The Provost’s Postdoctoral Fellow for the Warner College of Natural Resources (WCNR) was initiated in recognition that managing and conserving natural resources requires collaboration among diverse sets of stakeholders, including individuals from underrepresented groups and cultures. The purpose of this program is to help train individuals to meet the unique challenges of managing and conserving these valuable resources. The Provost Postdoctoral Fellow, WCNR will be supported to conduct research aligned with their interests (50%) and will teach two classes per year that align with their interests (40%). In addition to the annual salary provided for this position, the successful applicant will receive a start-up package to develop their research and enhance their training to become a leader in collaborating and training students to work across a diverse set of stakeholders.

The successful candidate will be expected to pursue research to enable productivity allowing the postdoc to be competitive for a tenure-track faculty position at a research university at the end of the two-year position. The successful candidate will be required to pursue a research program at the intersection of natural resources and minority, underserved, or underrepresented populations or cultures in the United States. Strong preference will be given to individuals working at the interface of Native American issues and natural resources.

The successful candidate will also help teach a fundamental course in the college and develop and teach an additional (new) course. For Fall semester 2019 the postdoc will be assigned co-teaching responsibility for NR120, Introduction to Environmental Conservation. Fall semester 2020 the postdoc will either co-teach the course again or teach the course independently, depending on the success of the co-teaching arrangement in year 1 and the goals and desires of the lead instructor and of the Provost’s Postdoctoral Fellow. In the Spring semester, the Fellow will teach a new class aligned with their scholarly expertise and interests. Potential courses of interest include topics such as “Native American Culture and Nature,” “Ecological Management on Tribal Lands,” “Environmental Justice and Underserved Populations,” “People, Place, and Natural Resources – Multicultural Perspectives,” “Impacts of Climate Change on Underserved Communities,” “Inclusion and Retention Underserved Populations in STEM and Natural Resources,” and others. The Fellow will be charged with building the framework for the course early Fall semester 2019 so that it can be presented as a special topics course in the Spring 2019 and 2020 semesters.

The Postdoctoral Fellow will not have formal service responsibilities but will be given the opportunity to engage in high impact service efforts if beneficial for them. If interested, the postdoc will have the opportunity to engage with the development of a new minor in Multicultural Perspectives of Natural Resources, targeted recruitment of Native American students or those of other underrepresented groups, participation on the College’s Diversity and Inclusion Committee, or other service opportunities.

The position will be housed in one of the five academic departments in Warner College, with final departmental assignment based on disciplinary interests and background of the candidate.

The position has funding for two years.