Job Description

LEVEL: Senior - Subject Matter Expert

LOCATION: Arlington, VA

TYPE: Consultant/Contract

McColm & Company (McColm) is a mission-driven and customer-focused consulting firm that equips change makers with the knowledge, skills, and insights they need to succeed in an increasingly complex world. McColm specializes in supporting U.S. federal customers with internationally and thematically focused portfolios by managing bespoke professional training programs, delivering effective capacity building solutions, and providing highly specialized technical advisory and analysis expertise to decision makers.

McColm supports the Area Studies Division at the Foreign Service Institute of the U.S. Department of State by providing essential Area Studies training to State Department and USG personnel and contractors. McColm seeks a subject matter expert instructor to serve as the Central America Course Instructor.

Overview

The objective of the course is to provide area knowledge to prepare foreign affairs professionals to carry out their responsibilities working in or on Central America. Ability to also address Cuba and the Dominican Republic is a plus.

The purpose of the course is to provide participants with an understanding of the forces that have shaped modern Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama and continue to influence the course of each country’s development domestically and internationally, especially those issues that most affect relations with the United States. It reviews historical and cultural factors that have given rise to each country’s recent political and economic structure and explores the major social, economic, and political issues facing the nations today. It also provides an overview of each country’s government and economy as well as the present policies of the United States on the key issues in U.S.-bilateral relations. The seminar combines short lectures, class discussions, field trips, documentaries, and other participatory activities such as debates and oral presentation in class and is supported by readings.

Duties

The course runs multiple times throughout the year with some iterations run as 5-consecutive classroom days and others run as 5 non-consecutive classroom days. The successful candidate must be available to manage the course for the duration of the scheduled class time. The selected instructor may be called upon to deliver courses remotely or in person at FSI.

The responsibilities of the Course Instructor include, but are not necessarily limited to, the following duties:

• Manage, organize, and conduct the course remotely or in person as required by the customer.
• Ensure course delivery adheres to Area Studies instructional design and delivery pillars and is responsive to technical guidance from the Area Studies Chair and Leadership.
• Ensure course materials use FSI provided templates and branding formats for a consistent classroom experience across the Division.
• Make substantive lecture presentations remotely/online as part of the course in the areas of their own expertise and be prepared to substitute for any scheduled speaker or other activity in the event unforeseen circumstances prevent that speaker/activity from being presented as scheduled.
• Introduce guest lecturers, lead class discussion, and present study materials.
• Deliver the course using a variety of dynamic facilitation and instruction techniques that will ensure effective learning in an online classroom environment, such as presentations, facilitated class discussions, group exercises, and self-study and reading materials and other teaching methodologies, as appropriate.
• Identify qualified guest speakers from the government, academic, diplomatic and business fields, as appropriate, for approval by the Chair. Manage and invite guest speakers to whom an honorarium may be paid.
• Ensure that course materials, including power point presentations, are well maintained with up-to-date information prior to each course delivery.
• Meet with the Area Studies Chair as required – typically twice per delivery – once for planning and once to undertake an after-action review of the most recent courses and discuss course planning and revisions. This meeting may take place in person at FSI or remotely, according to the needs of the Chair.
• Coordinate with the Area Studies support staff to ensure that the online classroom has been set up and adequately programmed/resourced.
• Ensure that the course evaluations are electronically distributed by the Program Coordinator and encourage students to complete the evaluations.

Requirements

• PhD preferred; Master's degree required.
• Evidence of experience with instructional design, professional training or academic teaching and delivery of engaging training for experienced, adult learners, including demonstrated evidence of dynamic and interactive instruction approaches and capabilities. Experience designing and delivering online courses is an advantage.
• Evidence of substantive expertise and recognition as an expert on the country or region, as evidenced by past teaching or professional training experience, university instruction, published works, media appearances, or similar.
• Ability to work independently, under deadline pressure, with diverse teams, and effectively liaise with multiple State Department and USG personnel for course inputs.
• Ability to provide print-ready course materials that are free of grammatical errors and contain consistent formatting, using FSI provided templates.
• Must be available to fulfill pre-established course schedule according to FSI requirements.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office – including PowerPoint, Word, and Excel.
• Advanced familiarity with online/remote learning platforms - specifically Zoom.
• Fluent English required; fluency in local language is desirable.

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