Visiting Faculty (Glacier Bay Year)

Tidelines Institute is seeking individuals to serve as Visiting Faculty for the 2023 Glacier Bay Year: a six-month living-learning experience for college-age students, based in the communities and wildlands of Southeast Alaska. We especially encourage applications from Black and Indigenous educators, as well as educators of color.

Visiting Faculty will live and work on-site in Alaska for one of our seven-week terms. During this time, they will lead a 2-credit course in their field of expertise for our six gap year students and will be responsible for the intellectual vitality of the Glacier Bay Year. Each course meets twice a week, 2.5-3 hours a day, over the six weeks. Courses should be appropriate for the college level, but should not require prerequisites. Due to the small number of participants, most courses will be taught seminar-style, though experiential, lab, and lecture components may be appropriate depending on course content.

Visiting Faculty should also aim to contextualize the curriculum within the multiple dimensions of program life—extending the curricula beyond the classroom walls to help students make meaning out of their individual and collective experiences. We accept applications from across the disciplines, but give preference to course proposals that directly engage with the experiential components of the program: community building, democratic self-governance, wilderness exploration, and physical service-labor. You can learn more about the Glacier Bay Year here.

We are seeking Visiting Faculty for the following dates (flexible by a few days on either end):

Term 2: July 17th-August 24th, 2023
Term 3: September 11th-October 19th, 2023

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Timeline:

Application deadline (both terms): December 23rd, 2022

Notification dates:
For Term 2 (July/Aug) Applicants: February 17th, 2023
For Term 3 (Sept/Oct) Applicants: March 17th, 2023

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Qualifications

All applicants must be credentialed at the appropriate level for college instruction, generally meaning a terminal degree. We do accept candidates in the final stages of doctoral work. We especially encourage applications from Black and Indigenous educators, as well as educators of color.

Substantial teaching experience and experience working with diverse student groups are paramount. Experience mentoring, advising, or teaching in living-learning situations is an added bonus. These should feature prominently in the application, including in the letters of recommendation.

Visiting Faculty must be legally qualified to work in the United States of America. We regret that Tidelines Institute is not in the position to sponsor work visas.

Visiting Faculty must be able to pass a background check. In order to use Tidelines vehicles, Visiting Faculty must have a valid driver’s license and a clean driving record (no moving violations within the past year)

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Responsibilities

Each Visiting Instructor will conduct a twice-weekly class for six college-aged students participating in the 2023 Glacier Bay Year. Class time should comprise roughly 5-6 hours each week, though this may take many forms (whole group or partial-group discussions, field trips, labs, individual writing or research time, etc). This does not include time spent preparing for class. Each course runs for six weeks, including the final exam or assignment. 

Each Visiting Faculty member will propose two courses as part of their application process. Upon making an offer of employment, the hiring committee will select which of the courses the instructor will design and teach the following summer. We accept course proposals in any disciplinary or thematic area, though we give preference to proposals whose intellectual substance dovetails with the experiential components of the program, site-specific content, or any of the “big questions” faced by young adults. By way of example, this may include such diverse courses as “literature and the creation of the self”, “democracy in theory and action,” “field ecology of Southeast Alaska”, or “designing equitable education”. We highly encourage interdisciplinary courses, courses that give opportunities for student leadership and participation, and courses that involve both experience and experiment. Please note that neither your academic discipline nor your course proposals need focus on environmental studies. While all students engage regularly with our natural surroundings, we are not exclusively an environmental studies program!

All courses must adhere to the general standards for college material, though they must be accessible to students without any but the most basic prerequisites. (For example, it is appropriate to expect competency in algebra but not calculus. Though you may have students who are not native English speakers, you may expect fluency in written and spoken English). Students may opt to take the course for college credit, and for these students you must create an acceptable final evaluation and assign a final grade. These need not apply to other students.

As a member of the Tidelines community, we expect Visiting Faculty to participate in community life. Though faculty accommodations have a private kitchen, we suggest that faculty take at least ten meals each week with students, as some of the liveliest and richest conversations of the summer occur during mealtime. Because the program can at times be socially and emotionally demanding, Visiting Faculty who are adaptable, open-minded, and comfortable with communal living are typically best suited for this position. Visiting Faculty may also be called upon to serve as an informal mentor or advisor to students and should be prepared to serve in that capacity. Individual students may want to discuss course material over a cup of coffee or their future paths over a morning walk. We highly encourage mutual sharing of skills and interests between staff, faculty, and students. It can be beneficial to a full understanding of student life to participate in the morning labor rotations one or more times throughout the summer, though this is, of course, not required.

Administratively speaking, Visiting Faculty are responsible for attending a weekly Staff Meeting and a weekly Logistics Meeting, usually held over lunch. Visiting Faculty may also be asked to serve as the staff member on- call for one weekend in case of student emergencies. Otherwise, weekends are free.

As the teaching load is relatively light, these positions provide ample time and space for research and writing. Visiting Faculty are welcome to spend their spare time pursuing their scholarly work. 

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Compensation

Compensation is $5,000 for the two-credit class. Room, board, and up to $500 in travel expenses are also included in the compensation package, as is $200 to cover the cost of course materials. Room and board are also provided for the faculty member’s spouse/partner.

Faculty quarters in Gustavus vary based on availability and staff needs, so please inquire if you need further information. All faculty are housed a short drive or bike ride from campus, and are provided a vehicle for transportation. (Bikes may also be available.) Depending on your precise location, your home may or may not have cell service (AT&T generally works best in Gustavus.) You will have access to wifi.

Please contact us during the application process if you would like to bring your child/ren over the summer. We welcome children, but since not all housing options have sufficient space, it helps to know this well in advance!

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For Further Information:

Please visit tidelinesinstitute.org/employment or email the Curriculum Committee at [email protected].

How to apply:

The core of the application consists of the following materials, which we ask you to submit in a single PDF document:

1. Cover Letter, including:

Your reasons for seeking this position
Any experience teaching in a living-learning context, mentoring, advising, mediating conflicts, supporting student mental health, or working with young people in wilderness or residential contexts (e.g. as an RA, camp counselor, Outward Bound trip leader, etc.)
Any experience living or teaching in Alaska
A description of the type of students/classroom space you have the most experience instructing.
Your dates of availability

2. Curriculum Vitae

3. Course Proposals: suggest two courses that you would be excited to teach next summer, with a brief (1-3 sentence) description of each.

4. Draft Syllabus: for one of your three course proposals, please proved a tentative list of readings, assignments, and weekly schedule. This is meant to give us an idea of how the course would unfold over the course of the summer, and what kinds of texts you might draw on.

5. Statement of Teaching Philosophy

Applicants are also asked to furnish two letters of recommendation, due at the same time as the rest of the materials. Please have recommenders email their letters as PDF attachments to [email protected]