Founding Academic Director, Summer Math Camp

Job Title: Founding Academic Director, Summer Math Camp

Opportunity Overview:

We are looking for passionate & energetic faculty leaders that want to spend time with mathematically extraordinary middle school students, introducing them to advanced concepts and the joy of problem solving and mathematical exploration. If you’ve always had a vision of what the perfect math camp could be, but have dreaded the time, complexity, and effort required to operationalize and execute a residential summer camp, this role is for you. The Academic Director will focus on the educational elements of the camp experience, with a dedicated team handling all of the operational elements, such as logistics, vendor contracts, HR, registration, financial aid, etc.

Who We Are: National Math Camps

We believe that math camps provide transformational experiences that deeply strengthen students' mathematical knowledge and identity. Many of today’s premier mathematicians and scientists point to their participation in math camps as a critical step in their mathematical journeys. It is in these immersive programs that they discovered the beauty and joy of mathematics in a tight-knit community of other “mathy” students and decided to pursue careers that push innovation in the STEM fields.

However, summer math camps in the U.S. today are oversubscribed - most selective camps receive applications from 2-10x more eligible students than they have space for. We want to make sure that all mathematically extraordinary students have the opportunity to attend rigorous math summer camps.

We are building a nonprofit organization to run a variety of math camps across the United States. Our goal is to make it easy for mathematicians to start their own camps by providing them with mentoring and support as well as a centralized support infrastructure to handle the operational aspects. This way mathematicians can focus on what they do best - inspiring and teaching young mathematicians. We believe that by removing these barriers, more mathematicians will participate in camps, leading to more seats for mathematically extraordinary students to fill.

Our first step will be to run two pilot camps for ages 11 - 14 in summer 2025, with each camp hosting two 2-week sessions of about 30 students each. In subsequent years, we hope to expand each camp to serve more students over more sessions, and to open additional camps for this age group and others.

We are currently part of Carina Initiatives, but expect to spin out into our own organization by the end of 2024.

The Role:

As the founding Academic Director for one of our pilot camps, you’ll have a unique opportunity to build your own camp while contributing to the development and refinement of our overall model and approach. From shaping the themes and curriculum to making final decisions on student admissions and faculty selection, you’ll have significant ownership of key elements without the burden of overseeing all administrative and operational tasks. Your primary focus will be on cultivating a vibrant community of extraordinary students and mathematicians, creating immersive, joyful, and transformational math experiences that prepare students to impact the frontiers of math and science. And you won’t be doing it alone - you’ll be part of a growing network of mathematicians that you can collaborate with and learn from.

What You’ll Do:

• Faculty Leadership: Train, mentor, and supervise camp faculty, ensuring a high-quality educational experience for all campers.
• Curriculum Development: Lead the development of the camp’s curriculum and pedagogical approach, balancing a diverse array of courses while defining and integrating signature academic elements.
• Cultural Stewardship: Define and cultivate the camp’s culture in partnership with the Camp Operations Director, fostering an inclusive and joyful community that encourages mathematical exploration.
• Teaching: Teach one class (or two sections of a shorter class) per week during camp.
• Student Selection: Participate in the student selection process, including contributing to the admissions test and making final decisions on which students to admit to your camp. You will not be responsible for leading the student selection process.
• Faculty Hiring: Contribute to the recruitment and selection of faculty, including making final decisions on which faculty to invite to your camp. You will not be responsible for leading the faculty hiring process.

What We’re Looking For:

• Advanced degree in mathematics or a closely related field, with PhD strongly preferred
• Significant mathematics teaching experience, particularly using an active learning approach
• A passion for mathematics and a vision for creating transformational experiences that expose students to math outside of the standard school curriculum and allow them to learn what it is like to be mathematicians through exploration and problem solving
• Strong leadership and mentorship skills, with the ability to inspire and guide both students and staff
• Experience teaching advanced K-12 students strongly preferred, ideally including some experience with 11 - 14 years olds
• Experience attending or working at a residential summer math program for K-12 students strongly preferred
• Experience training, mentoring, and/or supervising teaching assistants or instructors preferred
• Ability to foster a positive, inclusive, and dynamic camp environment that encourages collaboration, curiosity, and a love of learning
• Energy, enthusiasm, and a deep passion for working with young students

Logistics:

• We’re looking for someone who can commit to one of the options below for summer 2025. Please note that dates and locations are still tentative, and will be finalized by October.
  • 6/8 - 7/5 at a West Coast location
  • 7/13 - 8/9 at an East Coast location
• Due to the importance of the founding Academic Director role in establishing a new camp, we’re asking for a minimum commitment to participating in both the summers of 2025 and 2026. Please note that we expect each camp to run for six weeks in summer 2026.
• The stipend for the Academic Director position is $8,000 for the summer, plus room, board, and roundtrip travel. This includes the four weeks of camp, plus up to six additional days on-site (3-4 days immediately before and 1-2 days after camp.) We are willing to accommodate Academic Directors traveling with families or with specific housing requirements that prohibit them from utilizing the room & board benefits.
• We will also pay $50/hr for remote preparatory work taking place in the winter & spring (e.g., curriculum development, faculty hiring). We anticipate the additional time commitment required to be approximately 50 - 100 hours in total, with a high-degree of flexibility to accommodate schedules and working preferences.
• We’ll be hiring additional Academic Directors in the coming years, so we encourage you to apply even if the timing does not work for this summer!
• Not sure if you can commit to being an Academic Director? We are hiring additional faculty to teach at camps with commitments as little as one to two weeks.
• Please reach out to sarah[dot]trebatleder[at]carina[dot]fund with any questions!

Our Team So Far:

• John Murray is our Entrepreneur in Residence for this initiative. He is charged with the strategic design and execution of the program, including launching a new nonprofit organization to house the new camps and supporting infrastructure. John is himself a parent of mathematically talented daughters who have benefited greatly from the many resources that make up the math enrichment ecosystem. He has witnessed firsthand the transformative power that summer math programs have had on his children, and he is passionate about expanding these opportunities to serve more kids each year. John’s background in growth strategy, experiential design and nonprofit operations has prepared him well for this exciting challenge.
• Sarah Trebat-Leder is our Program Director. Sarah is leading the effort to design and launch new camps, including the recruitment of faculty and counselor staff. Sarah’s lifelong passion for mathematics and teaching, as well as her experience launching and working in the math enrichment experiences space, will be invaluable in this role. Most recently, Sarah served as the Director of Talent Strategy for AoPS, where she has held a number of key roles since joining in 2018.
• We are working closely with Carina Initiatives and the Polynera Fund on this effort. These well-respected organizations have a demonstrated commitment to increasing opportunities and improving outcomes for mathematically extraordinary students of all backgrounds.