[Jobs] director of research

Sun Dec 7 16:58:38 PST 2014

*CHAPIN HALL at the UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO *

*OPEN LEADERSHIP POSITION*

Title: Director of Research

Reports to: Bryan Samuels, Executive Director

*General Summary *
Chapin Hall Center for Children, an independent, not-for-profit, policy
research center affiliated with the University of Chicago, seeks a Director
of Research. The candidate selected for this position will be part of the
Chapin Hall leadership team and will report directly to the Executive
Director.

Chapin Hall pioneered strategies for collecting, linking, and analyzing
administrative data, and has also developed the analytic tools and systems
for monitoring child and youth outcomes. This work continues today, along
with a broad focus on building knowledge about critical systems and
influences on children that encompasses a range of data resources and
methods.

Chapin Hall researchers come from a variety of academic backgrounds and
employ a variety of research methods. Many have significant direct service
experience that informs and enriches their research. Others have worked in
federal and state government, service agencies, or policy research
organizations. Chapin Hall research staff collaborates frequently with
University of Chicago faculty members in a number of university departments
and professional schools. This breadth of experience provides Chapin Hall
with its distinctive blend of academic rigor and practical problem solving.
Researchers meet regularly with policymakers, agency directors,
philanthropic organizations, and community groups to assure that important
findings are placed directly in the hands of those who can best use them.
These partnerships often raise new questions for researchers and suggest
new areas of inquiry, leading us to delve deeper and reach further.

The Director of Research will work collaboratively with the Executive
Director and senior research and administrative leadership to ensure that
Chapin Hall remains on the forefront of best practice in research, data
analytics, translation, and impact, according to its mission and
reputation. This individual will provide leadership, support and guidance
for the Executive Director and research staff in ensuring that work and
products are consistent with Chapin Hall's standards of quality and rigor.

The Director of Research will also provide strategic leadership for Chapin
Hall's research agenda that continues to position Chapin Hall as an
innovative and competitive leader in child and family policy research. This
work will include identifying opportunities to leverage and/build upon
Chapin Hall's historical and existing research agenda, findings, assets,
and partnerships to impact international, national and state level
policymaking, as well as spearheading opportunities to lead research staff
in efforts to identify policy relevant research opportunities, design
research studies that relate to relevant policy contexts, and translate
Chapin Hall and external relevant interdisciplinary research into policy,
program and practice context(s).

Another key aspect of this role will be promoting collaboration between
Chapin Hall research and policy staff and University of Chicago faculty and
other leading researchers, including creation and management of an
affiliated faculty program to extend Chapin Hall's reach, reputation and
impact.

The Director of Research will also partner with supervisors of researchers
and Chapin Hall's human resources to ensure Chapin Hall retains and
recruits the talent needed to lead in child and family research. This work
will include supporting the development and high performance of research
staff and supporting the acquisition of talent needed to successfully carry
out Chapin Hall's research agenda.

The successful candidate will possess a high level awareness and experience
with interconnectedness of social science disciplines in applied research
on behalf of vulnerable youth and a strong experience or familiarity with
and appreciation of various disciplines and research methods.

Chapin Hall has an annual budget of $13M and employs approximately 110
staff. Geographically, Chapin Hall's work and reputation extends not only
through Chicago and Illinois, but also incorporates a national and
international presence. Our mission is to build knowledge that improves
policies and programs for vulnerable children and youth, families, and
their communities and is accomplished through the work of a staff of
researchers who are national and international authorities in their fields.
For more information about Chapin Hall, please see our website at
www.chapinhall.org.

*Essential Functions *
Works with the Executive Director and Chapin Hall senior research
leadership to:

Foster a commitment to the highest quality, relevant and innovative policy
research, including leading-edge study design and methodologies, and
interdisciplinary work.

   - Provide leadership, support and guidance for the Executive Director
   and research staff who supervise other researchers in ensuring that work
   and products are consistent with Chapin Hall's standards of quality and
   rigor.
   - Lead the development and support implementation of a transparent and
   consistent quality review process for Chapin Hall proposals, work,
   publications and products that includes clear standards for research design
   and methods as agreed upon by peers and serves to facilitate continuous
   organizational learning, working with research administration and human
   resources, as appropriate.
   - Spearhead opportunities to lead research staff in efforts to identify
   policy relevant research opportunities, design research studies that relate
   to relevant policy contexts, and translate Chapin Hall and external
   relevant interdisciplinary research into policy, program and practice
   context(s).

