Program and Alumni Coordinator

Position Summary
This position will be the glue that weaves the relationships between the logistics planning and the summer trip, between community partners and staff, between families and the organization, and between new students and the alumni network. This person will be involved in the full planning process for summer trips, will be a trip leader on the program, and will act as an organizer and support for the alumni network.
Starting: As soon as the right candidate is hired and able to start.
Application Timing: Initial deadline April 1. Open until position is filled.
Salary: $35,000 annual for full time work averaging 35hours/week.
Benefits: Contribution to health insurance, 30 paid vacation/personal days.
Location: Work from anywhere, travel required.
​Tenure: Position will be evaluated this December for continued employment.
To apply: Please send a resume and cover letter to Heather Foran at heather@fieldacademy.org explaining your interest in the position, relevant experience, three references, and anything else you’d like us to know to get a sense of who you are and what you are passionate about.

Organizational Background
In 2011, we started a school to make life and learning indistinguishable as we connect, engage, empower, and educate young people to create a more just and healthy world. Our format has been a summer program that brings together diverse groups of students from across the United States to learn about critical regional issues through relationships with communities, story-telling, and experiences. It’s worked really well and our alumni have resoundingly asked us make this opportunity available to more students. The five programs have explored Northern New England, Central Appalachia, and the Southwest. The sixth program will be based in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa this summer, studying food and justice. We have been a scrappy, small organization capable of resourcefulness on a tiny budget, funded mostly by grassroots appeal donations from hundreds of small donors and the support of one (amazing) family foundation.

Our experiment in education has grown into a web of relationships, anchored on the experience of transformative education, between over fifty alumni, numerous community partners, educators, donors, and families across the United States. Now, our three founders are transitioning to support the next generation of the Field Academy as leadership is handed to a new team of three staff, including a Program Director, a Director of Strategy and Development, and this position.

Position Details
The Program and Alumni Coordinator will ensure high quality and logistically smooth educational programs and create meaningful experiences for students and teachers by identifying and working with students to support them and their families in accessing the Field Academy program; supporting the logistics of the trip and building relationships with community partners; ensuring a culture of safety and risk management by supporting proper planning for student programming. Additionally, they will coordinate and empower the Field Academy alumni network to envision and enact their ideas, and to integrate them with current student programming. They will ensure continuity between program staff, community partners, current students, and alumni.

This position’s time may be spent as follows (with heavier priorities at different times of year)
  • 30% Alumni Network Coordination
  • 50% Student Program Support: Outreach, Recruitment, and Logistics
  • 20% Media and Communications
  • From June 25 until August 1, this position will be a summer trip leader with the 2019 Field Academy program.
RESPONSIBILITIES
Outreach, Recruitment and Access
  • Support accessibility for students - this may include working with students on packing list items, academic credit transfer needs, fundraising, and additional questions.
  • Act as a point of contact for students and families with the Field Academy that is responsive and builds trust and relationship.
  • Share feedback from recruitment and outreach conversations with staff to improve the program.
  • Coordinate outreach working group and delegate outreach tasks to Board of Trustees.
  • Revise, create, and distribute recruitment materials.
  • Coordinate student interview schedule and acceptances.  
  • Coordinate all pre-trip communications with students and families, in conjunction with the Program Director.
  • Support the Program Director in managing the financial aid pool and communicate with families about financial aid options.
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Trip Logistics and Community Partnership Development
  • In collaboration with the Program Director, coordinate all logistics for the summer program including: staff and student transportation to orientation/gateway city, transportation in the field, lodging reservations, activity booking and fees.  
  • Build and foster mutual relationships with community partners.
  • Maintain awareness of regional news, weather, and other pertinent safety information for all programs.
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Alumni Network Coordination
  • Organize working group calls for alumni to engage in.
  • Support the development of priority initiatives, as identified by alumni.
  • Continue to explore opportunities to integrate and centralize alumni voice at all levels of the Field Academy.
  • Act as a liaison between the alumni network and the current educational programs.
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Administration, Media and Communication
  • Assist Director of Strategy and Development with administrative work as needed.
  • Manage the Field Academy’s social media accounts.
  • Manage communications to the Field Academy’s email mailing list.
  • Manage website updates.
  • Coordinate trip updates from the field so that supporters and families can follow along with the trip.

Trip Leading
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The ideal candidate will:
  • Have strong self-awareness and communication skills.
  • Be organized and have strong attention to detail.
  • Have an understanding of power and privilege in the United States and be able to translate that into building relationships rooted in reciprocity and mutuality.
  • Love young people.
  • Have experience leading trips or participating in experiential education settings.  
  • Feel deep passion about social and environmental justice.
  • Enjoy working in an intensive team environment and have the ability to be self-directed and take initiative.
  • Possess strong decision-making skills and an ability to assess and manage risk while in a group.
  • Be able to work with Google Docs and Microsoft Suite of programs.
  • Have strong verbal and written skills.