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. Each Fellow will be locally based within their community and will report to Drs. DeMattia (DUML) and Cagle (Durham).

The NSOE Community Engagement Fellow in Durham will support conservation and education organizations in Durham NC that deal with the socio-economic realities of climate change on the urban areas. Realities such as increased storms, gentrification, water quality, changing economies, habitat degradation, and more. Durham NC is home to the DEEP Collaborative at the Nicholas School of the Environment which collaborates with an amazing group of conservation and education community partners: the Triangle Land Conservancy, Ellerbe Creek Watershed Association, Eno River Association, TreesDurham, Keep Durham Beautiful and many more. These non-profits have been on the forefront of urban conservation and education and never have enough time or personnel to dedicate time and employee attention towards all of their environmental projects. The CE Fellow at NSOE Durham campus 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 conservation and education. 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 global climate change affects NC’s urban communities, learn about the unique set of issues that urban non-profits face, and help those non-profits on a variety of projects.

Job responsibilities

Project management. The Durham CE Fellow’s main duties will be ensuring all the tasks and deliverables are completed for a variety of ongoing community engagement projects. A description of some (but not all) of the projects are: • The DEEP collaborative: The fellow will build the DEEP Collaborative and coordinate ways for NSOE students to engage with DEEP partners and other NSOE community collaborators. This work includes but is not limited to: maintaining regular communication with and newsletter updates for the DEEP Community, attending DEC anti-racism committee meetings and work in collaboration to offer two workshops and/or talks per semester for the DEEP Community, and supporting DEEP collaborators in ways that they identify. • 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 DEEP collaborators and NSOE CE Faculty to develop and manage projects for different NSOE students (Master Student projects, Undergraduate research projects). These research projects are in collaboration with DEEP organizations. • NSOE’s outreach and volunteer programs: These outreach programs include the Health & Environmental Scholars Program (formerly AHEAD, this is ESSP + HackBio) and ELEMENT (NSOE’s K-5 environmental mentoring program). Collaborators include NSOE Environmental Communication, Outreach, and Education Club, Durham Public Schools and DOC NC (Dedicated to Our Community of North Carolina, a Triangle-based non-profit).

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 NSOE Durham is an in-person job and the CE Fellow must reside in Durham 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.

Start date: May 1, 2023.

Qualifications: The Community Engagement Fellowship at NSOE Durham will have extensive knowledge of Duke’s NSOE Masters of Environmental Management program as well as experience working with conservation and education non-profits in Durham and surrounding areas. 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.

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