Climate Change: Politics of Food, Energy and Water
Job Announcement: Traveling Faculty 2013 and 2014
The International Honors Program (IHP), a program of World Learning/School for International Training, offers international, comparative study abroad programs for university students. We are currently seeking six traveling faculty members to join an interdisciplinary team of faculty, fellows, and host country coordinators for IHPs Climate Change: Politics of Food, Water, and Energy program.
We seek three traveling faculty to travel fulltime and teach during the Fall semester of 2013 and three to do the same in the Spring semester of 2014. (Faculty can work both semesters if they wish, or hire on for just one semester per year, but the work and the travel that goes with it is very demanding; thus back to back semesters is not advised.)
Each four-month program will take approximately 30 to 35 students from top-tier U.S. colleges and universities to three countries to do inter-disciplinary research from a comparative perspective.
The itineraries for the 2013-2014 academic year are as follows:
Fall 2013 (Early Septrember to mid-December): United States program launchCalifornia (two weeks in SF Bay Area and Central Valley. Vietnam, five weeks in the Mekong River Delta, Central Highlands, and Hanoi. Morocco five weeks in Rabat, the Atlas Mountains, and the Sahara. Bolivia five weeks in Cochabamba, La Paz, Lake Titicaca, Potos, the salt flats of Salar de Uyuni. Spring 2014 (Late January to mid May) Same itinerary as above.
Program Description:
Climate Change: Politics of Food, Water, and Energy is a newly launched study abroad program that examines the economics, politics, and science of anthropogenic climate change and its growing impact on
human civilization. The program takes place in the US, Vietnam, Morocco, and Bolivia. Its mission is to provide undergraduate students from leading U.S. colleges and universities with academically rigorous, experiential education about the challenges of climate change. The curriculum — using both field visits to and traditional seminars — will examine the political economy of food, energy and water in the context of climate change. Students and faculty will explore the basic science of the climate system and the regionally specific manifestation of climate change through regular engagement with scientists and researchers. The group will explore the policy and economic implications of the climate crisis in meetings with policymakers, business executives, technical experts, civil servants, members of civil society; and with rural and urban working class people such as farmers, fishers, and climate refugees, who are struggling to cope with the social effects of climate disruption. In each country, students will have homestays with local families. All the while students will be engaged in regular formal courses led by the three traveling faculty.
IHPs learning model is grounded in critical inquiry and analysis, but attempts to bring those skills to bear on particular places and themes. It also helps students learn how to interact with a variety of local actors representing different and competing interests, and to situate political claims in contexts of unequal access to wealth, resources, infrastructure, and political representation.
For each semester, we are seeking a complementary team of three traveling faculty members who will each teach one course and co-teach a methods and fieldwork seminar. The courses are open to some faculty interpretation and redesign. The classes are the following:
– International Political Economy and Environmental History(ECON 3010 / 4 credits / 60 hours)
– Politics of Food and Water (SDIS 3070 / 4 credits / 60 hours)
– Science and Policy of Climate Change and Energy (ECOL 3010 / 4 credits / 60 hours)
– Fieldwork Ethics and Comparative Research Methods (ANTH 3500 / 4 credits / 60 hours)
The ideal candidates should have:
– A Ph.D. in a field such as: Human Geography, Environmental History, Environmental Studies, Anthropology, Sociology, Economics, or an M.A. with a specific climate science focus and several years experience
working in a relevant fields such as journalism, policy advocacy, or planning.
– Experience living and working abroad, preferably in the Global South.
– The ability to work closely with a small team.
– Expertise in one or two of the topic areas listed above and general knowledge of environmental history, climate science, political economy and social theory.
– Experience teaching at the college level and a commitment to experiential learning, including dialogical and field-based methods.
– Research and practical experience related to climate change, political economy and history.
– An understanding of international political economy and international history.
– The physical stamina, emotional maturity, mental health and flexibility, and personal qualities of patience, adaptability, collegiality, cross-cultural competence, and organization that are needed to build an intensive, team-oriented study abroad program that covers four countries in three months.
– The ability and desire to support and communicate with students throughout the study abroad experience both in and outside of the classroom.
More information about IHP and the Climate program is available through our website: http://www.sit.edu/studyabroad/location-comparative.cfm/
To apply: Please visit the World Learning employment website http://www.worldlearning.org/268.htm and apply via the online application system by uploading your letter of interest and CV (including the contact information of three academic references). Travelling with students for four months, and guiding their learning in the Global South, as well as conducting classroom discussions and small-group seminars, presents unique challenges and demands particular qualities. Please consider this carefully in your letter of interest, paying special attention to how you would handle the conceptual, pedagogical, intercultural and interpersonal demands working in IHPs Climate Change: The Politics of Food, Water, and Energy. What in your academic background and work experience has prepared you to do this job? Why this job instead of a more traditional academic job? Please indicate your preference for fall or spring semester.
Deadline: March 1st 2013 or until filled.
World Learning is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer, committed to increasing the diversity of its workforce.
Contact: To apply, go to http://www.worldlearning.org