Faculty Hiring Proposal 2015-16: Landscape and Environmental Position Description: We seek a broadly trained faculty member in or environmental geography to teach in interdisciplinary, team-taught programs with and themes. Although both landscape ecology and environmental geography are already highly interdisciplinary fields, we seek a faculty member who can cross greater interdivisional divides to teach with other faculty from diverse fields such as the visual and 3-dimensional arts, environmental , computer science, and creative writing. Competitive applicants will be able to demonstrate previous experience teaching in this way, and success in team-teaching interdisciplinary courses. The field of landscape ecology integrates biotic, abiotic, and geomorphological patterns with humanistic and holistic perspectives across the natural and social sciences. We seek someone well-versed in the most important concepts in both landscape ecology and environmental (or integrated) geography: relationships among pattern, process and scale, and the spatial aspects of interactions between humans and the natural world. It is crucial that this applicant be able to communicate complicated terminology to entry-level college students. We are also interested in applicants with specific teaching experience in wildland fire, disturbance ecology, invasive species ecology, , landscape , resource , international issues in geography, and GIS-based . Other desired traits include a history of teaching , outdoor or field-based classes, hands-on sustainability or restoration-themed classes, and climate change or energy topics. Experience with and the ability to teach with architects/designers in programs like Sustainable Design would also be a benefit. Experiential learning is a crucial component of our Environmental Studies curriculum. This faculty member would be expected to organize large field trips (50+ students) to pertinent locations, direct in-class student research projects, provide students with substantive scientific writing instruction and review, and merge undergraduate student research in geography with other natural and social sciences. Minimum Qualifications: • Ph.D. in Landscape Ecology, Geography, or related field; • Ability to teach , landscape ecology, and related programs; • Experience mentoring students in undergraduate research; • Ability to teach diverse quantitative approaches and GIS; • College-level teaching experience; Preferred Qualifications: • Experience team-teaching and teaching inter-divisionally; • Ability to teach in writing-intensive programs; Support the Current Curriculum 1. What is the specific hole that this position is designed to fill? Evidence of a hole in the curriculum may consist of, but not be limited to a field of study in which we have repeatedly hired visitors, a field of study needed to support a repeating program or series of repeating programs, and/or a field of study that we are currently only able to consistently teach at a beginning level but should in your opinion offer at either an intermediate or advanced level as well. In the curriculum we have consistently hired visitors in this position in Environmental Studies for over 17 years. There is consistent student demand for offerings that merge geography, , biology, and social sciences. The fields of Landscape Ecology and Environmental Geography are both highly interdisciplinary to begin with, and a successful applicant will strengthen current offerings in ES and CTL. In terms of geography, we are sorely lacking physical geography in our faculty. We have several cultural at the college, but no one who consistently integrates the fields of biogeography, atmospheric and climate science with geomorphology. We have major gaps in environmental studies curriculum while student demand is high. This faculty member would help us consistently offer programs that merge the natural and social sciences. This faculty member would help us staff lower-division programs like Introduction to Environmental Studies as well as providing key quantitative training in GIS at all levels of the curriculum. We have consistently hired visitors in this area in Environmental Studies for over 17 years. 2. How would this position reinforce and support our current curriculum? Evidence for this might include supporting or expanding a current curricular pathway, expanding the options for students to take programs in the field of study represented by the position (i.e. expanding our capacity in a popular field of study) or expanding our capacity regarding a particular skill set (writing, quantitative methods, field research, etc.). Or it might address increased capacity for interdisciplinary and/or for expertise and interest in teaching/pedagogy. This position would fit seamlessly into the curriculum, and in particular, the faculty member could begin by teaching IES (Introduction to Environmental Studies) – a key program that has been inconsistently offered for the past 8 years. Other programs that have been consistently offered in the past that would fit well for this faculty member may include programs like: Native Studies, Disturbance Ecology, Watershed Ecology, Landforms and Lifeforms, Sustainable Design, Landscape Processes, , and Conservation Biology. This faculty member would allow us to better support key quantitative skills such as: cartography, and GIS in the curriculum. 3. How might the pedagogical interests, skills and experience that someone in this position would bring augment that already represented by current Evergreen faculty across the curriculum? Geography is uniquely suited to consider broad-scale issues, not only of ecology, but of resource management (ecosystem management, energy use, policy, and adaptive management) in diverse locations across the globe. In addition, these approaches are being considered in other countries (especially developing countries) for the management of landscapes and . The multicultural perspectives brought to campus by an environmental /landscape ecologist would be crucial curricular areas for fruitful interdisciplinary discussions. 