January 13, 2008

Overview of Faculty/Director UWBG Position

1)POSITION TITLE: Professor, University of Washington, College of Forest Resources (CFR) and Director, University of Washington Botanic Gardens (UWBG). The Director will hold the title of the Orin and Althea Soest Chair in Urban Horticulture.

2)TYPE OF POSITION: Tenured, 9-month, state funded faculty position with two additional summer months of salary and 11 months of administrative supplement while serving as Director.

3)REQUIREMENTS: Disciplinary strengths in horticulture, arboriculture, botany, urban forestry, ecology, or related areas are desired. Looking for an energetic leader with a proven record in arboreta and/or botanic garden management. A passion to continue the transformation of the UWBG to world-class status is highly desirable. The applicant is expected to have attained the highest academic rank in his (her) field.

4)GENERAL DESCRIPTION: The successful candidate will serve as a full professor in CFR and Director of UWBG, reporting to the Dean of CFR. Executive management responsibilities include managing the physical, financial and personnel resources that fall under the purview of UWBG. The holder of this position must have strong organizational, people and planning skills as well as a demonstrated ability in both budget planning and private fund solicitation. The Director provides the leadership to build UWBG into a world-class research and outreach interdisciplinary center devoted to the sustainable management of urban ecosystems.

Concurrently, the Director provides leadership for maintaining and enhancing the plant collections at the Union Bay Natural Area, Union Bay Gardens, and the Washington Park Arboretum (WPA) locations in order to to enhance public appreciation for the aesthetic diversity of temperate plants, to educate the public about plants in urban landscapes, to conserve and diversify natural and cultivated plant taxa, and to cooperate with other institutions regionally, nationally and internationally.

The Director is responsible for supporting the following UWBG programs and activities and strategically improving their self-sustaining status through increased research, outreach, and gift income: (1) public and professional outreach programs, (2) research enhancing the broad theme of sustainable management of urban ecosystems, (3) broadening and enhancing existing programmatic themes by building collaborative working relationships with the horticultural, arboricultural, urban forestry, wildlife, ecology, water and other natural resource interests in urban and urbanizing regions of Washington State, (4) continuing to build on collaborative working relationships with other UW programs to enhance contributions to the UWBG’s broad mission in urban sustainability and the use of living plant collections in discovery, demonstration, and outreach, (5) working with the CFR Faculty Chair to develop academic programs and mentor faculty at the UWBG, and (6) overseeing the management of all UW-Seattle campus wetlands and shorelines.

In support of these duties, the Director necessarily assumes broad and primary responsibility for managing the facilities and plant collections of the UWBG, for building and maintaining productive relationships with support groups (e.g. Arboretum Foundation, Northwest Horticultural Society, Seattle Garden Club), community groups, professional associations, government agencies, Washington State University/King County Extension, Master Gardeners, and other UW units. The Director is responsible for working with the City of Seattle and the Arboretum Foundation on all matters related to the WPA and for shared oversight of the timely implementation of the WPA Master Plan. The Director plays an active role in fundraising, working in close cooperation with the support groups and foundations, CFR’s Development Office, and the Dean. The Director works in partnership with the City of Seattle’s Superintendent of Parks and Recreation on the management of the WPA; and is one of the College’s representatives to the Arboretum and Botanical Garden Committee.

Academic Instruction

The Director is expected to teach specialized seminars, distance-learning courses and graduate courses and supervise graduate and undergraduate research and chair graduate student committees. Due to the heavy administrative load, the Director is not expected to teach a large introductory undergraduate course.

Research

One of the principal responsibilities of the Director is to increase the funding base for research, outreach, and the maintenance and development of plant collections at both Union Bay and the WPA. The Director is expected to develop a research program of relevance to the UWBG’s strategic mission, as well as take an active role in facilitating the acquisition of gift funds for other UWBG research, facilities, and staff. The Director is responsible for coordinating all UWBG research and outreach programs to support the vision and mission of CFR and the UWBG.

Public and Professional Outreach

The Director is responsible for overseeing all professional and public outreach activities sponsored by the UWBG. These activities should be self-sustaining, and should enhance and expand the communication between CUH/UWBG and the appropriate external communities and stakeholders.

5)SIGNIFICANCE TO THE COLLEGE OF FOREST RESOURCES: CFR is committed to a vision of providing world-class programs focusing on the sustainability of environmental systems and natural resources. The sustainability of urban ecosystems is a key element of this vision. CFR will build on the solid horticultural, conservation, and restoration reputation of UWBG by continuing and broadening programs that include urban ecology, urban forestry, water, wildlife, ecological restoration and other environmental and natural resource issues. It is critical that the Director shares this vision and supports it in all management, planning and fundraising activities.

6)ORGANIZATION OF UWBG: UWBG is a unit of the CFR and consists of the Center for Urban Horticulture, the Washington Park Arboretum (woody plant collections), the Miller Horticultural Library, the Union Bay Natural Area, the Union Bay Gardens, the Hyde Herbarium, and the Rare Plant Care and Conservation Program (including the Miller Seed Vault). The Director provides oversight for all of these programs.