Museum Education Lead

Description

The Joseph Moore Museum, on the campus of Earlham College, seeks a creative, enthusiastic, and motivated educator to lead a revitalization of our educational programs and college student tour guide training program. The Museum Education Lead will strengthen our undergraduate interpreter training program to better prepare our undergraduate educators to teach confidently and update the delivery of our school programs to provide online learning options and ensure learner-centered experiences aligned with current best practices in informal education. As a natural history museum within a small liberal arts college of ~1,000 students, we provide professional museum training for undergraduates while simultaneously offering educational programming for PreK-12 and the public in a geographic area of high poverty and STEM education need.

The Lead will work with the museum director, collections manager, administrative assistant, student leaders, college faculty/staff, and community members to design and facilitate delivery of inquiry-based programs featuring our museum collections. Our programs cover a wide variety of topics ranging from biomedical science to Native American studies, with new programming planned for high school audiences. The Lead must be passionate about working with Earlham College students, providing sustained support for their growth as museum educators as part of their college learning experiences. This is a full time, 12 month, 3 year, grant-funded position supported by a part-time administrative assistant.

Primary Duties & Responsibilities

• Supervise, train and mentor Earlham College undergraduate student staff in outreach (i.e. interacting with the public through tours, events, and museum hosting during open hours). The majority of the Education Lead’s work is teaching and supporting students who engage with the community, though the Lead will also lead some programs. Tour guide training is a continuous process and will use methods from the National Association for Interpretation and Reflecting on Practice.
• Plan and implement community educational programs for the Joseph Moore Museum in line with the museum’s mission and vision, including designing, scheduling, staffing/leading, publicizing and promoting educational programming, including field trips that meet state standards throughout the school year and in summer. In fall 2020, programming will need to be both converted to virtual experiences and administered online.
• Plan and implement special events to connect Earlham community members with each other and the broader Wayne County community around topics of importance to science and society. Must be available on evenings and weekends to oversee events.
• Document, assess and report on community engagement to the Director. This includes keeping daily statistics on program attendance, student tour leader performance and diversity and inclusion practices.
• Build and maintain sustained relationships with teachers in the community and on campus.
• Assist with exhibits, including maintenance, refurbishment and design, ensuring a strong connection between outreach and the physical exhibits.

Experience & Qualifications

• Experience providing informal science education to children and youth
• A commitment to the field of museum education and an interest in continued study in pedagogical strategies and practices
• Ability to engage, challenge, and interest young people in the natural world
• Experience designing and implementing developmentally appropriate curricula
• Experience working in customer service roles, ideally in a museum or non-profit environment
• Experience in a supervisory role
• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail with a proven ability to manage multiple tasks and priorities, plan ahead, anticipate and articulate program needs
• Ability to problem-solve, be flexible, and imaginative
• Ability to work independently and as a team
• BS in biology/geology and/or education, or museum studies with an education focus, demonstrated college-level understanding of science
• Preferred: Masters degree, appropriate Indiana or Ohio teacher license, experience with Reflecting on Practice Program and/or NAI certification process

Application Instructions
Qualified applicants should send a letter of interest, resume, contact information for three references and a hyperlink to a 5-minute sample science education video for a single grade in the range of 3rd to 12th grade (specify grade level) all in a single pdf file to:

Human Resources Office
Earlham College
801 National Road West
Richmond, IN 47374-4095

Email: HR@earlham.edu

The application review begins immediately, and the search will remain open until the position is filled.