Spectrum - Volume 17 Issue 33 June 1, 1995 - Coal Center seeking director

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including The Conductor , a special section of the Spectrum printed 4 times a year

Coal Center seeking director

By Susan Trulove

Spectrum Volume 17 Issue 33 - June 1, 1995

Research and Graduate Studies announces the search for a half-time director of the Virginia Center for Coal and Energy Research. The current director, John Randolph, is returning full-time to urban affairs and planning as department head.

The center was established in 1977 by the Virginia General Assembly as an "interdisciplinary study, research, information, and resource facility for the commonwealth." The center coordinates and conducts interdisciplinary research relating to coal and energy issues, including coal production, transport, and marketing; electric and natural gas production, transmission, and use; and energy efficiency and renewable energy.

"The center provides an important outreach function by providing service to state agencies and commissions, industry, and groups and individuals through studies, response to inquiries, and a publications program," says Randolph. "For example, the Virginia Coal and Energy Commission and the General Assembly often call on the center for special studies. The publication program currently includes a bi-monthly newsletter, an annual directory of the Virginia coal industry, and periodic research reports."

The center is funded by state appropriations through a line item in the Virginia Tech budget and by sponsored-research support.

The director position is half-time for a tenured Virginia Tech faculty member with a demonstrated research and public service record in coal, energy, resource economics, and/or resource policy fields. The director's other half time will be in his or her present position in an academic unit. The center may have a part-time associate director.

The director will be expected to provide leadership and manage the interdisciplinary coal and energy-related research and public-service missions of the center as defined by its legislative mandate and state-wide advisory board according to the position advertisement. The director will enhance and facilitate interdisciplinary coal and energy research and outreach by establishing working relationships with off-campus constituents, developing expertise networks, identifying funding opportunities, and by coordinating and encouraging interdisciplinary efforts to prepare proposals for external funding. Specifically, the director will work closely with relevant state agencies and commissions in helping them address technical, economic, and policy issues relating to coal and energy. For information dissemination, the director will establish guidelines and priorities for the publication and transfer of information to constituency groups.

Members of the university community are invited to submit nominations of candidates for this position. Applicants should submit a letter of application explaining their interest in and qualifications for this position, a curriculum vita, and names of three references to Ernest Stout, Associate Provost for Research, and chair, VCCER Director Search Committee.