Berea College invites nominations and applications for the Compton Chair in Sustainability. The successful candidate will lead the Program in Sustainability and Environmental Studies and will be charged with providing leadership for the infusion of sustainability throughout each of the College’s six academic divisions, providing an academic complement to the existing vice-presidential leadership in sustainability.
Ranked as the greenest school in Kentucky and one of the greenest colleges in America, Berea College is poised to become a nationwide leader in sustainability, both in institutional practices, policies, and facilities as well as in student learning and in academic inquiry. The Compton Chair in Sustainability will both inspire and help to develop curricular, research, and outreach programs designed to provide a national model for integrative interdisciplinary undergraduate sustainability studies across Berea’s diverse curriculum.
This is a tenure-track position beginning July 1, 2012, with rank and salary commensurate with experience.
Highest consideration will be given to applicants with the following:
• Ph.D. or equivalent terminal degree in any disciplinary area with demonstrated interdisciplinary professional engagement (e.g., outreach, college/community collaborations, etc.) related to sustainability.
• Excellence in teaching, scholarship, and mentoring undergraduates.
• Visionary thinking and inspirational leadership.
• Capacity to effectively manage a substantive and diverse budget.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills needed to effectively represent Berea’s mission of sustainability to a broad range of internal and external groups and organizations.
Applicants should email a cover letter, current curriculum vitae, a teaching statement, copies of transcripts, and three letters of references to the Division Chair, Dr. Jan Pearce, at pearcej {at} berea(.)edu. Review of applications will begin November 15, 2011, and continue until the position is filled.
Berea College’s commitment to sustainability is integrated into its core mission and stems from one of its eight “Great Commitments,” which is “to encourage in all members of the community a way of life characterized by plain living…and concern for the welfare of others.” Founded by ardent abolitionists, Berea College achieved national distinction as the first coeducational and interracial college in the South. With an emphasis on service to the people of Appalachia and beyond, Berea enrolls 1,600 students from 40 states and 60 countries and is among the most racially diverse private liberal arts college in the United States. Berea admits only students whose families are unable to afford the high cost of tuition and awards each of them a four-year full tuition scholarship. Berea’s students excel in the College’s supportive but demanding academic environment, and many are the first in their families to graduate from college. Graduates distinguish themselves in a variety of fields, including social service, government, ministry, the arts, business, education, medicine, and science, and many go on to earn graduate degrees.
Berea College, in light of its mission in the tradition of impartial love and social equality, welcomes all people of the earth to learn and work here.
