Category: Volunteering

Join the Upper New Team: Become our first volunteer Managing Editor for our publication, The Upper New Review.

To find out more about us and the Managing Editor role, please keep reading.

The Upper New

The Upper New, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) educational literary nonprofit.  We are an ecological educational organization fostering ecological literacy and ecological stewardship at local and global scales.  Our first project (of many educational projects), launched in 2023, is The Upper New Review.

The Upper New Review

Fostering place-based creative works around the globe, The Upper New Review is an ecological literary arts hybrid digital multimedia publication focused on place-based expression of creativity in all its forms, wherever they occur on Earth.

The Upper New Review is a place-based socio-cultural archive for bioregionalism, ecological literacy, and sense of place, serving as a curated clearinghouse for expression, exploration, research, learning, design, and stewardship for the populations and communities of all watersheds of the world, exploring the Upper New River basin as our home and bioregion.  We hope our curation and publication  serves as an entry portal to a much deeper understanding of our relationships with the natural world and its ecological complexities.  

Our intention is to treat our publication, whatever forms it may take, as one subset of the open educational resources (OERs) we intend to give away to all teachers and lifelong learners, wherever they may exist in the biosphere.

We see The Upper New Review as one window in the local-global ecological schoolhouse The Upper New is  building over time.  Moving forward, 2024 and 2025 will be a “reboot and grow wisely” phase 2.0 for The Upper New Review.

Position Description: Volunteer Managing Editor

We are looking for a volunteer Managing Editor to manage daily operations for The Upper New Review, working closely with The Upper New founder (and Publisher of The Upper New Review) Dr. Benjamin Erlandson to steer the publication in the direction(s) it needs to move, as aligned with the ecological mission and vision of The Upper New, Inc.

To fill this Managing Editor role, we need someone with quite a bit of experience in the traditional and modern hybrid digital sectors of the literary arts industry.  We need someone autonomous, a self-starter with a “take charge” mentality who also understands how to dovetail progressive work into an existing decision cycle with an established company leadership team.

Moving forward, The Upper New Review intends to maintain appropriately flexible year-long submission windows for written works (prose and poetry), audiovisual works (visual arts, films/animations, audio recordings, performance art, interactive experiences), Research Narratives, Stewardship Stories, and proposals/pitches for various Upper New projects and initiatives that often cannot be easily categorized.

Maintaining a variety of channels of content acquisition, the Managing Editor will work with Upper New leadership to polish and maintain the protocols we are fine tuning to manage our highly selective review and publication process across these modalities, including our intention to treat all submitting and published creators as members of our lifelong ecological learning communities of practice.

Volunteer Managing Editor Responsibilities

• Manage all submission calls/opportunities across platforms used by The Upper New Review (e.g., Submittable, Duosuma, etc.)
• Manage reviewers and editors throughout the review/publication protocol as relevant for all incoming submissions
• Manage communication with submitters as relevant, throughout the publication process
• Manage drafting, editing, and publication of accepted works across all the digital platforms associated with The Upper New Review (e.g., Ghost, Vimeo, SoundCloud, Substack, etc.)
• Provide regular update reports to the publisher for leadership decision support
• Meet regularly with publisher for continued development of The Upper New Review
• Plan and execute digital publishing workflow solutions and initiatives for The Upper New website and digital ecosystem
• Assist The Upper New with producing intelligent, intentional outreach to creative individuals and groups across a variety of communication scenarios relevant to traditional and hybrid/digital publishing
• Work autonomously and with other members of the Upper New team to complete all assigned engagement projects in a timely manner
• Manage relationships with individuals and groups in service of improved digital publishing experiences for The Upper New
• Practice systems thinking and systems wisdom within any number of relevant communities of practice
• Engage as a lifelong learner
• Defy the disciplines

Experience

• 3-5 years experience as literary editor
• 3+ years experience as Managing Editor, preferably in a hybrid/digital publishing environment
• Experience planning and executing multimodal transdisciplinary publication projects preferred, but not required
• Proficiency with Google Workspace
• Proficiency with project management cloud systems (e.g. Trello, Notion, etc.)
• Proficiency with Submittable, Duosuma, and Chill Subs platforms (among others) for submission acquisition and management
• Proficiency with POINT or a similar team/people management platform
• Superb editing skills alongside written and verbal communication skills
• Proactive problem solving ability
• Excellent time management, organizational, and multitasking skills
• Proficient in SEO, performance metrics, and data analysis 
• Strong leadership skills
• Able to work independently and in relevant team structures
• Comfortable with remote/hybrid workflows and environments

Education

• BA in literary arts, journalism, marketing, communications, or similar field of study required
• MA/MFA in relevant field required (or provide evidence of equivalent experience)
• PhD in relevant field preferred

Apply: Volunteer Managing Editor

To apply for this position, please fill out our application form, hosted on Jotform.

Prior to applying, be prepared to answer the following questions:

• Why are you interested in joining The Upper New team to serve as volunteer Managing Editor of our publication?
• What draws you to be a part of the global mission and vision of The Upper New?
• Which elements of your previous editorial experiences do you think align you as the best person to serve as the Managing Editor of The Upper New Review?
• Please give us one or two examples of how you might “push the envelope” to expand the capabilities and sophistication of a hybrid digital multimedia publication to serve as a tool for increasing ecological literacy.

You will also need to include your current resume or CV as part of the application process.

Click or tap the button below to be sent to the form.

We look forward to receiving your application!