As part of a continuing commitment to building a culturally diverse intellectual community and advancing scholars from different backgrounds in higher education, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Carolina Postdoctoral Program for Faculty Diversity (CPPFD) is pleased to offer postdoctoral research appointments for a period of two years. The purpose of CPPFD is to develop scholars who can contribute to the diversity of the campus community for possible tenure track appointments at the University of North Carolina and other research universities. Postdoctoral scholars will be engaged full-time in research and may teach only one course per fiscal year. Applications for study in any discipline represented at the University are welcome. The School of Education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill strongly encourages candidates interested in learning analytics and student support in undergraduate STEM learning to apply.

Program Details:

The stipend is $50,000 per calendar year. Funds are available for research expenses, including travel. Interested applicants who will have completed their doctoral degree no later than July 1, 2021 and no earlier than July 1, 2016 are eligible to apply. The primary criterion for selection is evidence of scholarship potentially competitive for tenure track appointments at the University of North Carolina and other research universities. An important secondary criterion is the support of prospective departments. Preference will be given to individuals who are lawfully eligible to work in the United States. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill strongly encourages applications from individuals that have experience, background and/or scholarship that will contribute to the diversity of the campus community.

Position Details:

This position would expand on an ongoing collaboration of learning scientists in the School of Education and subject matter expert instructors in Biology, as well as members of the Quantitative Psychology department (see project synopsis). The team studies methods of using digital traces of student learning to predict academic achievement, and how methods to support students predicted to struggle can improve outcomes in undergraduate STEM contexts. The prospective postdoctoral scholar would build on the accruing body of scholarship and lead additional effort to examine issues of equity in the way models are developed and applied, and develop efforts to identify and support members of underrepresented groups in the STEM education pipeline. Aspirational output from this new line of scholarship might include:

• Promotion of equity as an equal goal to accuracy in the development of learning analytics solutions
• Advancements in the ways that digital traces of learning behaviors are understood differently in light of individual
learners’ context and characteristics
• Advancements in the design of intervention materials that afford more equitable support to students from different
demographic groups
• Instructional design insights that afford more equitable and inclusive learning experiences
• Other products that build upon the applicant’s emerging program of research

Application Process:

Interested applicants should apply online at https://research.unc.edu/carolinapostdocs/applicants/. Directions for the electronic submission are provided at the application site. For additional information about the CPPFD, please visit the program website at https://research.unc.edu/carolina-postdocs/about/. Questions may be directed to program coordinator, Jennifer Pruitt jennifer_pruitt@unc.edu in the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs. Questions pertaining to this specific call from the School of Education may be addressed to Matthew Bernacki (mlb@unc.edu) or Jeffrey A. Greene (jagreene@email.unc.edu).

The application deadline is 5:00PM EST November 16, 2020 with recommendations due no later than November 22, 2020.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, color, disability, gender, gender expression, gender identity, genetic information, race, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or status as a protected veteran.