Director of the STEM Accelerator

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

1. Contributes to the growing body of literature on STEM education;
2. Advances pedagogical innovation, teaching assessment, and peer evaluation;
3. Be recognized as an educational role model and mentor to new faculty and Graduate Teaching Assistants in the College of Science;
4. Mentors MS and PhD students in STEM education and discipline-based education research; and
5. Elevates the value of teaching in the College of Science.

Please note: This position is not eligible for tenure.

Responsibilities include:

• Representing the Accelerator for both university initiatives and public-facing communications, and leading workshops to address the evolving landscape of science education;
• Creating, designing, recruiting, and implementing faculty development workshops connecting to any and all areas of STEM education, including such concepts as active learning, innovations in assessment, and inclusive pedagogy;
• Managing Accelerator meetings and being responsible for scheduling, chairing, and keeping records of Accelerator meetings;
• Administering Accelerator grants by ensuring that tasks within the scope of effort are accomplished in a timely fashion and that expenditures are within budgeted allocations;
• Ensuring grant proposals contain necessary line items such as personnel, travel, conference costs, equipment, space renovations, equipment maintenance, etc.;
• Managing the Accelerator budget by checking expenditures from Accelerator budgets are within the budgeted allocations;
• Reviewing Accelerator budgets and expenditures with the College of Science;
• Pursuing funding opportunities that will increase the capacity of the Accelerator;
• Managing the LA (Learning Assistants) program;
• Supervising individual faculty leaders;
• Directing workshops for faculty and student participants;
• Applying and advocating for funding to support the program;
• Coordinating expansion of the program to other Colleges at Mason;
• Leading efforts to assess and evaluate the effectiveness of the program;
• Coordinating data collection and analysis regarding programs, especially those involving the community beyond Mason, such as FOCUS, Noyce, STEM Bridge, and Women Leaders in STEM;
• Leading and contributing to education research projects, and mentoring MS and PhD students for Discipline-Based Educational Research (DBER) in the College of Science;
• Coordinating 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;
• Creating regular reports for the College of Science leadership and faculty; and
• Developing a vision to expand the Accelerator within the College of Science.

Required qualifications include:

• Master's degree in related field, or 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 include:

• Terminal degree in 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 the Director of the STEM Accelerator at jobs.gmu.edu. Complete and submit the online application to include three professional references with contact information, and provide a cover letter and resume for review.