Environmental Education Manager

~ It's pretty simple; the Urban Ecology Center gets people outside. Okay, you're thinking, doing what? ~

On any given day you'll find: 

• Classes of students from local schools engaging in hands-on learning about science, nature and how to live more sustainably
• Community members using the array of resources we offer
• Adventure seekers borrowing our outdoor recreational equipment, climbing the rock-wall in Riverside Park or canoeing in the lagoon in Washington Park
• People just visiting the Center, its staff and lots of volunteers 

At the Urban Ecology Center's locations people make connections between new and old ideas, their behaviors and their impact, and, most of all, with each other.

Position Overview

The primary responsibilities of this full time position are to manage two of the Center’s core education programs: the Neighborhood Environmental Education Project for schools (NEEP) and summer environmental education programs (summer camps). Successful oversight of the school partnership program includes the professional development and coaching of the education staff; relationship cultivation with school district(s), principals and teachers; contract negotiations; scheduling; and data-driven program improvements.

The Environmental Education Manager also directs summer nature camps. This includes providing oversight and guidance to educators, developing summer programs that are responsive to customers, managing program and registration logistics, meeting state licensing requirements, scheduling staff, interns and volunteers and communicating with campers and parents. This position uses two event management systems, ServiceU and ActiveWorks, to plan, communicate and facilitate scheduling, summer program registration, family and internal communications.

Start Date: Mid August, 2018

Responsibilities

Neighborhood Environmental Education Project Administration:

• Attracts and retains school partnerships through sales skills, contract negotiations and strong customer service approach
• Embraces Urban Ecology Center’s teaching philosophy, the logic behind the Center’s approach, and continuous learning
• Builds and supports a strong relationship with partner schools at Riverside Park and supports Branch Managers in developing relationships with Washington Park and Menomonee Valley partnering schools
• Cultivate relationship with school liaisons, plans program development activities with school representatives and schedules NEEP programs for schools
• Supports Development Department in reviewing and writing grants and reports
• Reports key indicators of program impact to Senior Director of Education and Strategic Planning, including attendance, program evaluations, and liaison feedback
• Develops and manages NEEP schedule for all branches
• Hires, supervises, coaches, and evaluates environmental education staff
• Builds a professional development calendar, in collaboration with the EE team
• Provides professional development to EE team, reflecting strong EE pedagogy and current trends in EE and K-12 programming
• Works closely with the Senior Director of Education and Strategic Planning to provide professional development for all education staff
• Recruits, trains and oversees volunteers for NEEP
• Manages NEEP budget
• Serves as substitute teacher

Summer Camp Responsibilities:

• Schedules, develops and promotes summer camps
• Works with State of Wisconsin to ensure that all Summer Camps are in compliance with licensing rules
• Manages summer camp budget
• Manages summer camp registration, including all communication with summer camp families and processing scholarship requests
• Recruits summer campers to fill paid and scholarship openings, working closely with the marketing department on the summer camp marketing plan
• Coordinates scheduling, training and equipment for the summer programs
• Trains all summer camp staff from all branches and departments
• Recruits, trains and schedules summer camp volunteers
• Reports indicators of success to Senior Director of Education and Strategic Planning, including fill rates, attendance and program evaluation

Summer Intern Responsibilities:

• Hires and supervises 12-15 Summer Education Interns for Summer Camps
• Creates summer intern schedule, communicating with staff and interns
• Coordinates Summer Camp intern education training for all branches and departments
• Trains summer camp interns

Supervisory Responsibilities:

• Seven environmental educators, coaching additional educators at Menomonee Valley and Washington Park branches and volunteers

General Responsibilities:

• Trains staff and volunteers in driving 15-passenger buses
• Works with Sr. Director of Education and Strategic Planning to ensure that organizational vision and direction is shared with environmental education staff, and the feedback from the department staff is shared with leadership
• Coach and support environmental educators supervised by branch managers
• Support branch managers, as needed, in supervising environmental educators
• Ensures educators achieve a Commercial Driver’s license in a timely manner
• Assists with planning and conducting special events
• Attends and contributes to annual staff retreat
• Prepares and maintains teaching materials
• Assists with publicity for the Urban Ecology Center programs
• Assists with Center operations and other duties as assigned

Qualifications

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities Required:

Education/Training:

• BS or BA in education, natural sciences, environmental education or related area is required; advance degree preferred

Experience:

• Minimum of 5 years teaching experience in a formal or non-formal setting with a broad range of ages as well as experience managing or supervising educators or youth workers

Skills and Abilities:

• Excellent oral and written communication skills
• Database management, MS office experience
• Supervision and management experience
• Coaching and training skills
• Experience and competency in working with a culturally diverse team and audiences
• Strong analytical skills
• Attention to detail, highly organized
• Ability to meet driving requirements, including clean driving record, safe driver
• Ability to speak Spanish a plus
• Experience teaching urban youth

Working Conditions:

Job Conditions/Work Location:

• Much of the work is done at an office desk with frequent use of computers
• Occasional evening and weekend work is required, with reasonable advanced notice
• Some time is also spent outdoors training staff and students

Physical Requirements:

• Must be able to sit and type for long periods of time, hike outdoors with a 20 pound back pack, and paddle, belay, bike, and walk

Equipment Used:

• Computers, screens and keyboards, audio visual equipment, video conferencing, outdoor recreation equipment, vans, buses