School Programs Manager

Museum Curator II (NS)

The North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources (DNCR) enriches people's lives through education and stewardship of North Carolina's natural and cultural resources. DNCR manages over 100 locations across the state, including historic sites, museums, state parks, trails, aquariums, the North Carolina Zoo, the Library of North Carolina, the State Archives, the North Carolina Arts Council, the African American Heritage Commission, the American Indian Heritage Commission, the State Historic Preservation Office, the Office of State Archaeology, the Highway Historical Markers program, the North Carolina Land and Water Fund, and the Natural Heritage Program. These programs and places unite North Carolinians, create a shared identity, and provide common ground.

The North Carolina Zoo is growing, and it is an exciting time to join our team! We are looking for an enthusiastic School Programs Manager to develop and oversee the Zoo's School, Afterschool and Nature Play education programs. The primary purpose of this position is to develop innovative conservation education programs designed for audiences that work with or are a part of the formal education sector from preschool to university students and educators. These groups include teachers, preservice teachers, informal and environmental educators, public and private school children and homeschool groups, and children in afterschool programs (e.g., Boys and Girls Club and the Dream Center). The position collaborates across Zoo departments to advance the organization's mission and requires occasional weekend, evening, and holiday work.

Key Responsibilities:

• Oversees the Zoo's KidZone nature play space and related nature play programs, including preschool summer camps and educator workshops, while building and maintaining community partnerships with local afterschool organizations.
• In collaboration with their team, this position develops and maintains a formal education program (pre-K -12th grade onsite, offsite and virtual) and afterschool programs focused on conservation education.
• Responsible for marketing and updating the content of the Zoo's app and maintaining the Zoo's fleet of tablets.
• Trains, coaches/mentors, supervises, and evaluates a team of four full-time staff, up to 15 seasonal educators and the Zoo's Education Fellow in addition to volunteers and interns assigned to the Education section.
• Designs, delivers, and evaluates workshops that focus on a wide range of environmental and science topics (e.g., environmental education, conservation education, ecology, biology, nature play techniques and place-based learning techniques) to educators and community college/university students.
• Evaluates all school, library, Kidzone activities/pop-up programs, afterschool programs, and educator professional development workshops. Works with appropriate staff to update the experiences based off the feedback.

Position/Physical Requirements:

• Work schedule: Monday Friday, 8am 5pm
• Must be able to work weekends, holidays and after regular work shifts.
• This position is designated as Essential/Mandatory and is required to work adverse weather events and may be called to work special events.
• Required to participate in the zoo's occupational health program.
• Must have a valid driver's license issued from within the United States or be able to obtain one within 90 days of employment.
• Required to obtain Certified Interpretive Guide (CIG) training within one year of the hire date
• Must be able to work with computers and MS Office including MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook. Experience with video editing software a plus.
• Must possess good hearing and vision (including appropriate assistive technology), a loud and clear speaking voice, be able to safely move 30 pounds, and be able to get around the Zoo.

This position is deemed eligible for hybrid telework under DNCR's Telework Policy.

This position is located at:

4401 Zoo Parkway

Asheboro, NC 27205

Minimum Education and Experience:

Bachelor's degree in Art History, Biology, Botany, Conservation, Education, History or Zoology from an appropriately accredited institution

AND

four years of museum or related work,

OR

an equivalent combination of education and experience.