Job no: 501059
Work type: Faculty Full Time, Faculty Part Time/Adjunct
Location: UMass Amherst
Department: Environmental Conservation
Union: MSP
Categories: Faculty

About UMass Amherst – Mount Ida Campus

Located in Newton, adjacent to the Newton-Needham Innovation District, and the tech-focused Route 128 corridor, The Mount Ida Campus of UMass Amherst is the Greater Boston instructional location of the Commonwealth’s flagship campus. At Mount Ida, UMass Amherst offers an array of experiential learning opportunities to its undergraduate students, as well as a growing number of graduate and professional degree programs. The campus is growing its undergraduate career development programs with expanded access to internships and co-ops in the thriving Greater Boston area. Academic programs at the Mount Ida Campus are aligned with the increasing demand for talent in areas such as health care, business, computer science, and other STEM specialties, ensuring the campus will play an important role in filling the talent pipeline that drives the Massachusetts innovation economy.

Building and Construction Technology is one of the programs in the Department of Environmental Conservation within the College of Natural Sciences and the School of Earth and Sustainability at UMass Amherst. We are co-located in Amherst with the Departments of Architecture and Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning in the UMass John W. Olver Design Building, a newly completed, nationally acclaimed sustainable building on the Amherst campus.

Our department hosts a multi-disciplinary group of faculty with nationally ranked programs in Building and Construction Technology, Natural Resources Conservation, Environmental Science, and Sustainability Science. Our program has an established culture of collegiality and collaboration between faculty, students, staff, industry, and government partners. We commonly teach interdisciplinary classes and share a fundamental commitment to serving a diverse student body and the broader public.

Job Description:

The Building and Construction Technology (BCT) program in the Department of Environmental Conservation at the University of Massachusetts Amherst (http://bct.eco.umass.edu/) seeks applications for a 12 month non-tenure-track appointment as Lecturer in Sustainable Construction. There is opportunity for a part-time or full-time appointment. The initial appointment will be for two years but is renewable based on performance and program need. Applicants should indicate if they desire the full-time or half-time position.

This position will be housed at UMass Amherst’s Mount Ida Campus in Newton, MA, where it will provide a crucial spearhead for our program’s postgraduate, internship, and outreach teaching efforts in the greater Boston area. The successful candidate will be a core faculty member of BCT and the Department of Environmental Conservation, within the College of Natural Sciences (CNS), and will interface with other academic groups at the Mount Ida location, as well as UMass Amherst, and industry throughout the greater Boston area.

Teaching

The successful candidate’s teaching consists of four (full-time) or two (half-time) three-credit courses per year, which – dependent on the candidate’s background and specialization – can comprise of various construction-management and/or -technology related topics such as:

• Advanced Construction Project Management
• Scheduling or Estimating
• Sustainability in Construction
• Building Information Modeling (BIM), Virtual Design and Construction (VDC)
• Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), Drones, and Other Technology in Construction
• Contemporary Project Delivery Methods: LEAN, IPD
• Off-site Fabrication
• Facilities Management
• Certifications (LEED, etc.)

Candidates with a background in any of these fields are encouraged to apply.

Additionally, this position includes organizing guest speakers for a lecture series and support for summer internship students.

The position emphasizes active learning strategies. Candidates must care deeply about education in construction, and sustainability, and be a teacher, mentor, and scientist whose interests are broad and support the pedagogy that allows students to gain the ability to analyze and solve complex problems in the built environment.

Service

Service responsibilities include:

• Spearheading BCT’s efforts at the Mount Ida campus and providing program administrative services.
• Student advising and career counseling, including organizing occasional career events.
• Maintaining student academic record files and interacting with Graduate School, Registrar’s Office and honors program to manage degree requirements.
• Organizing and maintaining information for majors concerning scholarships, internships and job opportunities
• Student recruiting, including attendance at Boston area conferences and events to promote the program.

Work outside of regular hours (2-3 times per semester) may be required to assist with recruitment and other student-focused activities.

Location

This position will be based on the Mount Ida campus of UMass Amherst in Newton, MA. Since this is a core faculty position in the Building and Construction Technology program (which is mainly housed in the Olver Design Building at UMass Amherst), occasional travel to UMass Amherst will be required for events and meetings.

Requirements:

Candidates must have a Master’s in Construction Management, Building Science or Technology, Engineering, Architecture, or other closely related field. Relevant professional experience in residential and/or commercial construction is required. Candidates should demonstrate expertise in several of these areas: building systems and technology in residential and commercial construction; code-compliant building design; construction project management, estimating and scheduling, construction site protocols, quality control and risk management, innovative construction and delivery methods (e.g. IPD, BIM, prefabrication); and sustainable design & resource-efficient construction practices. A candidate must demonstrate a passion for construction and environmental stewardship and have excellence in oral and written communications; teaching (university level is desirable); interdisciplinary problem solving; and use of information technology and construction-related software.

The successful candidate will be creative and demonstrate a team-player attitude. They must have an understanding and interest in the sensitive integration of built and natural environments. In addition to serving Building and Construction Technology, the candidate will also interface with other UMass programs, such as Architecture, Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning, and College of Engineering, so an interdisciplinary mindset is important. The successful candidate will serve, as do all other faculty, as a mentor to minorities and other underrepresented groups within the Department. The University of Massachusetts Amherst places special emphases on faculty-student interaction and a commitment to teach and attract a diverse student body.

Preferred Qualifications:

PhD in Construction Management, Building Science or Technology, Engineering, Architecture or other closely related field.

Application Instructions:

Earliest start date is January 1^st, 2020. Review of applications will begin October 1, 2019. The position will remain open until filled. Applicants should submit curriculum vitae, statements of teaching goals, a list of courses that the candidate could teach, and the names, addresses and contact information of three references. As part of a commitment to their own multicultural community, CNS seeks an individual with a demonstrated commitment to diversity and one who will understand and embrace university initiatives and aspirations. In addition to application materials mentioned, candidates will need to submit a Statement of Contribution to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. The Diversity Statement should identify past experiences and future goals. These contributions may result from lived experiences, scholarships, and/or mentoring, teaching, and outreach activities. (https://www.cns.umass.edu/diversity-equity-inclusion).

Specific questions about this search can be directed to:

Alexander C. Schreyer, Chair (schreyer@umass.edu)

UMass Amherst is committed to a policy of equal opportunity without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, age, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, disability, military status, or genetic information in employment, admission to and participation in academic programs, activities, and services, and the selection of vendors who provide services or products to the University. To fulfill that policy, UMass Amherst is further committed to a program of affirmative action to eliminate or mitigate artificial barriers and to increase opportunities for the recruitment and advancement of qualified minorities, women, persons with disabilities, and covered veterans. It is the policy of the UMass Amherst to comply with the applicable federal and state statutes, rules, and regulations concerning equal opportunity and affirmative action.

Advertised: Jun 20 2019 Eastern Daylight Time
Applications close: