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Assistant Teaching Professor (tenure track) in Environmental Data Science at the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management

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Position overview

Position title: Assistant Teaching Professor (tenure track) in Environmental Data Science at the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management
Salary range: Open
Percent time: 100
Anticipated start: July 1, 2023

Position description

The Bren School of Environmental Science & Management (www.bren.ucsb.edu) invites applications for an Assistant Teaching Professor (tenure track) , to start July 1, 2023. We seek an environmental data scientist with demonstrated excellence in data science tools and techniques, superlative teaching skills, and experience in environmental science and/or management.

An Assistant Teaching Professor is a tenure-track faculty member whose primary responsibilities are pedagogical innovation, teaching and advising, and academic program development. Secondary responsibilities include professional and/or scholarly achievement and activities, especially as they relate to instruction and pedagogy, as well as University and public service. Faculty in the Teaching Professor series are expected to maintain a continuous and current command of their subjects. They should, among other things, demonstrate the ability to foster an inclusive, stimulating, and effective learning environment. Teaching Professors are full voting members of the Bren School faculty and the UCSB Academic Senate, and are evaluated for merits and promotions on the same schedule as members of the Professor series. At the Bren School, faculty in the Teaching Professor series have approximately twice the teaching workload as those in the Professor series.

The Bren School is a graduate school within UCSB that provides rigorous, multi-disciplinary training in environmental science and management to Master's and PhD students. The faculty is drawn from the natural sciences, social sciences and management. The successful candidate will become part of a welcoming community working to develop interdisciplinary solutions to environmental problems, train environmental leaders, and work for a sustainable future.

This position is primarily responsible for courses and program development in the School's Master of Environmental Data Science (MEDS) program: (https://bren.ucsb.edu/masters-programs/master-environmental-data-science), an innovative degree program that works in partnership with the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (www.nceas.ucsb.edu) to train data scientists for careers in environmental problem-solving. The position also may include some teaching in the School's Master of Environmental Science and Management (MESM) program (https://bren.ucsb.edu/masters-programs/master-environmental-science-and-management).

The appointee will contribute to the Bren School's educational mission in the following areas:
● Teach courses on computational data science skills, including data wrangling, analysis, modeling, visualization, reproducible analysis and workflow management.
● Teach courses on the modern data science software stack in commonly used programming languages such as Python, R and/or SQL.
● Help supervise student group capstone projects, including instruction in team science and project management.
● Participate in, and eventually lead, faculty oversight and governance of the MEDS program (including curriculum and implementation).

The Bren School is especially interested in candidates who can contribute to the diversity and excellence of the academic community through teaching, service, and scholarly or professional activities. The University of California is committed to excellence and equity in every facet of its mission and strives to recognize contributions in all areas of faculty achievement that promote equal opportunity and diversity. Contributions to diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice can take a variety of forms including but not limited to:

  • Efforts to advance equitable access to education;
  • Public service that addresses the needs of California’s diverse population;
  • Research that highlights inequalities;
  • Mentoring and advising students, particularly from underrepresented and underserved populations;
  • Creating effective strategies for the educational advancement of students in under-represented groups.

Qualifications

Basic qualifications (required at time of application)

Applicants must have completed all of the requirements for a PhD (or equivalent) except the dissertation at the time of application in a related field (environmental, social, and/or computational science).

Additional qualifications (required at time of start)

By the time of hire, candidates must have a PhD (or equivalent) and at least one year of teaching experience at the university level.

Preferred qualifications

● At least two years of teaching at the university level, including at least one course as instructor of record, and at least one year teaching statistics, data science, and/or programming.
● Demonstrated excellence in teaching effectiveness, including evidence of pedagogical innovation or experimentation.
● Demonstrated commitment to fostering a diverse and inclusive learning community, including evidence of engagement in relevant activities promoting equity, inclusion, and diversity, as applicable
● Record of experience with multiple teaching methodologies
● Evidence of participation in program development and assessment
● Demonstrated commitment to professional service, including service promoting access to and diversity in higher education and the academic profession.
● Experience using data science to address environmental research or management questions.

Application Requirements

Document requirements
  • Curriculum Vitae - Your most recently updated C.V.

  • Cover Letter

  • Statement of Teaching & Mentoring (Philosophy and Practice) - This statement should describe your approach to classroom instruction and working with students/mentees in a one-on-one setting. Please include discussion of your relevant experience and expertise, highlighting your planned teaching approaches and practices, such as lecturing style and/or assessment choices. A description of how your pedagogical approach supports diversity, equity and inclusion in the classroom may either be included here or in your Statement of Contributions to Diversity.

  • Statement of Contributions to Diversity - Statement of Contributions to Diversity explaining philosophy and experience contributing to more inclusive classroom and academic communities. This statement will be reviewed for evidence of teaching, research, professional and/or public service contributions that promote diversity and contributions furthering diversity and equal opportunity in higher education through knowledge of, contributions to, and plans to promote diversity.

  • Teaching Portfolio - Evidence documenting your excellence and innovation in teaching. It could include material such as:
    1) Course materials (syllabi, selected assignments or classroom activities, etc.) together with annotations indicating how they reflect your approach to teaching.
    2) Assessments of teaching effectiveness (including, but not limited to, student evaluations).
    3) Descriptions of any pedagogical innovations or experiments, together with your assessments of their effectiveness.
    4) Documentation of educational contributions above the level of individual courses (e.g., curricular or programatic activities).

  • Statement of Research or Other Scholarly Activities - While the focus of this position is active teaching, other scholarly activities, particularly those relating to your pedagogical practice and/or environmental science experience, are welcome. This could include:

    -any past research projects and/or experience
    -development of, or contribution to, data science tools and/or methods (e.g. software, packages, applications)

    For candidates with substantial industry experience or other non-academic paths, you should describe how your experiences in that context that will be relevant to your teaching.
    (Optional)

Reference requirements
  • 3 required (contact information only)

Candidate must identify contacts in UC Recruit in order for the application to be considered complete. Letters will only be requested if the candidate makes the list of finalists.

Apply link: https://recruit.ap.ucsb.edu/JPF02359

Help contact: kellykeogh@ucsb.edu

About UC Santa Barbara

The University of California is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

As a condition of employment, you will be required to comply with the University of California Policy on Vaccination Programs, as may be amended or revised from time to time. Federal, state, or local public health directives may impose additional requirements.

Job location

Santa Barbara, CA