SPA Lab Services Coordinator

Job Details

• Job
• Location:
  
  Twin Cities
• Job Family:
  Education
• Full/Part Time:
  Full-Time
• Regular/Temporary:
  Regular
• Job Code: 7312EN
• Employee Class:
  Civil Service

About the Department:
The School of Physics and Astronomy provides significant service to the University through the teaching of introductory physics courses. In a given academic year, approximately 4,000 students take a class from the School. There are approximately 170 physics and astrophysics majors that take upper division courses and 180 graduate students in the physics and astrophysics programs combined. There are 55 tenure/tenure-track faculty as well as a number of teaching faculty who are instrumental in the teaching mission of the School.

Approximately half of our graduate students also contribute to the teaching mission through teaching assistantships, which involves leading undergraduate labs. The person in this position will interface with staff, faculty, and TAs in support of the School's academic programs.

35% SPA Lab Services Coordinator

Prioritizes and leads the School of Physics and Astronomy educational programs and technology improvements through to successful execution, including managing budgets.

• Plans and implements educational programs for the School of Physics and Astronomy.
• Provide support to active classes and plan resources for upcoming semesters.
• Develops and tests educational materials, experiments and simulations for introductory Physics lab courses.
• Develops course content within the Canvas classroom management system.
• Admin for the 1000-level Canvas course sites.
• Oversee the content and pedagogy used in the SPA introductory curriculum.
• Develop training and instructor information for the SPA introductory curriculum.
• Collaborate with the School of Physics and Astronomy faculty to develop curriculum and online learning activities and tools.
• Develop segments of the School of Physics and Astronomy instructional labs based on sound instructional design principles that foster students and learning.
• Provide lab training to new faculty and graduate students.
• Provide expertise in the repair, modification and design of lab resources.
• Keep current with developments in the Physics education field and provide consultation about new pedagogical concepts and educational laboratory improvements.

40% Oversight on SPA Demo Services

• Develops strategy for continuous demonstration services.
• Plan technology improvements for the demonstration services through to successful execution, including managing budgets.
• Ensures resource availability for demonstration facilities.
• Keeps current with developments in the Physics education field and provides consultation about lecture demonstrations and other interactive learning ideas.
• Repairs and modifies electronic and mechanical equipment used to facilitate lecture demonstrations.
• Assist with providing demonstration services.

10% SPA Departmental Safety As Research Safety Officer (RSO) for the School of Physics and Astronomy, ensures that the 150+ experimental faculty, staff and students (both graduate and undergraduate) carry out their research in a safe and responsible manner.

• Serves as a liaison between the School of Physics and Astronomy and the Department of Environmental Health and Safety (DEHS).
• Answers general questions concerning the storage and removal of chemicals and chemical waste.
• Answers policy questions related to safety issues.
• Answers general safety questions.
• Coordinates with DEHS experts to formalize safety response to issues.
• Inspects research labs on a yearly basis to determine if they are compliant with current safety guidelines.
• Provide safety training to new faculty, graduate students, summer undergraduate researchers, and (on an annual basis) experimental researchers in general.
• Ensures that online safety training is completed.
• Tracks online training progress through the MyU system.
• Develops safety training workshops, modules and opportunities for implementation of an improved safety culture for the School of Physics and Astronomy.
• Facilitate and develop a culture of safety within SPA.

10% Supervision Supervise Education Program Associate 2

• Train and inform Education Program Associate 2 on lecture demonstrations that are complex or problematic to set up. Inform on unfamiliar mechanical equipment, electronics or procedures.
• Oversee the day-to-day demonstration requests to ensure availability and evaluate demonstration usage.
• Consult Education Program Associate 2 on university procedures and policy.
• Assist Education Program Associate 2 to hire, train, oversee and retain student workers for demonstration services.

5% SPA Other responsibilities Initiates special projects for outreach and classroom activities in consultation with the SPA faculty and CSE partners

• Mentors and orient TAs, students and volunteers for various outreach events.
• Plans and implements educational programs for the greater community through outreach events.
• Ensures resource availability for outreach events.
• Prioritizes and leads the…