The First Coast focused on documenting the heritage of Maine island and coastal communities and their connection to the ocean. MOS group members draw from historical and current interviews with Mainers whose lives are tied to the ocean (such as commercial fishermen and aquaculturists) to create audio and visual storytelling products that capture the reality of life on the coast of Maine. These interviews are also an invaluable source of data on the historical and contemporary distribution of commercially important seafood species and of commercial harvesting efforts in the Gulf of Maine, as well as on the location of ancillary businesses and infrastructure that facilitate the growth and existence of Maine’s commercial fishing industry (such as seafood dealers, working waterfronts, etc.) and other culturally or socially relevant places. One of MOS’ long-term goals is to create a spatial database, in the form of an interactive map, to organize, display and share this wealth of information. This kind of data repository will constitute a useful resource for projects focusing on preservation of social memory and American culture, fine-scale changes of seafood species distribution, and long-term management of profitable and sustainable small-scale fisheries.
To achieve this goal, MOS is looking to hire a part-time GIS tech leader and student support lead. The GIS tech leader will support students working on the Maine Historic Fisheries Atlas, the Frenchman Bay project and other related projects to document spatial information, create map layers from interviews, and other data visualizations. ESRI ArcGIS Pro and ArcGIS Online will be the primary mapping technology used to do this. The GIS Tech Leader will also provide valuable mentoring and project support for MOS undergraduate interns in the project.
Review of applications will begin on May 22, 2023 and will continue until the position is filled. Please submit resume, cover letter, and name/contact information for three references to Laurie Baker, Professor of Computer Science, at lbaker@coa.edu. Please submit applications electronically.
Essential Job Function
The GIS tech leader will be a collaborative member of the MOS leadership team and will focus on these duties:
- Refine methodology to collect and code or index geospatial data from oral history interviews to develop narrative maps and other data visualizations, using arcGIS and MS Excel/Google Sheets, and store and share data using content management platforms
- Develop and manage the systems that organize and archive oral history-derived geospatial and temporal data (coded/indexed interviews)
- Build map layers and data visualizations showcasing the spatial evolution of commercial fishing in the Mount Desert Island region in the last 100+ years based on currently available oral history interviews
- Train and mentor undergraduate student interns
- Work collaboratively with MOS project partners to share findings with relevant members of coastal communities (local residents; fishermen; non-profits and academic institutions; etc.) and ocean planning teams
- Other duties as assigned
Qualifications
The ideal candidate will possess skills in computer mapping and data visualization, qualitative data analysis and management, narrative and visual storytelling, and experience storing and managing content including but not limited to:
- ESRI ArcGIS Pro, ArcGIS Online and ArcGIS StoryMaps
- MS Excel and/or Google Sheets
- Familiarity with oral history and biographical mapping interviewing methods
- Desirable: Prior experience working with other mapping data visualization tools, e.g. Mapbox, Tableau, ggplot2, leaflet
- Desirable: Prior experience working with programming languages such as R and Python for data analysis and visualization.
- Desirable: MAXQDA and/or other qualitative data analysis software for interview transcription and analysis
- Desirable: Experience with content management systems for storing and managing geographic and digital content.
The GIS tech leader will be mentored and advised by the MOS leadership team, including Todd Little-Siebold (COA History Professor), Natalie Springuel (Maine Sea Grant Marine Extension Program leader, based at COA), Galen Koch (The First Coast and COA Visiting Faculty) and Dr. Laurie Baker (COA Professor in Computer Science). The COA GIS lab director (Gordon Longsworth) will also help advise the tech lead and make the GIS lab available for work. The tech lead’s direct supervisor will be Dr. Laurie Baker, COA Professor of Computer Science.
This is a 20 hours per week (30$/hour) one year position starting as soon as the right candidate is hired with the potential for a one-year renewal. The GIS Tech Lead will ideally be working out of the COA GIS lab but we are willing to discuss alternatives.
Employment is contingent upon successful completion of a background check.
