ISER Seeking New Director
July 26, 2021ISER is currently looking for a new director, who will coordinate research activities both within the institute and with other institutions and agencies, and will supervise a multi-disciplinary team consisting of 30 people, including faculty, administrative and research staff, and student researchers. ISER’s current director, Ralph Townsend, has announced that he will retire from the director’s role at the end of the 2021-22 academic year. He has been ISER director since 2016.
For 60 years, ISER has been producing research that helps people understand social and economic systems and supports informed public and private decision-making. The institute has a strong, multi-disciplinary group of faculty and research professionals, and is regularly called upon by state and federal legislators and policymakers to examine legislative and regulatory issues. In Alaska and around the circumpolar North, ISER is known for high-quality policy-oriented research in economic development, natural resource management, health, education and fiscal policy. ISER researchers are also fully engaged in Arctic policy research related to climate change and environment, energy, and rural sustainable development.
The ISER Director will coordinate research activities both within the institute and with other institutions and agencies, and will supervise a multi-disciplinary team consisting of 30 people, including faculty, administrative and research staff, and student researchers. The successful candidate’s current research agenda should add to or complement ISER’s focal research areas. In the director role, the institute expects the ISER Director to be recognized on and off campus as knowledgeable about Alaska public policy issues. A related expectation is the director facilitating ISER’s involvement in UAA’s new Master of Public Policy program. Most importantly, the director will work with institute researchers and staff to shape ISER’s future research agenda in the context of the rapid social, economic, and environmental change Alaska is currently experiencing.
Application deadline: September 24, 2021
Application review begins: September 27, 2021.
Expected start date: January 3, 2022.