Friday, July 9, 2010

NCR-SARE to Hire Associate Director

The USDA North Central Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (NCR-SARE) program seeks applications for an Associate Program Director. Please help us fill the position by applying yourself or by forwarding the description to someone who might be interested.

Program Overview
North Central Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (NCR-SARE) strengthens rural communities, increases farmer / rancher profitability, and improves the environment by supporting research and education. NCR-SARE’s core value is the sustainability and well-being of all aspects of agriculture and those communities that support agriculture. Its core purpose is to preserve resources, to achieve the best environment possible, to produce the highest quality of product, and to maximize quality of life.

This is congruent with the national legislation which created the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Institute of Agriculture (NIFA) research and education program now entitled "Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education."

NCR-SARE seeks to promote research, educational programs, and professional development that contribute to the economic, environmental, and social dimensions of agricultural sustainability in north central region. The region is made up of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin. Five grant programs currently support this mission: the Research and Education Grant Program, the Professional Development Program, the Farmer/Grower Grant Program, the Graduate Student and the Youth and Youth Educator Program. Further information on NCR-SARE is available online at: http://www.sare.org/ncrsare/.

Duties/Responsibilities

This is a 100% time position with the North Central Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (NCR-SARE) program through CFANS Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering. The NCR-SARE program is funded through USDA grants to provide subaward grants for research in sustainable agriculture. Travel throughout the 12-state region is required. Reporting to the NCR-SARE Chapter 1 Director, the successful candidate will have the following duties and responsibilities:

Coordination of Research and Education and Graduate Student Programs, 75% of time
• Work with NCR-SARE Administrative Council to write calls for preproposals and proposals
• Work with communication specialist to announce calls
• Talk to potential pre-proposal and proposal authors
• Manage preproposal and proposal review process and work with the communication specialist to publicize newsworthy projects
• Monitor project reimbursement processes
• Publicize interesting results from projects
• Oversee reporting process
• Evaluate results of projects and programs

Represent NCR-SARE at Sustainable Ag Events, 20% of time
• Travel to out of town meetings
• Staff SARE or NCR-SARE booth at sustainable ag events
• Coordinate some meetings organized by NCR-SARE


Other Activities Specified by Director, 5% of time

• The Chapter 1 Director often has more tasks than can be accomplished in a normal week; the associate director would help with some of those tasks.
• Functional supervisory responsibility when the Director is not available.

Required Qualifications
• Master’s degreewith substantial administrative experience and years of service in equivalent positions.
• Experience and interest in sustainable agriculture
• Experience in grant management
• Ability to travel to SARE-related events
• Project and staff management experience
• Demonstrated ability to develop successful working relationships with diverse audiences

Preferred Qualifications

• PhD in a relevant field and proven administrative experience
• Service-oriented
• Excellent organizational, verbal and written communication skills
• Ability to build and support internal and external relationships
• Tolerance, patience, ability to get along with people
• Visionary, creative

Salary
Commensurate with experience; salary paid from NCR-SARE funds.

To Apply

This is a UMN staff position and a person needs to apply through the UMN Human Resources website ( http://www1.umn.edu/ohr/employment/), requisition no. 167022. This position will be located in the NCR-SARE office in St Paul MN, where there is private office space. This position will also have a search committee that will include an NCR-SARE AC member, an NCR-SARE staff member, and four BBE Faculty members including Bill Wilcke. The successful candidate will be approved by the NCR-SARE AC, by national SARE, and by UMN. The position will remain open until filled and salary will depend on previous experience.

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