Professor of Practice in Public Affairs and Security Studies/ College of Liberal Arts

Professor of Practice in Public Affairs and Security Studies/ College of Liberal Arts

Job Class Code: 10017
FLSA: Exempt
Posting Number: FRGV1345
Location: Rio Grande Valley
Division/Organization: Provost - Academic Affairs
Appointment Period for Non-Tenure Position:
Tenure Status: Non Tenure Track
FTE: 1

Scope of Job:
We seek applicants who are dedicated to serving The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley's diverse student body as a Professor of Practice in Public Affairs and Security Studies beginning in Fall 2022-2023 academic year. The ideal candidate's research and service load or assignments will be jointly determined by PASS and the candidate. While the applicant will be expected to teach both the core and elective courses in the department, a major part of the work will be about networking to build a strong department with improved access to grants, knowledge co-creation around public administration, and transboundary issues. The candidate will play a central role in the department to address the ever-evolving public sector wicked problems around issues related to energy, sustainability, equity, justice, diversity and inclusion, and fundraising efforts to enable the department to innovate and carry out research to serve the Rio Grande Valley communities, the state, and the nation.

The ideal applicant will possess an established record of experience bridging theory and practice in Public Affairs areas related to energy and sustainability, policy and security issues at the Nexus of governance Food-Energy-Water, public health and human well-being, environmental justice, and resilience studies. Of particular interest are candidates having a demonstrated track record of work on energy transitions and energy transitions management, decentralized energy systems, renewable energy technologies penetration and social acceptance, energy and poverty, energy justice and democracy, and just sustainable energy transformations. The ideal candidate will have served at the Senior level either in the private corporations, ventures, entrepreneurship, philanthropic and other energy-related non-profits, or in public sector agencies, regulatory commissions, or regional system operator organizations preferably at the federal or international level. The colleague will be serving in the Public Affairs and Security Studies Department (PASS), with minimal teaching load, to dedicate his or her efforts to develop innovative institutional programs to support the research and scholarship activities of our Lecturers and Tenure Track faculty and undergraduate and graduate students. These duties will include identifying and organizing the response to requests for proposals (RFP) in areas of Public Affairs energy justice and democracy, energy security, energy transitions, social acceptance of renewable energy technologies, energy governance, decentralized/community renewable project engagement, and management, social diversity, and inclusion, etc. The candidate will also be expected to generate and develop unsolicited grant proposals directly to Program Managers at DoE, NREL, USDA, etc. Alternatively, the ideal candidate will be actively participating in energy regulatory and industry activities. While the ideal candidate will have a familiarity with energy-related stakeholder relations both in the Rio Grande Valley and in hubs of energy-related policy and industry activity such as Houston, Washington DC, candidates who can develop their practice from one of these centers will be given consideration as well as locally based RGV candidates.
Any questions regarding this search can be directed to the search chair via email - george.atisa@utrgv.edu.
About UTRGV:It is UTRGV's Vision “To be one of the nation's leaders in higher education, its premier Hispanic-serving institution, and a highly engaged bilingual university, with exceptional educational, research, and creative opportunities that serve as catalysts for transformation in the Rio Grande Valley and beyond.” As such, UTRGV is committed to building a diverse faculty and staff that can contribute to an enriching learning environment that strives for more equitable outcomes for student success. UTRGV is a distributed campus, one university spanning four counties and multiple locations. Our purpose is to be a university for the entire Rio Grande Valley and beyond. Over 91% of the students enrolled at UTRGV identify as Hispanic, making UTRGV one of the top 3 universities with the highest percentage of Hispanic students.
Thanks to a steadfast commitment to safety and success, UTRGV yielded record-breaking outcomes in enrollment and student success in the fall 2021 semester. For additional information, please visit our website.Department/Background: The Department of Public Affairs and Security Studies (PASS) at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) offers a program leading to the degree of Master of Public Affairs (MPA), which is housed in the College of Liberal Arts. The MPA degree is an interdisciplinary program delivered in accelerated and traditional formats, designed to provide students with administrative concepts and competencies that can be utilized in a variety of administrative careers in public and nonprofit agencies. The program allows students to select from three different tracks: Public Administration, Public Policy, and Global Security Studies and Leadership.

Minimum Qualifications:
Candidate must possess Ph.D. degree in their discipline (must have 18 hours of graduate-level work in Public Affairs and Security Studies). Disciplinary expertise may include public administration, security studies, energy or environmental law, political science, international relations, comparative politics, international development, public health, etc. A minimum 5 years of industry experience Is required for the position of professor of practice. The candidate will demonstrate the capacity to boundary span between PASS and global, national, and sub-national/local organizations and institutions particularly those that promote academic research and scholarship in energy justice and energy transitions whether through financial or any other grant instrument.

