Director of the STEM Accelerator

George Mason University - Fairfax, VA

Full-time - Mid Level

Hybrid - Fairfax, VA

Educational Services

About the position

The Director of the STEM Accelerator at George Mason University is responsible for leading innovative STEM education initiatives, mentoring faculty and students, and managing the Accelerator's programs and budgets. This role aims to enhance the quality of STEM education, improve student retention, and support graduates in their career paths or further education. The Director will also contribute to educational research and promote diversity, equity, and inclusion within the STEM community.

Responsibilities

• Represents the Accelerator for both university initiatives and public-facing communications and leads workshops to address the evolving landscape of science education.
• Creates, designs, recruits, and implements faculty development workshops connecting to any and all areas of STEM Education, including active learning, innovations in assessment, and inclusive pedagogy.
• Manages Accelerator meetings and administers Accelerator grants, ensuring timely completion of tasks and adherence to budget allocations.
• Ensures that grant proposals contain necessary line items such as personnel, travel, conference costs, equipment, and space renovations.
• Manages the Accelerator budget, ensuring expenditures are within budgeted allocations and reviews budgets with the College of Science.
• Pursues funding opportunities to increase the capacity of the Accelerator.
• Manages the Learning Assistants (LA) program and supervises individual faculty leaders.
• Directs workshops for faculty and student participants and advocates for funding to support the program.
• Coordinates the expansion of the program to other Colleges at Mason and leads efforts to assess and evaluate program effectiveness.
• Coordinates data collection and analysis regarding programs involving the community beyond Mason, such as FOCUS, Noyce, STEM Bridge, and Women Leaders in STEM.
• Leads and contributes to education research projects and mentors MS and PhD students in Discipline-based Educational Research (DBER).
• Coordinates with multiple committees and working groups within the College of Science, including Curriculum Committee and Faculty Matters Committee.
• Creates regular reports for the College of Science leadership and faculty and develops a vision to expand the Accelerator.

Requirements

• Master’s degree in a related field or equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Experience in budget administration (generally 5+ years).
• Experience teaching in higher education (typically 5+ years).
• Track record of successful grant administration and management.
• Current knowledge of STEM education research.
• Superior writing and oral communication skills.
• Ability to communicate with and manage diverse groups and individuals.
• Demonstrated commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Nice-to-haves

• Terminal degree in a related field.
• Experience teaching in higher education (typically 10+ years).
• Experience in full-time college-level administration (generally 5+ years).

Benefits

• Salary commensurate with education and experience.
• Hybrid work schedule.