Assistant Professor of Forest and Natural Resource Policy

Overview

Assistant Professor of Forest and Natural Resource Policy, Northern Arizona University (School of Forestry). This is a 9-month, tenure-eligible appointment with responsibilities approximately 40-50% teaching, 40-50% research, and 10% service. The position is on-site with opportunities for remote work being rare. The anticipated start date is August 17, 2026.

The School of Forestry (SoF) has 21 faculty (tenure-, teaching- and research-track) administering an SAF-accredited Forestry BS degree plus an active graduate research program in forestry (including an online MF, an in-person MF, and MS and PhD degrees). The facility houses the School of Forestry, the Ecological Restoration Institute, Centennial Forest (education and research forest), and a unit of the USDA Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station.

• Teach in-person and online courses on the Flagstaff Mountain campus in support of undergraduate and graduate forestry programs.
• Teach a broad scope of forest and natural resource policy topics, including forest planning and management, natural resource leadership, leadership and the environment, human dimensions in forestry, social research methods, leadership and environmental problem solving, co-production and translation in natural resources, and social dimensions in forestry.
• Develop a productive, externally funded research program focused on challenges in forest and wildfire governance, community resilience in fire-prone and wildland-urban interface (WUI) landscapes, cross-boundary and multi-jurisdictional land management, and the social dimensions of forest, fire, and restoration policy in Arizona and the western United States.
• Advise graduate students (MF, MS, and PhD).
• Serve on committees in the School of Forestry, the College of Forestry, Environment, and Natural Sciences, and NAU.

• Ph.D. in forestry, social science, natural resource policy, or a closely related field by the start date.
• At least one degree in forestry or closely related natural resources field.
• A combination of related education, experience, and training may be used as an equivalent to the above minimum qualifications.

• Demonstrated experience of excellent teaching in undergraduate and graduate level courses, both online and in-person.
• Demonstrated proficiency in teaching pedagogy and diverse teaching methods.
• Demonstrated record of securing, or evidence of the potential to secure, external funding to support research.
• Evidence of a strong research foundation in the human dimensions of forestry, such as forest and wildfire governance, community resilience in fire-prone landscapes, cross-boundary and multi-jurisdictional land management, public perceptions and risk communication of forest management and wildfire, and natural resource policy design.
• Demonstrated or emerging capacity to lead a productive, externally funded research program addressing these challenges in Arizona and across the western United States.
• Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively with decision-makers and land management partners (e.g., local, state, or federal agencies, NGOs, private industry, and other natural resource management organizations) on real-world, applied projects, and to build and maintain strong relationships with federal, state, and tribal partners in support of policy-relevant research.

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