Teaching Fellow at the Scontras Center for Labor and Community Education

The University of Southern Maine invites applications for the position of Teaching Fellow, Scontras Center for Labor and Community Education.

The University of Southern Maine’s Scontras Center for Labor and Community Education is a new, cutting-edge labor and community education/extension service that will offer labor education workshops, courses, certificate programs, trainings, symposia, and conferences that strengthen the community at work, facilitate workplace democracy and organization, and address inequalities of power and wealth in the wider society. The Center’s mission is to serve both existing members and leaders of unions and labor organizations and the broader Maine working class, including low-income workers and Maine’s thriving immigrant communities. The Center seeks to serve as a popular education and training hub for workers to develop the knowledge, skills and organizing capacity to be full participants in our democracy and the economy.

The Center will have a staff of four full-time staff by the end of 2023, including the Director, Teaching Fellow, Community Outreach Organizer, and an Administrative Specialist.

The Teaching Fellow will be the Center’s curriculum development leader, key teaching staff, and will work collaboratively with the Center’s Director and staff to fulfill the Center’s mission. The Teaching Fellow is a professional staff position but is designed to be similar to a faculty position in that the Fellow will have 16 weeks a year to focus exclusively on professional development and curriculum design, including the Fellow’s individual scholarship or applied research.

The Teaching Fellow has primary responsibility to deliver the core components of the Scontras Center curriculum such as certificate programs, special training sessions, workshops, and one academic courses as part of the USM undergraduate labor studies minor. In addition, the Teaching Fellow will be responsible for curriculum development, scholarship or applied research, professional development, outreaching and planning, and university service.

This is a full-time, grant funded professional position with an annual salary up to $70,000 commensurate with credentials and experience. The primary office is located on our Portland Campus with expectation of work/service on Gorham and Lewiston/Auburn Campuses. Online teaching will be part of the teaching fellow’s obligation.

The position has an expected start date of no later than September 1, 2023.

• A PhD in Labor Studies, U.S. Labor History, Labor and Employment Relations, or a related field (e.g. PhD in a social science or humanities field with a labor focus), OR a
• Masters Degree in Labor Studies or a related field and 8 years of relevant labor education experience.
• Experience designing, developing, facilitating, and recruiting for labor studies curriculum, and the capacity to develop popular labor education/extension programs, including programs targeted at union leadership, rank and file, and nonunion working-class people.
• Demonstrated record of working collaboratively in academic, union, and/or labor education/labor extension spaces.
• A commitment to help create a signature popular labor education program from the ground up.

You will create an applicant profile, complete an application, and upload a cover letter, a statement of your labor education teaching philosophy and approach that also describes your vision of labor education, and resume/curriculum vitae. Finalist candidates will be asked to provide a list of names and contact information for references.

We will examine candidate packages on an ongoing basis as they are submitted.

All required materials must be submitted by May 9, 2023.

We are not able to consider applicants who require Visa sponsorship support.

Appropriate background screening will be conducted for the successful candidate.

The University of Southern Maine is an EEO/AA employer and does not discriminate on the grounds of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, transgender status, gender expression, national origin, citizenship status, age, disability, genetic information, or veteran’s status in employment, education, and all other programs and activities.

For inquiries regarding non-discrimination policies: Office of Equal Opportunity, Room 101, Boudreau Hall, Orono, ME 04469, (207) 581-1226, TTY 711 (Maine Relay System)