Department: Institute for Resilient Organizations
FTE: 0.49
Terms: Fall
Academic Year: 2024-25
Duties:
This position with the Ecosystem Workforce Program supports a project focused on identifying opportunities for advancing equitable forest and fire workforce pathways. This project is focused on characterizing and reimagining the workforces supporting community and land-based fire resilience in the western US, including highlighting key obstacles and opportunities for change. This position will work on:
1) Identifying and understanding the multiple pathways that lead to these jobs, and the associated barriers that keep people from pursuing or advancing along those paths.
2) Identifying opportunities to expand, enrich and reimagine these careers across scales, to foster more secure, good-paying, equitable, skilled jobs and multiple workforce sectors.
3) Community and practitioner guided-research, responsive to the expertise of individuals in community and land-based fire resilience.
This project will gather and synthesize information to share results and recommendations that characterize these workforce challenges and opportunities for future investment or policy change. The intended results of this project include research, policy briefs and reports geared toward policy and decisionmakers/land managers/community organizers and facilitated learning opportunities with interested groups. This project also aims to collectively advance understanding and partnership around the intersection of multiple sectors working on fire resilience, including fire, forestry, and home hardening in the western US with an anticipated focus on Oregon and 2-3 other states in the western US.
This position will:
-Involve group facilitation and interested party engagement
-Use qualitative methodologies to elicit information, such as conducting focus groups, participant observation, and interviews.
-Involve literature and document review, key informant discussions and synthesis to inform project design.
Preferred Qualifications:
MA/MS in applied natural resource, social science, policy, labor or economics fields. This includes but is not limited to forestry, environmental studies, labor or applied or agricultural economics, labor or employment relations/studies, organizational development, public policy, geography, political science, planning, or other related fields.
Demonstrated experience with group convening, focus groups, facilitation and related activities.
Demonstrated experience with some combination of environmental policy and management;
workforce development or training; labor economics; community-government relations; collaboration; sustainable rural development; fire suppression, forestry or home hardening businesses and workforce(s); or a related field.
Demonstrated experience working with/within underserved, under-resourced or historically marginalized groups and communities, including for example, experience with inclusive and culturally responsive practices.
Application Procedure:
Submit a CV and one page cover letter to hhuber@uoregon.edu with "EWP Workforce GE" in the subject line.
Application Email: hhuber@uoregon.edu
Deadline Date: Wednesday, 08-21-2024
Open Until Filled: Yes
Open Until Filled, Review Begins On: Thursday, 08-22-2024
Contact Information:
Heidi Huber-Stearns
Hendricks Hall office 130
Ecosystem Workforce Program
Institute for Resilient Organizations, Communities and the Environment
University of Oregon
Eugene, OR 97403