The position is for a physical geographer with preference for biogeography or some combination of biogeography and soils. Teaching responsibilities include introductory Physical Geography and upper-level courses in research specialty and related areas. Ability to use GIS applications in research and in advanced courses is also important.
At present we offer two bachelor’s degrees, a B.A. and a B.S. in Geography. We also offer two minors, a minor in Geography and a minor in Environmental Geography, as well as a Cartography Certificate and a program leading to certification for secondary education in Geography/Social Studies. With the support of the university administration and our colleagues in other departments, our department is submitting a proposal this fall for two new degree programs (B.S. Environmental Science and B.A. Environmental Studies). At present we do not offer a graduate degree within the department, but we are designing the new environmental degrees in anticipation of building a master’s level option within a couple of years after the bachelor’s degrees become available. It is also possible for faculty to sponsor graduate students through the multi-campus program in Marine, Estuarine and Environmental Science (MEES).
We have a cartography teaching laboratory equipped with about 20 Macintosh computers and a GIS/Remote Sensing teaching laboratory equipped with about 20 Windows NT computers. All of the machines in both labs were replaced in the summer of 2000. We also have additional space which will be available for use in research projects of both new and existing faculty in the department. We anticipate building additional environmental science and physical geography teaching labs to support the new degree programs and we are also working with the Baltimore Ecosystem Study to develop a proposal for the construction of an environmental sample processing lab that will be used for both teaching and research. We are hoping to expand our field offerings throughout the curriculum, including permanent monitoring sites in the Conservation and Environmental Research Area, a plot of land adjacent to the campus that has been set aside as a teaching landscape. We also plan to integrate active research projects into some of our curricular offerings, including the use of field monitoring sites established by the Baltimore Ecosystem Study within their primary research watershed, which extends from downtown Baltimore out along one of the main development corridors in Baltimore County.
The teaching load in our department is typically 4 or 5 classes per year, depending on class size, research activity, and external funding. The department is growing; we have just filled the first new faculty position added to our department in support of the environmental science program. In addition to the current search we hope to replace one of our human geographers who recently retired, and also to add two more environmental science faculty to the department, over the next two to three years.
UMBC, with a total student population of 10,000, has experienced exponential increases in externally funded research over the last 10 years, with an annual amount presently in excess of $60 million. In the most recent Carnegie classification of research universities, UMBC was included among the top group of 148 research universities categorized as "Doctoral/Research University - Extensive". Along with the research emphasis, our campus and our faculty have a strong commitment to excellence in teaching and to involving undergraduates in research wherever possible. Additional information may be found on the university's web page.
There are several emerging research opportunities that may be of particular
interest to prospective candidates.