Director, Online Professional Geosciences Education Program-COMET Director  

UCAR – Boulder, Colorado  

  

The COMET Program with UCAR Community Programs (UCP) at the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) in Boulder, Colorado, seeks an individual to assume responsibility for overall program leadership, strategy and implementation. This individual will manage all COMET-based budgets and staff resources and will serve as a UCAR senior manager and provide guidance and input to UCAR management. The COMET Program has a $5+ million annual budget with a staff of 32 consisting of meteorologists, educational designers, system and software engineers, administrative staff and multimedia specialists. 

  

The Director is responsible for providing leadership, strategy and direction for the program and ensuring that COMET educational and training products and services meet the needs of the program sponsors and the various communities it serves. The Director creates a positive and constructive relationship with sponsors, educators, scientists, U.S. and international partners, advisory groups and collaborating organizations in the UCAR, sponsor, and program user communities. In addition, this individual is responsible for securing and maintaining the Cooperative Agreement Award with NOAA every five years and ensuring the program meets the conditions of the award and any separate awards with sponsor agencies and organizations within and outside the conditions of the NOAA Cooperative Agreement Award.  

 

The Director works closely with federal agencies, foundations and international organizations to provide stable and appropriate funding for the program. The Director meets regularly with agency program leaders and senior executives and foundation leaders and will work with partners to write and fund proposals. The Director represents and delivers papers at national and international conferences that highlight the work and value of the COMET Program.  

 

The Director creates and sustains an environment where COMET management and staff provide service to the community through the activities of professional societies, service on professional committees, and the contribution of scientific and educational leadership through those activities. This individual is responsible for the oversight of day-to-day operations of the program to include 1) provision of residence and virtual blended courses, development and delivery of online modules and courses, maintaining and enhancing the capabilities of the MetEd Website, and providing education and training services and products for advancing science-based professional development and education services for weather and climate enterprise; 2) works closely with the senior management team to meet the previous responsibility and to maintain a positive and effective work environment; 3) defines and executes strategic and tactical plans that meet the needs of sponsors and user communities and provides effective management tools for defining and structuring day-to-day work priorities. Oversees staffing and other resource decisions. 

The Director is a senior manager within UCAR and has UCAR responsibilities, including attending UCAR senior management meetings, working within and promoting UCAR policies, and providing the UCAR Community Program Director with needed information and advice on policy and program matters. The Director fosters effective relations with other UCAR science, education, and outreach programs. 

 

The position requires a Ph.D. in geosciences and/or an Ed.D. in adult education with a strong emphasis on distance learning and e-learning, or equivalent combination of education and experience; plus 10 or more years of experience leading and managing a group or team of interdisciplinary staff that work with scientific/technical content and its application in operational or applied settings. 

 

The successful candidate must be an experienced leader who has proven record of:  

 

  • being decisive, fair, transparent, highly ethical, with a good sense of humor;  

  • creating and executing strategic plans and using these plans as effective management tools for guiding day-to-day operations and decision-making;  

  • working productively with the senior management team; and  

  • maintaining a positive and effective work environment and organizational approach where staff are empowered and thrive while also meeting established program goals, objectives and deadlines. 

 

The Director must have the ability to effectively gather, interpret and synthesize sponsor and user community input and guidance into implementation plans and provide the needed science and operational education products and services to maintain and sustain a relevant COMET Program with the strong support of and executive board of senior government agency executives. 

 

The successful candidate must also possess: 

 

  • Proven track record in successful proposal writing and securing funding for complex technical, educational and collaborative endeavors from government, foundation and private sources.  

  • Ability to plan, manage and oversee budgets and staff resources and lead multidisciplinary teams in both supervisory and collaborative capacities. 

  • Advanced knowledge, preferably with substantiated expertise, in geosciences with a strong background in the education and training of operational professionals within those fields and related areas of application. 

  • Fully knowledgeable about e-learning approaches and the application of educational and instructional technology to the training and education of adult learners at the post-secondary and graduate levels of education. 

  • An entrepreneurial vision of how distant learning and advanced web technologies and capabilities can complement and be used in conjunction with classroom and social learning environments to advance undergraduate and professional level education and training in meteorology, hydrology, climatology and the related geosciences. 

  • Strong oral and written communication skills along with strong interpersonal skills to strengthen and advance a program with broad support of the operational and academic meteorological and related communities to communicate scientific findings and applications to audiences of varying backgrounds and abilities. 

  • Ability to travel as needed. 

 

View detailed job description at http://ucarcareers.silkroad.com/. Initial consideration will be given to applications received prior 10/29/2012. Thereafter, applications will be reviewed on an as-needed basis. Apply online (reference tracking code #12181). We value diversity. AA/EOE