Shire Jobs

Interpretation and Education Specialists at the Taft-Nicholson Center are supervised by educational and administrative staff, and are responsible for facilitating learning experiences for a variety of college and continuing education courses. Candidates should be prepared to immerse into the local flora and fauna, guide a range of educational experiences, including hikes, birdwatching tours, wildflower walks, canoe trips, field-based service projects, and driving tours, as well as on-campus events such as guided star-gazing and interpretive talks.Health and safety are paramount at the Center, particularly because of its long distance from hospitals, its high elevation, and a local population of grizzly bears. Education staff are expected to get certified in Wilderness First Aid and attend bear safety training (trainings provided for employees). Program OverviewAs an official extension of the University of Utah campus, the Taft-Nicholson Center in Centennial Valley, Montana, works to bridge the arts and humanities with the sciences by increasing environmental literacy, facilitating environmental awareness, and inspiring personal connection to nature and the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Students, teachers, artists, scientists, and community members participate in the Centers diverse educational programmingsharing their perspectives on the natural world and preparing themselves to create change in positive and meaningful ways.The Center hosts college classes at the undergraduate and graduate level, research fellowships, academic retreats, and symposia. The Center has a thriving artist in residence program, weekly community-based colloquia, and hosts non-profit meetings and community events.The Center serves to examine and explore the environment from a variety of perspectives, learning about a sense of place, of more fully inhabiting a specific place by knowing its ecology, its human and nonhuman histories, its cultural traditions, and its environmental challenges. Programming is designed to provide students and participants with a broad-based understanding of social, scientific, cultural, ethical, historical, communication, and literary perspectives with a focus on how these perspectives intersect with and influence each other and ultimately environmental and public policy, and integrating legal, industrial, and corporate concerns. For more information on the Center, please see: https://taft-nicholson.utah.edu/Living and CommunityThe campus is run by a small group of staff members who live on-site during the season. Rustic housing with private bedrooms and shared kitchen is provided. Meals are also provided in our dining hall when learners are on campus. Note that there is no mobile phone service, but high-speed fiber internet is provided.The Centennial Valley has a small community of local residents, including cattle ranchers and those who work at the Red Rocks Lakes National Wildlife Refuge (located next door to the Taft-Nicholson Center), the Nature Conservancy, and the local nonprofit Centennial Valley Association. Community-building is an important component of our work at the Taft-Nicholson Center, so all staff are expected to take part in various community events.