NAGT Executive Director

published Nov 14, 2018 8:51am
We seek an exceptional Executive Director to build on past successes and to provide strategic leadership to guide NAGT toward new opportunities for growth. The Executive Director is the public face of NAGT and maintains strong relationships with members, donors, federal agencies, and the leadership of associated organizations. The Executive Director is responsible for working closely with the association's elected leaders to advance NAGT's mission and ensure organizational sustainability.

Successful candidates should have the vision, creativity, experience, and skills needed to successfully guide the programmatic and management needs of the association. The Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College will support the Executive Director with services for NAGT operations, activities, programs, and leadership including communication and management services; website hosting, tools and support; financial management and membership, election, and donation services.

The Executive Director works closely with NAGT's elected and appointed leadership. The Director's responsibilities include:
  • Promotion of the association's mission and coordination of its major programs and functions for essential annual operations.
  • Management of an annual budget to ensure the long-term financial health of the organization.
NAGT offers extensive programming for its members and the broader community. The Executive Director performs his or her overall responsibilities to support the administration of these programs, including:
  • Professional development opportunities: the Earth Educators' Rendezvous, face-to-face and virtual workshops, webinars etc.
  • Publications: Journal of Geoscience Education, In the Trenches, Laboratory Manual in Physical Geology (co-published with AGI), and others.
  • The Teach the Earth website: A well-established set of web-based resources to support geoscience education and research.
  • Awards and scholarship programs
  • Sponsorship of community projects, meetings, and proposals
  • Regular communication with members
  • A presence at professional meetings such as the annual meetings of the Geological Society of America and the American Geophysical Union.

NAGT is a member-based organization and is supported by membership dues, revenue from programming and publications, donations, advertising and grants. The Executive Director position comes with 1-2 months of salary support. This time will be spread throughout the calendar year as needed. The incoming NAGT Executive Director would serve for a three-year term (August 1, 2019 to August 31, 2022) with the potential for renewal.


We anticipate that the Executive Director will have a background in the geosciences and/or geoscience education, but we are also interested in applicants with relevant experience from other settings. We are particularly interested in candidates with experience managing staff, building collaboration among multiple stakeholders, and an understanding of non-profit organization development and maintenance.

Applicants should submit a letter of application, a CV, and a list of at least three references below. Review of applications will begin on January 4, 2019. The position will remain open until filled. Please direct any questions about the position to the search committee co-chairs, David McConnell (damcconn@ncsu.edu) or Karen Viskupic (karenviskupic@boisestate.edu). To learn more about the position and find instructions to apply, visit the NAGT website.