As part of implementing an updated Strategic Plan, ASLE has created a new appointed position in our leadership, a Sustainability Officer. We are also seeking a Professional Liaison Coordinator to succeed Heather Sullivan (thank you Heather)!
Both of these positions will begin immediately upon appointment. The deadline for applications is April 15, 2022.
If you are a member and would like to serve ASLE in one of these volunteer positions, please send a letter of application and a CV or resume, via email as PDF or Word attachments, to info@asle.org. Feel free to inquire if you have any questions about the offices, duties or statements; job descriptions are below.
Sustainability Officer (Term: 3 years)
Job Posting Sustainability Officer (PDF)
ASLE’s Strategic Plan, ratified by the organization’s EC in summer 2021, identified five priorities, one of which is sustainability broadly defined. We then designated or created positions within the leadership structure to carry out specific core functions of the organization. One of these new positions is the Sustainability Officer*. This is an appointed position, with a term of three years, renewable once upon the mutual agreement of ASLE leadership and the current Sustainability Officer.
Responsibilities Include:
- Serve on the Biennial Conference Committee.
- Work to reduce on-site impacts at biennial and regional conference.
- Work on reducing the carbon footprint from travel to ASLE Conferences, via virtual participation and other methods.
- Collaborate to provide instructional guidance for attendees regarding sustainability practices.
- Explore options for divestment from fossil fuels; carbon-free funding options; and impact investing and bring research and recommendations for EC consideration annually.
- Work to strengthen the financial sustainability of the Association via net zero or net positive budgeting for symposia and conferences, finding sponsors, and diversifying revenue sources.
- Draft grants, in collaboration with the Managing Director, to targeted funders identified by ASLE leadership for support of our strategic vision.
- Increase labor sustainability by developing tools to support current leadership and staff, and to ease transitions between incoming and outgoing officers.
- Participate in the EC officer’s retreat held in the spring of non-conference years.
- Attend and participate in the EC officer’s meeting held just before the biennial conference.
- Review the ASLE Strategic Plan, and work with officers to prioritize and implement the goals and action items related to sustainability of the Association.
The Sustainability Officer should have excellent organizational skills, and:
- Knowledge of sustainability principles and best practices
- Grant writing experience
- Experience with reviewing budgets and fundraising
* The Strategic Plan statement on Sustainability:
ASLE recognizes our responsibility to explore, develop, and model sustainable environmental, financial, and labor practices on behalf of our members and for the benefit of other academic professional organizations. ASLE recognizes that substantial member benefits come from conference participation and the ISLE journal, both of which have notable material impacts. ISLE has shifted to being an online only journal, as of 2021. ASLE already has a biennial conference model with an off-year virtual symposium, which is considered a best practice among peer organizations. As with the decision by the EC to move ASLE conferences to a LEED Platinum facility, future decisions should take into consideration environmental, financial, and labor sustainability.
Professional Liaison Coordinator (Term: 3 years)
Job Posting ASLE PLC (PDF)
The Professional Liaison Coordinator (PLC) serves an important public relations role for ASLE by managing our professional affiliations with a variety of other organizations in the field, as well as relations with various ASLE internal groups. This is an appointed position, with a term of three years, renewable once upon the mutual agreement of ASLE leadership and the current PLC.
The PLC needs to work consistently to make sure that ASLE’s obligations are being met in our formal relationships. This includes ensuring that panels at various non-ASLE conferences are properly submitted and chaired, as well as performing outreach to new groups, either directly or with the assistance of interested members who volunteer their services. ASLE’s Strategic Plan puts an emphasis on diversity, so ideally the PLC will have (or will be willing to cultivate) contacts from numerous organizations and disciplinary areas to ensure that ASLE meets this strategic initiative.
Responsibilities Include:
- Coordinates ASLE’s formal affiliations with other professional organizations, including but not limited to:
- Maintaining a list of current professional affiliated organizations and ASLE liaisons to each one, and updating the ASLE Managing Director and President when any changes occur to this list;
- Evaluating requests for new or continuing Affiliate organizations, including notifying organizations of their affiliate status, and requesting renewals according to the established schedule;
- Assuring that there is an active liaison for each of ASLE’s affiliated professional organizations;
- Working with affiliate liaisons and the Managing Director to maintain an up-to-date schedule of when affiliate conferences are held and when CFPs are generated;
- Working with affiliate liaisons to ensure there is a qualified chair person for each of the sessions that ASLE hosts at the affiliate organizations’ conferences;
- Working with the ASLE Executive Council and Officers, as well as the Diversity Coordinator, to identify new organizations for formal partnerships and affiliations, and pursuing these new affiliations by making appropriate contacts and completing any necessary paperwork or correspondence.
- Works with liaisons to ensure that any Calls for Papers, Manuscripts, or related items are generated and disseminated to the listserv and other outside sources and forwards them on to the Managing Director for posting to the web.
- Coordinates oversight of ASLE’s Interest Groups, including but not limited to:
- Maintaining a list of groups and group moderators and updating the ASLE Managing Director and President when any changes occur;
- Evaluating requests to form new Interest Groups;
- Assuring there is an active moderator or moderators for each Interest Group;
- Requesting brief yearly updates from moderators about interest group activity and any activity between interest groups and outside organizations, (such as ASLE-sponsored panels at other conferences).
- Attends the annual meetings of ASLE’s Executive Council. Although he/she is not a voting member, the PLC’s very active and ongoing work on behalf of the organization makes attending these annual meetings important for clear communication within the organization.