Provide strategic leadership for Chapin Hall's research agenda that ensures
Chapin Hall's position as an innovative and competitive leader in child and
family policy research.

   - Identify opportunities to leverage and/build upon Chapin Hall research
   agenda, findings, assets, and partnerships to impact international,
   national and state level policymaking.
   - Extend Chapin Hall's reach and impact by identifying key areas of
   policy research that are relevant and connected to local, state, national
   and international policy issues and contexts, and successfully identify and
   leverage Chapin Hall's assets to match those opportunities.
   - Where gaps exist, develop strategies to take advantage of those
   opportunities, including:
      - Building internal capacity to make Chapin Hall more competitive;
      and
      - Facilitating collaborations with external researchers.
   - Work closely with research staff and financial operations to promote a
   strong, balanced portfolio of research work both in terms of content and
   funding streams such that:
      - Strategic work in emerging areas is balanced with ongoing work to
      ensure stable, predictable sources of income: and
      - Funding vehicles are balanced to ensure a sustainable recovery rate.
   - Initiate, support and, promote the flow of information between
   principal investigators related to the pursuit of competitive
   opportunities.
      - Work closely with research technology team to ensure that
      technology assets and investments are aligned with Chapin Hall's research
      agenda.
   - Proactively forward and promote the full range of Chapin Hall's policy
   research agenda and findings.
      - Advance Chapin Hall's research in the national and international
      research community.
      - Promote collaboration between Chapin Hall research and policy
      staff, University of Chicago faculty, and other leading researchers,
      including creation and management of an affiliated faculty program to
      extend Chapin Hall's reach, reputation and impact.
   - Partner with supervisors of researchers and human resources to support
   the development and high performance of research staff.
      - Identify opportunities for collaboration and team building, as well
      as opportunities for interdisciplinary work.
      - Build a structure and support appropriate professional development
      opportunities for research staff, including:
         - Mentoring and coaching;
         - Goal setting;
         - Entrepreneurial skills;
         - Proposal development; and
         - Connections with funders, policy practitioners, research
         collaborators and other key stakeholders.
      - Foster a high performance culture and a rigorous and consistent
      approach to assessing performance, while working with supervisors to
      identify a clearly articulated career path for researchers.
      - Support an organizational approach to identifying and developing
      emerging research leaders, including leadership on the
promotions committee
      for existing research staff and as a Chapin Hall "talent scout,"
      identifying candidates for recruitment at all levels of research
to ensure
      alignment of talent and capacity with Chapin Hall's research agenda.
      -

*Qualifications *
Education
Ph.D. in public policy, social work, economics, sociology, or other social
science and related fields required.

Experience
A minimum of ten years of experience conceiving, developing and directing
policy relevant research studies required.

National standing as a leader in advancing policy research that informs
practice and policy focused on child and family outcomes required.

Experience partnering with key research, community, and policy stakeholders
in the development and carrying out of research studies and/or changes in
public policies required, including experience promoting interdisciplinary
research collaborations.

Experience with essential elements of the competitive grant process
required.

Experience supervising and mentoring research staff required.

Other Qualifications

Ability to align substantially independent research staff serving diverse
clients toward common goals required.

A deep understanding and appreciation for the domains of research, policy
and practice required.

Deep expertise in one or more social science disciplines and one or more
research methodologies, as well as experience in and an appreciation for
how research grounded in interdisciplinary collaboration and mixed methods
can more meaningfully impact systems and policies serving children and
families required.

Demonstrated success with integrating research with the work of high-level
policymaking, community, and foundation stakeholders required.

Flexibility, creativity, and the ability to contribute at both strategic
and tactical levels required.

Ability and desire to design and implement a plan for growing the research
capacity of Chapin Hall required.

Demonstrated success securing resources from government, foundation and
private organizations for research required.

Experience working in a collaborative research environment and demonstrated
success in managing and prioritizing the work of multiple levels of staff
working on multiple and complex research projects required.

A cover letter, resume, writing sample and reference contact information
are required to be considered for this position.

Pre-employment background checks are required for all Chapin Hall at the
University of Chicago positions.
____________________________________________
To express interest in our Director of Research opening, please visit
https://csschcc.sentrichr.com/, click on the "Job Openings" tab, and then
search for "Director of Research." Formal expressions of interest are
accepted online only.

-- 
Leora Lawton PhD
Executive Director
Berkeley Population Center
350K Barrows Hall
(of) 510-643-1270
(m) 510-928-7572
www.popcenter.berkeley.edu
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