Community Engagement Fellowship overview

This two-year endowed Fellowship was created as a way to enhance opportunities for authentic community engagement among the Nicholas School of the Environment and local conservation and education organizations. Because the Nicholas School of the Environment supports two campuses, one in Durham and the Marine Lab in coastal NC, each year there will be two fellows (one in Durham and one at the Duke Marine lab). Each Fellow will be locally based within their community and will report to Drs. DeMattia (DUML) and Cagle (Durham).

The NSOE Community Engagement Fellow at DUML will support organizations in rural, coastal NC with education and conservation missions that deal with the socio-economic realities of climate change on the coast. Realities such as increased storms, collapsing fisheries, sunny-day flooding, shoreline erosion, changing economies, habitat degradation, sea level rise, and more. Coastal NC is home to the Community Science Initiative at the Duke University Marine Lab which collaborates with an amazing group of conservation and education community partners: Carteret County Public Schools, the Boys and Girls Club of the Coastal Plain, NC Coastal Federation, Wildlife Resource Commission (WRC), Coastal Carolina Riverwatch, Rachel Carson Ecological Research Reserve, the National Park, Service, and the Core Sound Waterfowl Museum and Heritage Center. These non-profits have been on the forefront of climate-related disturbances of back-to-back hurricanes (Florence and Dorian) and increased sunny day flooding, compounded by COVID-19 and a dwindling workforce. As such, their capacity to dedicate time and employee attention towards new environmental projects is very difficult. The CE Fellow at the Duke Marine Lab will work with collaborators to provide staffing support for a variety of current conservation and education projects, and help connect these projects conceptually and organizationally to ensure their sum is greater than their parts in support of coastal community resilience. Support for these organizations can come in many forms and may include activities such as: conducting research, developing curriculum, designing new programs, recording and analyzing data, evaluating programs, creating online/social media content, writing and designing manuals/policy briefs, updating websites, designing software, and more. CE Fellows will recognize the complex nature of how sea level rise and global climate change affects NC’s coastal communities, learn about the unique set of issues that rural non-profits face, and help those non-profits on a variety of projects.

Job responsibilities

Project management. The CE Fellow’s main duties will be ensuring all the tasks and deliverables are completed for a variety of ongoing community projects. A description of some (but not all) of the projects are: ● A NC Sea Grant and Community Engaged Scholaship funded resilience education project creating and piloting a school-based nature and resiliency curriculum for middle and high school students that introduces students to resiliency concepts, facilitates community climate investigations, and supports student-led community engagement events. Collaborators include Carteret County Public Schools, NC State, NC Coastal Federation, and Durham Public Schools. ● A restoration and resilience: This project originated as part of a Bass Connections class where DUML students and faculty analyzed resilience connections across social, ecological, and educational disciplines and creating a template for community-based coastal restoration projects that increase coastal resiliency and restore biodiversity while attending to personal resilience related to environmental traumas. Current work focuses on working with commuity partners and pastors to understand how pastors and faith can help with resotration and resilience. Collaborators include NC Coastal Federation, local towns, the Carteret County Public School system, Creation Justice Ministries, and Duke Divinity School. ● A variety of Community Engagement Projects with local organizations: These CE projects are varied and are based on the needs of local conservation and education partners. The CE Fellow will work with collaborators and DUML Faculty to develop and manage projects for different DUML students (Master Student projects, Undergraduate research projects, and DukeEngage projects). These research projects are in collaboration with coastal conservation and education organizations. ● DUML CSI’s outreach and volunteer programs: These outreach programs include marine debris programs, water quality programs, resilience programs, STEM summer camps, Robotics programs, and more. Collaborators include Boys and Girls Club of the Coastal Plain, local towns, The Marine Robotics and Remote Sensing Laboratory, Carolina Riverwatch, and the Carteret County Public School system.

Evaluation Support The CE Fellow will also assist in evaluation of programs (with substantial support from supervising faculty at NSOE, DUML and NC State). This may include collecting and organizing survey data, completing and transcribing interviews and focus groups, or other evaluation-related tasks. In addition, the CE Fellow at the Duke Marine Lab will also work with the CE Fellow at NSOE in Durham to analyze and understand similarities and differences of doing CE work with rural and urban partners. Opportunities for publication of findings is likely. NOTE: CE fellows are funded for a two year cycle, and Fellows are expected to complete the full two years. Also the CE Fellow at the Duke Marine Lab is an in-person job and the Fellow must reside in Carteret County in order to work with community partners – this job is not eligible for remote work.

Compensation: The starting salary is commensurate with experience and is accompanied by Duke’s standard benefits package.

Qualifications:

The Community Engagement Fellowship at the Duke Marine Lab will have extensive knowledge of Duke’s NSOE Masters of Environmental Management program as well as experience working with the conservation and education non-profits in Carteret County and coastal NC.

Min Degree Requirements: Science related masters degree or terminal degree (e.g. Sc.D., M.D., D.V .M)

Other Requirements: Incumbent must be engaged in scientific research that requires a scientific leadership role, and not employed as a research staff member.

Preferred skills: MEM/CEM degree, MSc degree, project management experience, community engagement experience, non-profit work, and an ability to communicate complex topics in accessible language are key skills for this position. Experience in environmental education, teaching, research and evaluation, and project management are highly desirable. Skills in quantitative and qualitative research methods; experience using Adobe Creative Cloud software, including Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop; experience with Microsoft Office and Google suite of programs.

Duke University is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer committed to providing employment opportunity without regard to an individual's age, color, disability, gender, gender expression, gender identity, genetic information, national origin, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or veteran status.

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