Job: Environmental Communication (possible specialization new media)
ANNOUNCEMENT OF TWO FACULTY VACANCIES
Deadline: January 3, 2011.
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR
ENVIRONMENTAL COMMUNICATION AND/OR ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY
The State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY-ESF) in Syracuse, NY, invites applications for two academic year tenure-track positions as Assistant Professor in Environmental Communication and/or Environmental Policy.
Responsibilities: The successful candidates will be expected to build strong extramurally funded research programs in environmental communication and/or policy. They will teach undergraduate and graduate course(s) in environmental communication and/or policy, and seminars within their areas of expertise. The typical teaching load is 2 courses per semester. These individuals are expected to collaborate with colleagues and students in other disciplines at the College and the broader academic community. At least one position will be filled by a candidate with expertise in one or more of the following environmental communication areas: public participation, collaboration and conflict resolution, environmental campaigns, new media, social marketing, science or risk communication, rhetoric and discourse, and environmental journalism, among others. We also welcome applicants with expertise in one or more of the following environmental policy areas: global and international environmental politics, environmental institutions and governance, climate change policy and implementation, urban regeneration, environmental justice, and land use change, among others.
Qualifications: A Ph.D. in Communication, Environmental Policy, Environmental Planning, Political Science, Environmental Studies, Geography, Sociology or a related discipline is required. Preference will be given to candidates with a record of excellence in research and teaching, commensurate with time since degree; strong theoretical grounding in one or more disciplines; interdisciplinary research experience; post-doctoral or equivalent experience, and ability to mentor graduate and undergraduate students.
The College and the Department: The College of Environmental Science and Forestry is one the largest groups of faculty dedicated to solving environmental problems through research, teaching and service. With a total enrollment of 1,200 undergraduates and 600 graduate students, ESF provides an intimate small college atmosphere. The low student/faculty ratio also allows for an active advisory system that is focused on personal attention and assistance for students. Integration of research and teaching is emphasized. The College is co-located with Syracuse University and Upstate Medical University, giving students and faculty the added resources of a large institution of higher education. The Environmental Studies program integrates the social and biophysical sciences and the humanities to enhance environmental policy and decision making processes. The department offers Bachelor of Science (B.S.), Master of Science (M.S.), and Master of Professional Studies (M.P.S.) in Environmental Studies. Ph.D. degrees supervised by departmental faculty are offered through ESF’s interdepartmental Graduate Program in Environmental Science, and through Environmental and Natural Resources Policy doctoral program.
Application Procedure: Application is online only (http://www.esf.edu/hr/search/). Applications should include a letter summarizing qualifications and research interests, curriculum vitae, a statement of teaching experience and philosophy, and contact information for three references. To ensure optimal consideration, all application materials must be received by 3 January 2011; this position will remain open until filled.
For More Information:
Dr. Theresa Selfa, Search Committee Chair
Assistant Professor Department of Environmental Studies
SUNY-ESF
10 Marshall Hall
Syracuse, NY 13210-2787
Tel: 315-470-6570; E-mail: tselfa@esf.edu
SUNY-ESF is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer
Erik Olsen has a very fascinating article in today’s New York Times on “molecular animation”. Molecular animators use computer software and the tools of filmmakers to design animated versions of cellular level processes. Check out video below.
Post Doctoral Fellowship, Hendrix College. Deadline: November 30.
We seek applicants for a two year post-doctoral fellowship in narrative and other representations of the environment. The successful candidate will have primary interest in literature (and ecocriticism); experience in film, theatre, or visual arts, is particularly welcome. The fellow will teach two to three courses per year and is expected to devote 50% of time to professional activities including research, publication, and campus community engagement of issues related to the specialty. The fellow will enhance the growing Environmental Studies Program by participating in the development of new courses and curricular initiatives. This fellowship was funded by a grant to the Associated Colleges of the South from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
The application should include a letter addressing the candidate’s interest in teaching in a demanding yet supportive liberal arts environment, a curriculum vitae, three letters of recommendation (including e-mail addresses and phone numbers), and transcripts of all graduate and undergraduate work. Application materials should be sent to Dr. Joyce Hardin, Biology Department, Hendrix College, 1600 Washington Ave, Conway, AR 72032. Review of applications will begin December 1, 2010. Interviewing will take place at MLA and by phone.
Hendrix is a distinguished liberal arts college with an endowment of $145 million, sheltering a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, located in Conway, Arkansas, thirty miles from Little Rock at the foothills of the Ozark Mountains. The College, related to the United Methodist Church, has a strong commitment to excellence in teaching liberal arts. Hendrix is an equal opportunity employer. Members of minority groups and women are especially encouraged to apply. Please visit our website at www.hendrix.edu.
