Position Summary

Position Description: The Department of Community Sustainability at Michigan State University invites applications for a full‐time, 9-month tenure system Assistant Professor with a 45% research, 45% teaching, and 10% outreach assignment. The position’s start date is anticipated to be January 2025, August 2025, or negotiated by the candidate. This position will be in Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources (AFNR) Education. We seek a colleague who embraces the department’s core value of community engagement who will bring the scholarship of education and community sustainability to bear on critical AFNR issues challenging communities across Michigan, the U.S., and the world.

Duties: Duties include: (a) conducting and disseminating peer-reviewed research related to AFNR education and community sustainability; (b) obtaining competitive external funding to support strong research, outreach, and/or teaching programs; (c) developing and delivering high quality classroom instruction and observing and evaluating student teachers; (d) recruiting and advising graduate students and directing thesis and dissertation research as well as non-research master’s projects; (e) collaborating effectively with students, faculty, educators, policymakers, and other community stakeholders; and (g) performing professional and university service.

The successful candidate is expected to develop a program of scholarship that integrates funded research, instruction, and outreach activities. Potential research areas could include, but are not limited to, interdisciplinary education; teacher resilience; educational systems change; diversity, equity, and inclusion in AFNR education; engaged learning; agricultural education in urban settings; human dimensions of agricultural systems; and agriculture and food system literacy. Some potential research funding sources include federal agencies such as USDA, NSF, USDE, and USAID, as well as private foundations and non-governmental organizations.

The successful candidate will be prepared to teach AFNR education courses for both preservice and in-service teachers. Possible course topics include, but are not limited to, methods of teaching and learning, educational program development, field supervision of interns/student teachers, experiential learning, program evaluation, leadership development, community food and agriculture systems, social network analysis, survey research methods, and quantitative analysis. Additionally, candidates should be able to teach sustainability core courses for the department’s three majors; AFNR Education (AFNRE); Environmental Studies and Sustainability (ESS); and Sustainable Parks, Recreation, and Tourism (SPRT).

We seek candidates who can help us innovate both methodologically and pedagogically. We also seek candidates who will mentor undergraduate and graduate students as they develop skills that they can apply academically and professionally.

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, citizenship, age, disability or protected veteran status.

Required Degree

Doctorate

Minimum Requirements

Required qualifications:  Applicants will be evaluated for the following criteria:

• Earned doctorate in agricultural education, science education, environmental education, sustainability education or a closely related discipline;
• Evidence of, or capacity for, successful research and publications in peer-reviewed journals; Preparation for successfully pursuing competitive funding to support research, outreach, and teaching programs;
• Potential for successful teaching in the AFNR education major with the additional capacity to successfully teach within the sustainability core curriculum and/or other courses in the unit (e.g., community food systems);
• Potential for mentoring undergraduate and graduate students;
• Successful teaching experience in formal school-based agriculture, food, and natural resources education learning environments.

Desired Qualifications

Desired qualifications: Demonstrated interest in community engagement and collaborative and interdisciplinary research.

Required Application Materials

To Apply: For consideration, submit your application online at http://careers.msu.edu to job number 952820. Upload the following required documents: a) letter of interest that includes qualifications for the position; b) current curriculum vitae; c) statement of teaching/outreach/graduate student advising experiences and philosophy (2-page maximum), d) a research experience and philosophy statement (2-page maximum); e) a description of how you will contribute to diversity, equity and inclusion (2-page maximum); and f) contact information for three professional references.  

Special Instructions

Review of Applications: The search committee will begin reviewing applications on October 4, 2024, and continue until a suitable candidate is selected.

Questions regarding this position can be addressed to the Search Committee Chair Aaron McKim, Department of Community Sustainability at Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA, amckim@msu.edu.

Review of Applications Begins On

10/04/2024

Website

https://www.canr.msu.edu/csus/

Department Statement

The Department of Community Sustainability is a vibrant community of scholars who engage with colleagues, students, stakeholders and communities to address sustainability challenges within specific environmental, economic and cultural contexts. We do this by:

• Focusing on sustainability engagement that embraces the decisions inherent in the transition to a more sustainable future;
• Creating and supporting a dedicated faculty working on sustainability-related issues;
• Incorporating a systems-thinking view of sustainability into curricula at the undergraduate level, graduate level, and lifelong learner level; and
• Conducting sustainability scholarship that is international in scope while attending to regional and local contexts.

As scholar-practitioners, and as a multidisciplinary department, we address critical issues at the interface of agriculture, natural resources, recreation, and communities. Through engaged scholarship, we aim to generate knowledge that will be useful to people in their roles as residents, landowners, businesses, and governmental and non-profit institutions.

We seek to understand the dynamic interactions in communities, ecosystems, and the world, as well as opportunities for sustainable development. This work is rooted in our view of a just, engaged, and dynamic society. Toward that end, we are guided by an ethic of responsible and responsive scholarship that engages people and communities.

Consistent with its mission to contribute to the development of sustainable communities, the Department offers three undergraduate majors (Bachelor of Science) linked by a common core in community sustainability: (1) Environmental Studies and Sustainability (ESS); (2) Sustainable Parks, Recreation and Tourism (SPRT); and (3) Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources Education. Michigan State University is the only institution in Michigan certifying school-based secondary agricultural teachers. The Department offers graduate degrees in Agriculture, Food, and Natural Resources Education (MA), Community Sustainability (MS and PhD), and Sustainable Tourism and Protected Areas Management (MS and PhD). In both undergraduate and graduate programs, the Department of Community Sustainability embraces international as well as domestic applications, engagement, and opportunities.

Additional information about the Department is available at www.csus.msu.edu.

MSU Statement

Michigan State University has been advancing the common good with uncommon will for more than 160 years. One of the top research universities in the world, MSU pushes the boundaries of discovery and forges enduring partnerships to solve the most pressing global challenges while providing life-changing opportunities to a diverse and inclusive academic community through more than 200 programs of study in 17 degree-granting colleges.