Director of the STEM Accelerator

Department: College of Science

Classification: Administrative Faculty

Job Category: Administrative or Professional Faculty

Job Type: Full-Time

Work Schedule: Full-time (1.0 FTE, 40 hrs/wk)

Location: Fairfax, VA

Workplace Type: Hybrid Eligible

Salary: Salary commensurate with education and experience

Criminal Background Check: Yes

About the Department:

The STEM Accelerator in the College of Science at George Mason University aims to be a national leader of innovative and effective STEM Education initiatives in higher education. Conceived in 2011 and with a unique interdisciplinary team of faculty and staff, the Accelerator works to increase the number of STEM majors, improve retention rates of STEM students, and help STEM graduates join the workforce or continue their education.

George Mason University College of Science (Mason Science) is committed to advancing access, justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion (AJEDI) throughout our STEM community, including within our hiring and retention practices. At Mason Science, our values include fostering an organizational culture that promotes Anti-Racism, belonging, respect, and civility. We believe that a diversity of opinions, cultures, and perspectives is what provides vibrancy, innovation and growth to an academic community. By prioritizing inclusive excellence in academics, teaching, research, and global engagement, we strive to attract a diverse pool of faculty and staff who exemplify the Mason Science mission and vision.

About the Position:

The Director of the STEM Accelerator is responsible for reaching the following goals:

• Contributes to the growing body of literature on STEM education;
• Advances pedagogical innovation, teaching assessment, and peer evaluation;
• Be recognized as educational role models and mentors to new faculty and GTAs in COS;
• Mentors MS and PhD students in STEM education and discipline-based education research; and
• Elevates the value of teaching in the College of Science.

Responsibilities:

• Represents the Accelerator for both university initiatives and public-facing communications and leads workshops to address the evolving landscape of science education;
• Creates, designs, recruits, and implements faculty development workshops connecting to any and all areas of STEM Education, including such concepts as active learning, innovations in assessment, and inclusive pedagogy.
• Manages Accelerator meetings;
• Administers Accelerator grants by ensuring that tasks within the scope of effort are accomplished in a timely fashion and that expenditures are within budgeted allocations;
• Ensures that grant proposals contain necessary line items such as personnel, travel, conference costs, equipment, space renovations, equipment maintenance, etc.;
• Manages Accelerator budget by ensuring that expenditures from Accelerator budgets are within the budgeted allocations;
• Reviews Accelerator budgets and expenditures with the College of Science;
• Pursues funding opportunities that will increase the capacity of the Accelerator;
• Manages the LA (Learning Assistants) program;
• Supervises individual faculty leaders;
• Directs workshops for faculty and student participants;
• Applies and advocates for funding to support the program; Coordinates expansion of the program to other Colleges at Mason;
• Leads efforts to assess and evaluate the effectiveness of the program;
• Coordinates data collection and analysis regarding programs, especially those involving the community beyond Mason, such as FOCUS, Noyce, STEM Bridge and Women Leaders in STEM;
• Leads and contributes to education research projects and mentors MS and PhD students for Discipline-based Educational Research (DBER) in the College of Science;
• Coordinates with multiple committees and working groups within the College of Science, to include Curriculum Committee, Faculty Matters Committee, Emerging Pedagogies committee, any others as needed; Creates regular reports for the College of Science leadership and faculty; and
• Develops a vision to expand the Accelerator within the College of Science.

Required Qualifications:

• Master’s degree in related field or the equivalent combination of education and experience ;
• Experience in budget administration (generally 5+ years);
• Experience teaching in higher education (typically 5+ years);
• Track record of successful grant administration and management;
• Current knowledge of STEM education research;
• Superior writing and oral communication skills;
• Ability to communicate with and manage diverse groups and individuals; and
• Demonstrated commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Terminal degree in a related field;
• Experience teaching in higher education (typically 10+ years); and
• Experience in full-time college-level administration (generally 5+ years).

Instructions to Applicants: 

For full consideration, applicants must apply for Director of the STEM Accelerator at https://jobs.gmu.edu/. Complete and submit the online application to include three professional references with contact information, and provide a Cover Letter/Letter of Intent with Resume for review.

Posting Open Date: December 12, 2024

For Full Consideration, Apply by:  January 15, 2025

Open Until Filled:  Yes