Academic Technology Specialist

Description

The Academic Technology Specialist (ATS) collaborates with faculty and graduate students in the History Department at Stanford University, developing and deploying innovative technological solutions in support of research, pedagogy, and publication. The ideal candidate will have a record of innovation and creativity in making technology accessible, understandable, and appealing to an academic audience. The ATS must demonstrate a fundamental understanding of the ideas that form the foundation of instruction and research in History.

The ATS will have an office within the History department in order to assure proximity and availability to faculty, but will report to a manager in the Academic Technology Specialist Program (ATSP). The ATSP is part of Academic Computing, a unit of Stanford University Libraries and Academic Information Resources. Stanford's Academic Technology Specialists work in alignment with the University's commitment to excellence in education and its general vision to improve teaching, learning, and research by implementing and developing new technologies.

Responsibilities:

• The History ATS is expected to bring the leadership and technical expertise necessary to envision and execute exceptional, innovative projects. Within the History department this will involve innovations in pedagogy and research, and in the department's Web presence. This is a job for an historian with technical expertise and enthusiasm for digital methods. The ATS will move between independent work, one-on-one collaborations, and work in a laboratory setting at the Center for Spatial and Textual Analysis (cesta.stanford.edu).
• Though the nature of the collaborations will vary, the ATS is expected to research, analyze and evaluate potential projects; provide advice and consultation on technical matters relating to teaching and research; and design, develop and execute project plans in collaboration with faculty and graduate students. The type of work may range from data visualization and database work to web-based application development and publishing.
• Achieving the department's goals will often require the ATS to partner with other individuals, contractors, and other campus entities. To facilitate this, in addition to working with faculty and staff in History, the ATS will spend one day per week working with Library staff. This interaction outside of the department builds a second cohort for the ATS including fellow ATSes, bibliographers, map librarians, the Digital Library Systems and Services, archivists, research centers across campus, and the university IT group.
• The ATS may be asked to teach or co-teach classes in digital techniques and methods. Also integral to the work of the ATS is engaging professionally in related scholarship through publication and/or presentation of research.

Qualifications and Demonstrated Experience:

• An advanced Degree in History.
• A minimum of three years experience in academic computing, computer science or related field.
• Excellent Teaching, communication, and interpersonal skills.
• Impeccable oral and written communication skills.
• Experience teaching technology skills to novice computer users.
• Excellent time management skills.
• Demonstrated experience managing projects and a complex workload.
• A proven record of success in implementing technology projects.
• Demonstrated ability to establish effective, on-going relationships with varied levels of a diverse faculty, staff, and students.
• Demonstrated experience working in a collaborative research or teaching environment.
• Demonstrated ability to foster collaborations with other major humanities research groups.
• Expert knowledge of Windows and Macintosh environments.
• Expert knowledge of digital media formats and digital media management.
• Demonstrated work with HTML, CSS or web delivery tools like Wordpress, Drupal or Jekyll.
• Demonstrated experience with database systems (e.g. mysql, postgres, mongodb).
• Demonstrated applications of relevant programming/scripting languages (such as Python, Ruby, Javascript) and functional knowledge of UNIX.
• Experience with visualization tools ranging from GIS layers to Flash to Javascript graphics libraries.