Faculty positions available at Texas Tech University
Faculty Positions in Integrated Climate Response Modeling and Statistical Analysis are available through the TTU- Climate Center. They are inviting applications for two full-time, tenure-track/tenured faculty positions at the rank of Assistant or Associate Professor. The positions are nine-month academic appointments available as of January 1, 2013.
These positions are critical components of an expanding initiative at Texas Tech University in the areas of climate science and climate response assessment. These appointments will contribute to the growth of this center and to TTU’s role in the recently established South Central Climate Science Center through their research and interactions with a diverse group of collaborators associated with the University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State University, Louisiana State University, NOAAs Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Lab, The Chickasaw Nation, and the Choctaw Nation.
One position will be placed in the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources and the other in the College of Arts and Sciences, in departments appropriate to the applicants’ academic background. . Detailed information on the two colleges can be found at http://www.depts.ttu.edu/agriculturalsciences/ and www.depts.ttu.edu/artsandsciences
For more information on the research emphases, qualifications, and application instructions for the two positions see the attached ad. Faculty Positions -TTU-CSC
University of Minnesota Earns Top Scores in Organic Land Grant Assessment!
The University of Minnesota received a top rating in the Organic Farming Research Foundation’s recently released report, 2012 Organic Land Grant Assessment.
A point was given for each of the following attributes:
1. Certified organic research or student farm ground
2. Organic experiment station ground
3. A student organic or “sustainable” farm—a training site
4. An organic major, minor or certificate program
5. An organic course of any kind
6. A dedicated organic staff or faculty person
7. Organic Extension resources
8. An annual organic field day
The University of Minnesota received a point in all eight categories - only one of six land grants in the country to do so!
Addressing Global Challenges
BARRETT COLOMBO
The University of Minnesota has the resources and expertise to address many of the world’s challenges and opportunities, from economics to sustainable energy. The question that drove a recent conference was: How can the University build upon these strengths to extend its global impact?
On Friday, February 17th, the Global Programs and Strategy (GPS) Alliance sponsored the inaugural international research conference on Addressing Global Challenges through International Research. As a land-grant institution, the University’s mission is to generate knowledge through research, and share this knowledge and innovations to help build a healthier, sustainable world. This conference highlighted global research by University of Minnesota faculty, researchers, and graduate students and encouraged discussion on diverse global challenges, with a focus on building collaboration across disciplines, shared learning, and exploring the essentials of conducting research abroad.
Nathan Mueller, a PhD student focusing on environmental issues related to agricultural production, had the chance to see several panels and was a panelist himself. Mueller remarked how “Listening and talking with the faculty speakers was a clear indication for me that the University has both incredible depth, but also unusual breadth of expertise to seek solutions for complex global problems.”
Major themes centered around nexuses of strength at the University, including food security and agricultural production, education, global health, energy and the environment, and economics and poverty. A forum of professors and deans at the cutting edge of global governance issues explored opportunities and weaknesses for solving problems at this scale.
The afternoon brought an exciting cross-sector panel of experts. Moderated by the Dean and Associate Vice President for International Programs, the panel included the keynote speaker, Dr. Stonner, as well as representatives from Medtronic, the Global Initiative for Food Systems Leadership, the McKnight Foundation, and Land O’Lakes.
In addition to emphasizing the global impact that faculty and researchers at the University already have, the conference provided an excellent opportunity to strengthen collaboration across disciplines and colleges.
The GPS Alliance is the central international office for the University of Minnesota system, and works closely on the campus level to engaging individual students and faculty members to globalize teaching, learning, research, and engagement.
Questions Without Borders
“Questions Without Borders” captures the essence of interdisciplinary, globally relevant research that will shape our future, according to distinguished demographer and economic historian Dr. Myron Gutmann. Head of the National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Directorate for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences (SBE), Gutmann sparked a lively conversation Feb. 13 on the challenges of developing more interdisciplinary education in large research universities where established disciplines have traditionally been dominant. With his own scholarly interests in interdisciplinary historical population studies, especially relating population to agriculture, the environment and health, Gutmann understands firsthand the need to strengthen and reward interdisciplinary research and teaching opportunities.
Held at Coffman Theater on the University’s East Bank campus, Gutmann’s talk preceded a panel discussion featuring faculty from several disciplines and moderated by U of M provost Karen Hanson. Hosted by the Institute for Advanced Study, the whole program is available online at http://www.ias.umn.edu/media/MyronGutmann.php.
The future academic research that matters most will be collaborative, multidisciplinary, data intensive, and addressing societal problems and fundamental scientific questions, according to Gutmann and the SBE. To undertake such future research, research universities and supporting institutions, like the NSF, must broaden thinking about science and take more seriously how work at the intersection of traditional disciplines might respond to problems at a global scale. The SBE’s fall 2011 report, Rebuilding the Mosaic: Fostering Research in the Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences at the National Science Foundation in the Next Decade, frames innovative research for the year 2020 and beyond that enhances fundamental knowledge and benefits society. In creating the report, SBE invited over 250 white papers on foundational and transformative questions. To be foundational, the questions needed to “reflect deep issues that engage fundamental assumptions behind disciplinary research traditions.” To be transformative, they needed to “seek to leverage current findings to unlock new cycles of research.”
Gutmann and the SBE foresee future interdisciplinary academic work in areas including population, social disparities, communications, new technology, and, perhaps, civic participation. In discussing how NSF funding priorities shape research questions, Gutmann expressed his own view that a participation and governance science project deserves to move forward. He acknowledged that NSF proposals involving complex, interdisciplinary analysis of behavior are the most difficult to adequately review.
The discussion following Gutmann’s remarks covered undergraduate education, graduate level research and teaching, and overall priorities for the research university. J. B. Shank of the Department of History chose bold response, noting the U of M’s “overall approach to undergraduate education is exceedingly Victorian.” David L. Fox of the Department of Earth Sciences and Dominique Tobbell of the Program in the History of Medicine at the Medical School offered more subtle, but no less probing, assessments of the U of M context in interdisciplinary initiatives. Gutmann ended with a challenge to University faculty and staff assembled, asking, “Can you enable students to see potential for their ideas? Can you make it safe for faculty doing interdisciplinary work to grow in their careers?”
-Beth Mercer-Taylor