4. How might this position advance general goals across the curriculum? This position is already very interdisciplinary in that landscape ecology and environmental geography merge the fields of geology, biology, geography, environmental history, and social sciences. Hiring someone from these disciplines will enhance the probability that they will be able to expand disciplinary boundaries beyond planning units in the college and teach with a variety of faculty members. Teaching in landscape ecology and environmental geography would easily provide students with opportunities to witness the Evergreen Five Foci in practice. This faculty member would be able to 1) mentor students in interdisciplinary study; 2) provide opportunities for collaborative learning); 3) provide global perspectives that would allow students to learn across significant differences; 4) connect students with internships in natural resources agencies locally to provide opportunities for personal engagement; and 5) through the development of GIS workshops, bring the study of geography from the theoretical to the practical and link theory with practice. New Initiative 1. What are the connections between this new initiative and the current curriculum? Are there clear interdisciplinary connections with the current curriculum? Is this position aimed at bridging two existing fields of study, or is it adding something totally new? There are clear interdisciplinary connections with the current curriculum. This candidate would teach well with cultural geographers, environmental historians, political ecologists, other natural scientists, writers and artists. Although Evergreen has a long history of having strong cultural geographers on our faculty, we have lacked a physical geographer and our faculty in the Earth Sciences has been under-developed for many years. Due to its inherent interdisciplinarity, this position would naturally merge existing fields of study, as well as add something totally new to our curriculum. 2. Is a single hire in this field sufficient to support the field in the curriculum? To help you answer this think about the following questions. Is it appropriate for this field of study to be offered at both a beginning and an intermediate or advanced level? If yes, is it realistic for the new hire to do both or are the prerequisites for upper-level work in this field, or the upper-level work itself, already in the current curriculum? A single hire in this position would significantly help to solidify the ES curriculum and provide another faculty member who can easily work across the natural and social sciences. This candidate could help staff our introductory program IES as well as teach high-demand upper division science programs in their areas of expertise. 3. How will the pedagogical interests, skills and experience that someone in this position would bring augment the interests, skills and experience already represented by current Evergreen faculty across the curriculum? A landscape ecologist/environmental geographer would work well with faculty that study global issues, trade issues, languages, demographics, , emergency preparedness, arts and , and with many other natural scientists, such as ecologists, chemists, geologists, conservation biologists, marine scientists, etc. Transition of New Hire Into the College and Curriculum 5. What specific opportunities for interdisciplinary teaching do you envision that a person hired for this position would have? Have faculty in your planning unit or elsewhere at the college already stated interest in developing interdisciplinary programs with a faculty hired for this position? A landscape ecologist/environmental geographer could teach well with faculty that study global issues, trade issues, languages, demographics, public health, emergency preparedness, arts and humanities, as well as with many other natural scientists: ecologists, chemists, geologists, conservation biologists, marine scientists, etc. 6. What multi-faculty team/program(s) do you foresee that the person hired for this position would be teaching during their first year? This person could teach in Introduction to Environmental Studies (either Land or Water) as well as the repeating program, Environmental Analysis. Depending on when this candidate were hired, they could teach in programs like Field Ecology, Temperate Rainforests, Watershed Ecology, Regional Environmental History, and Conservation Biology. 7. Who among the current faculty would provide the person hired for this position with academic colleagues in or near their field? These colleagues would include people who could familiarize the new faculty with the opportunities at Evergreen for any specialized equipment, space, field opportunities etc. that the new faculty might need for teaching or professional development. Potential colleagues include: Kenneth Tabbutt, Abir Biswas, Dylan Fischer, Carri LeRoy, Alison Styring, Martha Henderson, Paul Przybylowicz, Rob Smurr, Bob Leverich, Erik Thuesen, Gerardo Chin-Leo, and Ted Whitesell. 8. Briefly, what infrastructure will be necessary for instruction in this new field of study (i.e. special equipment, special spaces, language support, etc.)? Is that infrastructure already in place? If so, can it support another user? This faculty member would teach heavily using existing computer software in the Computer Applications Lab. They would have access to the teaching forest and the Evergreen Ecological Observation Network.