Do you love helping people understand complex issues, encouraging change, and finding creative ways to make a real difference?

Thurston County's Stormwater Utility is seeking a dynamic, mid-career Communication and Outreach Specialist to assist with designing, developing, and deploying outreach campaigns and educational materials addressing some of the biggest sources of non-point pollution threatening the health of our lakes, streams, groundwater, and Puget Sound. This position works within the Education and Outreach II classification for the Resource Stewardship Water Resources Division.

We provide services, technical assistance, and information about stormwater management and related environmental impacts to a wide variety of stakeholders living and working in the County's unincorporated areas. We also collaborate regionally with other municipalities, partner organizations, community groups, and volunteers to leverage resources and meet shared goals.

Why you'll love it here

New fully funded PhD Studentship on 'Media Framing and Public Acceptance of Deep Geothermal Energy.'

This project examines media framing of geothermal energy and subsurface drilling and its impact on securing social license to operate, with a particular focus on digital and social media. With little known about the influence of media representations on people’s levels of knowledge and their perceptions of geothermal energy, this PhD offers an exciting opportunity to track the leading narratives around this emerging technology. The candidate will be able to shape the PhD studies but research questions are likely to include how risks and benefits are framed through text and imagery, and how different audiences interpret this. The research use eye-tracking technology to identify how messages are ‘read’ by receivers, and will open up new approaches for understanding the application of persuasion within current energy debates.