Month: November 2014

Faculty Position: Documentation of Sites and Structures

Assistant or Associate Professor, Tenure-Track

Department of Social Sciences, Michigan Technological University

HAER drawing

The Department of Social Sciences at Michigan Technological University seeks a tenure-track faculty member specializing in Architectural History, Historic Preservation, or Public History to join an interdisciplinary social sciences faculty.

The Department of Social Sciences (http://www.mtu.edu/social-sciences/) offers undergraduate majors in history, anthropology, and social science. The department is also home to two graduate programs (Industrial Heritage & Archaeology and Environmental & Energy Policy), both of which offer MS and PhD degrees. The successful applicant will contribute to the graduate Industrial Archaeology program by teaching the documentation of structures and sites and should be familiar with HABS/HAER standards. Applicants must be able to teach in the undergraduate American history survey and demonstrate an ability to sustain graduate research activities through external funding. Candidates may come from fields such as architectural history, historic preservation, industrial history, history of technology, or American Studies as it relates to the built environment, and should have interests relating to any of the following areas: recording and preserving structures; industrial heritage; cultural resource management; the historic interface between industry and environment; or historic site development, interpretation, and management. This is a tenure-track position at the Assistant/Associate Professor level, beginning August 2015. Ph.D. in History, American Studies or relevant historical field expected at time of appointment.

Michigan Tech is a research university with 7,000 undergraduate and graduate students, and 120 undergraduate and graduate degrees. The University emphasizes interdisciplinary collaboration and international research partnerships, and prepares students to create a more sustainable world. Our goal is to attract world-class faculty to enrich the educational experience of our bright, motivated, and adventurous students. MTU is dedicated to the goal of building a culturally diverse faculty committed to teaching and working in a multicultural environment and strongly encourages applications from women and minorities. Michigan Tech is located on Lake Superior in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, and its community offers year-round recreational and cultural opportunities. Please consult the department webpage for more information: http://www.mtu.edu/social-sciences

Review of the applications will begin on January 15, 2015 and continue until the position is filled. Candidates should complete the online application at https://www.jobs.mtu.edu/postings/2371 and upload the following application materials:

  1. a cover letter
  2. a two-page statement describing teaching experience and research plans, and how you meet the requirements for this position and how you could contribute to an interdisciplinary social sciences department
  3. a curriculum vitae
  4. a recent publication
  5. contact information for three references (no letters of reference, please).

Complete job description is available at http://www.jobs.mtu.edu/postings/2371.

Inquiries may be sent to: Steven A. Walton, sawalton@mtu.edu or 906.487.3272.


Michigan Technological University is an Equal Opportunity Educational Institution/Equal Opportunity Employer, which includes providing equal opportunity for protected veterans and individuals with disabilities. Applications from women and minorities are highly encouraged by both the department and the institution. Michigan Tech acknowledges the importance of supporting dual career partners in attracting and retaining a quality workforce. Michigan Tech is committed to offering career exploration advice and assistance whenever feasible and appropriate at the University and in the local community. See www.dual.mtu.edu for additional information. Michigan Tech is an ADVANCE institution, one of a limited number of universities in receipt of NSF funds in support of our commitment to increase diversity and the participation and advancement of women in STEM.

 

Faculty Position: Social Sciences

Assistant Professor, Tenure-Track

Department of Social Sciences, Michigan Technological University

The Department of Social Sciences at Michigan Technological University invites applications for an Assistant Professor to join an interdisciplinary social sciences faculty. We seek a scholar specializing in environmental justice, industrial communities/deindustrialization, health, food systems, or gender. Candidates should be prepared to teach one or more courses that articulate with the undergraduate majors in Anthropology or Social Science. Applicants should also demonstrate how their research and teaching interests strengthen one of our graduate programs (MS and PhD) in either Industrial Heritage and Archaeology or Environmental and Energy Policy. A Ph.D. in Anthropology, Geography, Sociology, or a related interdisciplinary field is required by August 15, 2015.

The successful candidate will demonstrate a strong research record and agenda, as well as high potential for securing external funding. Teaching experience is strongly preferred. The teaching load is two courses per semester.

Michigan Tech is a research university (RU/H) with approximately 7,000 undergraduate and graduate students. Located minutes from Lake Superior in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, the Houghton/Hancock community offers year-round recreational and cultural opportunities. This environment, combined with a competitive compensation package, results in an excellent quality of life. Michigan Tech is an Equal Opportunity Educational Institution/Equal Opportunity Employer, which includes providing equal opportunity for protected veterans and individuals with disabilities. Michigan Tech acknowledges the importance of supporting dual career partners in attracting and retaining a quality workforce. See www.dual.mtu.edu for additional information.

Applications will be reviewed starting Jan 15, 2015. Full consideration will be given to applications received by that date. Interested candidates should complete the online application at http://www.jobs.mtu.edu/postings/2349 and upload required materials including: (1) a letter of interest, (2) Curriculum Vitae, (3) research statement, and (4) names and contact information for three to five references. Letters of reference will be requested for candidates making the short list.

Please direct inquiries to Richelle Winkler at rwinkler@mtu.edu or (906) 487-1886.