Discipline Specific Required Qualifications:
Pre-established linkages with multi-sector alliances and collaborations are preferred, as well as membership in energy-related professional associations, colleges, or institutes. We look for candidates that include working with vulnerable energy companies in the Rio Grande Valley and global communities such as Colonias in the U.S-Mexico Border, communities in U.S. Island Territories facing risks of climate change-related to extreme events both in the Caribbean and the Pacific, inner-city and rural communities facing food-energy-water insecurity, energy justice, and energy democracy issues, and that have been capable to create linkages between those communities and the energy corporate world as well as the energy research community. Experience in these areas is required:

• Leveraging practical experience in federal government administration and intergovernmental relations to deepen student understanding of academic material;
• Identifying federal funding opportunities to maintain and expand UTRGV research programs, especially in the several hundred million of new funding available to universities over the next five years from the Investing in Infrastructure and Jobs Act
• Interaction with key agency personnel based in DC to develop programs that enable UTRGV to link local communities to collaborative projects
• Stay deeply involved with conversations in DC policy circles to inform UTRGV academic programs to concrete policy internship programs
• Ability to maintain current knowledge of government changes and actions relevant to UTRGV
• Help UTRGV influence, and be informed by, nascent federal environmental justice efforts

Develop strategic partnerships with other academic institutions to increase the competitiveness of UTRGV in advancing scholarship through publications, as well as obtaining federal grant funding

Applicant Required Documents must include:

• Writing Sample: PUBLICATION OR PROFESSIONAL REPORT, GRANT PROPOSAL OR EQUIVALENT, ETC

Preferred Qualification:
As a member of a B3 University (bi-lingual, bi-literate, binational), the candidate will demonstrate familiarity and experience in delivering courses to diverse student populations. The candidate will also be expected to have the capacity/working knowledge to conduct research that enhances PASS’s intentional desire to analyze the Rio Grande Valley’s transboundary socio-technical, socio-ecological, and socio-cultural phenomena in multiple contexts with an emphasis on community resilience, justice, and equity, as well as socio-technical and socio-ecological vulnerability frameworks, populations, communities, and groups. Applicants with the demonstrated capacity to publish academic quality, peer-reviewed publications will be given preferred consideration.

Salary: Commensurate with Qualifications and Experience
License or Certification Required?: No
Number of Vacancies: 1
Desired Start Date: 09/01/2022

EEO Statement:
EEO Statement
It is the policy of The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley to promote and ensure equal employment opportunities for all individuals without regard to race, color, national origin, sex, age, religion, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, genetic information or protected veteran status. In accordance with the requirements of Title VII of the civil rights act of 1964, the title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, as amended, our University is committed to comply with all government requirements and ensures non-discrimination in its education programs and activities, including employment. We encourage women, minorities and differently abled persons to apply for employment positions of interest.
Diversity Statement
UTRGV is a Hispanic-serving Institution dedicated to student success and building a diverse faculty committed to working in a multicultural environment. UTRGV has an NSF ADVANCE grant to increase the representation of women in STEM fields and to promote a positive, family friendly workplace for all faculty. We strongly encourage applications from women and minorities.

Open Date: 04/21/2022

Special Instructions to Applicants:
Dear Applicant,

Human Resources will not be held responsible for redacting any confidential information from the documents you attach with your application. The confidential information includes the following:

Date of Birth
Social Security Number
Gender
Ethnicity/Race

Please make sure that you omit this information prior to submission. We are advising that Human Resources will be forwarding your application to the department as per your submission.

The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley reserves the right to discontinue accepting applications prior to the stated close date of this position, after meeting the posting requirement of three (3) calendar days.
Security sensitive; All UTRGV employees are required to have a criminal background check (CBC). CBCs will be conducted for all candidates invited for an on-campus interview.

Additional Information:
UTRGV is a distributed institution. As such and as assigned, the position may require presence at multiple locations throughout the Rio Grande Valley. Work is performed primarily in a general office environment. This position is security sensitive and thereby subject to the provisions of the Texas Education Code §51.215. The retirement plan for this position is Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS), subject to the position being at least 20 hours per week and at least 135 days in length. This position has the option to elect the Optional Retirement Program (ORP) instead of TRS, subject to the position being 40 hours per week and at least 135 days inlength.

Please Note:
Texas law requires faculty members whose primary language is not English to demonstrate proficiency in English as determined by a satisfactory paper-based test score of 500 (computer-based of 173 or internet-based of 61) on the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or a satisfactory test score of 6.0 on the International English Language Testing System (IELTS).Incomplete applications will not be considered. All positions are subject to budget approval.

To apply, visit https://careers.utrgv.edu/postings/33663 jeid-6378b2a0138efb449a80fdeb304f1b4e