Department: Operations Team
Reports To: Administrative Dean & CFO
General Summary
Operating under broad guidelines from the Administrative Dean or designated legal counsel, the Title IX Coordinator will be responsible for coordinating the college’s compliance with Title IX and other human resources related discrimination laws, serving as the college’s primary administrator for cases alleging misconduct, specifically sexual misconduct, gender-based discrimination, harassment, intimate partner violence, and stalking for students, faculty, and staff. Additionally, this role will work to support the administration of human resources related functions at the college.
Please submit a resume, cover letter, and name/contact information for three (3) references to Bear Paul, Administrative Dean/CFO, at bpaul@coa.edu. Please submit applications electronically. Review of applications will begin immediately and continue until the position is filled.
Essential Job Function
- Stays abreast of current and emerging regulatory obligations, identifies areas of institutional risk, and develops plans of action for ensuring college rules and standard operating procedures are in compliance with federal Title IX, equal opportunity/civil rights compliance laws, and regulations
- Develops, delivers, and oversees culturally responsive educational programs for students, faculty, and staff, including disseminating educational materials and conducting outreach and training. Organizes and maintains all training and complaint records
- Ensures ongoing compliance with Title IX by collecting and analyzing data, writing comprehensive reports, and maintaining records of investigations
- Oversees, coordinates, and ensures reports and complaints of sexual misconduct are adequate, reliable, timely, confidential, and impartial
- Reviews proposed sanctions for sexual misconduct before they are imposed to ensure that they are reasonably calculated to stop the sexual misconduct and prevent its recurrence
- Identifies systemic problems relating to complaints and determines whether campus-wide resources should be adopted in response, including review and revision of the college’s sexual misconduct policies, increased monitoring, supervision, or security at locations where sexual misconduct is reported to occur, and increased education and prevention efforts to targeted populations
- Collaborates with leadership and campus constituencies to disseminate information, redesign processes, and support the college’s investigative processes; collaborates and coordinates with compliance partners across the institution to support the college’s overlapping compliance needs and responsibilities
- Supervises and trains the team of Title IX investigators
- Communicates with local law enforcement and government agencies to ensure reports are handled appropriately and in a timely manner; coordinates with local victim advocacy organizations and service providers
- Coordinates interim measures and accommodations with departments throughout the college
- Maintains a high level of confidentiality with the utmost discretion and sensitivity
- Assists with Clery reporting and compliance and ADAAA related issues
- Supports institutional human resources processes and leads annual review of (once initial review is complete) employee handbooks
- Performs other duties as assigned
Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree and at least two years of relevant professional experience in such areas as civil rights, Title IX, ADAAA compliance and assistive technologies, higher education, psychology/counseling, human resources, and/or conducting investigations
- Ability to interpret federal and state equal opportunity and non-discrimination laws and regulations, including but not limited to Title IX, Title VII, VAWA, Campus SAVE Act, Clery Act, OCR Dear Colleague letters, ADAAA
- Excellent presentation and facilitation skills with an emphasis on developing and presenting training workshops for various audiences campus-wide, particularly with Title IX compliance and investigations
- Supervisory experience
- Investigation and data analysis experience
- Effective oral and written communication of policies, procedures, and legal concepts
- Familiarization with computer technology used for communication, data gathering, reporting, and organization
- Ability to work collaboratively with others and foster effective working relationships
- Ability to work with hostile and emotional individuals in a compassionate, professional and courteous manner
- Ability to diffuse and manage situations involving intense conflict
- Ability to maintain confidentiality and professional relationships in dealing with sensitive, complex civil rights, legal, and human resource issues, and situations
- Ability to treat all constituents engaged in the complaint process with sensitivity and neutrality and exercise a high level of confidentiality
- Ability to manage multiple, ongoing, and complex caseloads of Title IX-related incidents and complaints
College of the Atlantic is committed to academic excellence, cultural diversity, and multicultural education. COA is an AA/EEO employer. We encourage applications from members of groups that have been marginalized or underrepresented in higher education.