Anthropology Major Wins EPA Greater Research Opportunities Undergraduate Fellowship

Melissa Michaelson
Melissa Michaelson

Michigan Tech student Melissa Michaelson has been awarded two years of funding to complete her B.S. in anthropology through the EPA Greater Research Opportunities (GRO) Fellowship for Undergraduate Environmental Study. She has the honor of being one of only 34 awards given nationwide in this competition. In addition to funding her education for the final two years of her degree, Melissa will be placed in a paid summer internship at an EPA facility. She is focusing her degree in the area of environmental anthropology with the aim of doing senior thesis research on social and cultural barriers to a plastic free campus and community. Building on her experience designing a display of 600 plastic bottles collected from local trash bins to engage local community members in discussions about consumption patterns, Melissa continues to do community-engaged research in Dr. Richelle Winkler’s Communities and Research class. This year the class, funded by a separate EPA People, Prosperity and Planet grant, is creating a guidebook that former mining communities can use to evaluate the social and technical feasibility of using minewater for geothermal energy. Her sponsor for the EPA GRO Fellowship is Dr. Kari Henquinet.

Plastic Bottle Chains
Plastic Bottle Chains
Melissa Michaelson with plastic bottles.
Melissa Michaelson with plastic bottles.

Winkler (SS) and Meldrum (KRC) to Present on Minewater for Geothermal Energy in the Keweenaw

GreenEnergyLecturesFall2014Flyer 11.05Green Lecture Series:  Issues and Dialog – 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, November 20 at the MTU Forestry Building, Hesterberg Hall.

Dr. Richelle Winkler,  Assistant Professor of Sociology and Demography, Dept. of Social Sciences at Michigan Tech and Jay Meldrum, Michigan Tech’s Keweenaw Research Center will be presenting on “Using Mine Water for Geothermal Energy in the Keweenaw”

Billions of gallons of ‘warm’ water are stored in the mine workings that underlie much of the Keweenaw Peninsula. Michigan
Tech’s Keweenaw Research Center uses this water for geothermal heating and cooling. Could expanding mine water geothermal heating projects to local communities provide a sustainable, affordable, and community-centered source of local energy?

 

SS Talk: Seth DePasqual on “Where’s the Beach? Revisiting the Archaic Along Isle Royale’s Relict Nipissing Shoreline”

seth depasqual-112:00 noon on Friday, November 21th in AOB 201. 

Seth DePasqual, NPS Cultural Resource Manager for Isle Royale National Park, will be presenting on “Where’s the Beach? Revisiting the Archaic Along Isle Royale’s Relict Nipissing Shoreline”

His talk, “Where’s the Beach? Revisiting the Archaic along Isle Royale’s Relict Nipissing Shoreline,” presents current archaeological research at the Park focused on the relict Lake Superior shoreline dating to ~5000 BP, and will place the Relict Shoreline Survey Project within the context of the Park’s prehistory and known archaeological resources.

Langston to Present at FOLK Annual Meeting

LangstonNancy Langston, professor of environmental history and social sciences, will be speaking about the Binational Forum’s work in the Lake Superior Basin at the FOLK annual meeting on Wednesday, November 19th. Langston is a member of the Great Lakes Research Center and the Binational Forum.

The presentation will take place at the Portage Lake District Library at 6 p.m. Both the meeting and the presentation are open to the public. Refreshments will be served.

From Tech Today.

Houghton County Energy Plan Entered in National Competition

Houghton_County_Energy_PlanFour MTU graduate students have authored an energy plan for Houghton County, which is a quarter-finalist in the national competition for the Georgetown University Energy Prize of $5 million. The prize challenges participating communities to tap their imagination, creativity, and spirit of competition and work together with their local government and utilities toward a shared goal of reducing their consumption of gas and electricity.
Houghton County’s plan, which was submitted on November 10th, focuses on energy efficiency improvements driven by community outreach efforts. The authors were Brad Barnett, Edward Louie & Brent Burns, all graduate students in the Department of Social Sciences and Abhilash Kantamneni, a graduate student in the Department of Computer Science. Earlier drafts of the plan were reviewed by Professor Barry Solomon and Assistant Professor Richelle Winkler, and received significant community input through multiple public meetings. Winkler has also been a facilitator for the Houghton County Energy Efficiency Team (HEET), which is a community organization working with local utilities, public officials, and community organizations to help local residents save energy and reduce costs. There are currently 52 teams in the competition, and the winner will be announced in 2017.
For more information on HEET’s efforts, review the Houghton County energy plan, and to learn how you can get involved visit: http://houghtonenergyefficiency.com/

SS Talk: Laura Walikainen Rouleau on “Private Spaces in Public Places: Public Restrooms at the Turn of the Twentieth Century”

Walikainen Rouleau November 1412:00 noon on Friday, November 14th in AOB 201. 

Laura Walikainen Rouleau, Ph.D. will be presenting onPrivate Spaces in Public Places:  Public Restrooms at the Turn of the Twentieth Century”.

Abstract:  At the turn of the twentieth century, urbanization, industrialization, and immigration combined to draw Americans out of the private realm of the home and into public spaces. As more people spent long hours in public, they required spaces to cleanse, relieve, and clothe their bodies. In order to accommodate these bodies in public, several spaces emerged at the boundary of the public and the private.
The public restroom, as an example of these boundary spaces, was a site of confluence for issues of the body, space, and privacy in American society at the turn of the twentieth century. In order to become acceptable, these “public comfort stations” were designed to create a sense of privacy in public. This study interrogates the relationship between the physical and social construction of these sites by examining the materiality of these spaces, the bodies and activities that enlivened them, and the society that shaped them. Public restrooms were segregated by gender and race, and these spaces were “classed” as customers were often required to pay to use them. The design, creation, and regulation of these early restrooms reveal how privacy was experienced and defined at this moment of emergence.