I’ve been meaning to post on this furor for a while, and while a bit late doing so, still believe it’s an interesting story as it highlights what might be seen as classic corporate tactics in the face of potential exposure of wrong-doings.
“Troubled Waters” is a documentary sponsored by the University of Minnesota’s Bell Museum of Natural History and highlights both problems of agricultural run-off and possible solutions. Scheduled to be released this year, it was suddenly and somewhat inexplicably pulled from being screened. A bit of digging highlighted that Ag lobbyists had a hand in stopping the screening. The back-and-forth news hype that ensued generated much discussion about academic freedom and corporate interests. UMinn-St Paul is a land grant institution with strong ties to the agricultural sector.
To read more about the controversy and its resolution, check out the Katie Horner’s post on Columbia University’s State of the Planet page. The controversy was also followed closely by Minnesota Public Radio
.
One final tongue-in-cheek note: The controversy itself could be good material for a short film, perhaps not entirely original but in tradition of Chinatown.
And that final thought made me think about other water related films. Here’s a nice list of options from the Santa Cruz Sentinel.
I also wanted to share a fascinating little movie moment from a recent screening of John Huston’s The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. This is an amazing film, fantastic scripting and storytelling about greed, but there is a curious moment when the 3 protagonists decide they are satisfied with the amount of gold dust they’ve extracted from the mountain and the older, experienced miner informs them that before they leave they have to put the mountain back in the condition it was in before they excavated. The two younger miners are stunned but agree and all three say a rather heartfelt “thank you” to the mountain as they leave. It’s a great and odd eco-relevant moment for anyone working on mines/mining and ecocinema.
Maybe this is already on your radar:
Collapsus: The Energy Risk Conspiracy
Here’s the description from the Collapsus site:
“Collapsus is a brand-new transmedia project from SubmarineChannel that combines interactivity, animation, fiction, and documentary. Collapsus looks into the near future and shows you how the imminent energy crisis affects a group of ten young people, who appear to be caught up in an energy conspiracy. Collapsus is the transmedia project associated with the documentary, Energy Risk. 
Collapsus is directed by Tommy Pallotta, producer of Scanner Darkly and Waking Life, and director of American Prince.”
Connect and stay updated for the international release of Collapsus:
Twitter: twitter.com/​collapsusnews
Facebook: facebook.com/​#!/​collapsuspage
SubmarineChannel: submarinechannel.com/​
Thanks to a recent move, I missed the September 20 issue of New York magazine when it first came out. When it arrived, I skipped the cover article on Jon Stewart and paged through to “The Concrete Jungle,†Robert Sullivan’s look at the hidden ecology of New York City.
Interesting tidbits in the article include the discovery of an urban coyote population (about which Sullivan has written before), photographs of wild turkeys crossing a Staten Island street and parks reverting to urban prairie, and and the pros and cons of using oysters as water filters in the Raritan Bay estuary (it’s effective, but contaminates the oysters and threatens the seafood industry).
Most interesting to me, however, is the article’s organizing trope of adventuresome ecologists and planners exploring the urban wilderness – which happens to be the world they see every day. In Sullivan’s telling, they are part Lewis and Clark, part Robert Langdon, mapping the natural landscape that had been overlooked or forgotten by human settlers, and tracing the human activities that allowed the landscape to remain that way.
At its wildest, [New York’s nature] exists in the places humans let be, either because we mapped it as parkland and forgot about it, or we abandoned it as ruin, allowing it to transform yet again. Look at a place like Willow Lake in Flushing Meadows Corona Park: What was once a tidal wetland had been filled with Gatsby’s ash heaps, then covered over by Robert Moses for the 1939 World’s Fair, subsequently turned into ball fields, which frequently flooded and were eventually neglected. What has returned? Wetlands. “It’s almost like they’re under there and trying to come back,†says Ellen Pehek, an ecologist who has worked for the city’s Parks Department for twelve years. “When they flood, you find bullfrogs there. It’s like they know.â€
The photographs (by Jason Fulford) that accompany the article play upon the theme of city reverting to urban prairie. My favorite is the shot of a crumpled muscle car, possibly a Chevelle, rusting to oblivion in the woods: one sheet of metal has turned the same color as the ground. Fulford keeps live humans out of the frame (unless you count the shot of turkeys crossing a Staten Island street, with cars in motion in the background). Because of this, the photos have a postapocalyptic feel: you’re not quite sure whether there’s any urban infrastructure left to encroach upon. Sullivan writes that, in rediscovering “lost†urban parks, “it became clear that the Parks Department was an accidental land trust,†and in Fulford’s photos you can see why.
Here’s a Youtube of Tony Hayward BP apologies, re-imagined by South Park.