Research Assistant Professor, Center on Children, Families, and the Law

Research Assistant Professor
Center on Children, Families, and the Law
University of Nebraska-Lincoln

The UNL Center on Children, Families, and the Law (CCFL) provides an interdisciplinary, collaborative, and systemic approach to improve outcomes for children and families. This new research faculty position will join an existing team of three research faculty, including two industrial-organizational psychologists, to lead CCFL’s research and evaluation activities on three federal grants that all focus on improving and strengthening the national child welfare workforce. The three grant projects are as follows:

1. The Quality Improvement Center for Workforce Analytics (QIC-WA; qic-wa.org), which supports child welfare agencies to design, implement, and rigorously evaluate innovative workforce strategies and use data analytics to strengthen their workforce decision-making. On that project, the new position will conduct a range of activities, including designing and supporting the implementation of workforce strategies and interventions, providing direct technical assistance and capacity-building supports to selected child welfare agencies, developing products and tools for agency use, synthesizing on selected workforce topics to produce written products for a variety of research and professional audiences, and developing research journal articles for publication.
2. The National Adoption Competency Mental Health Training Initiative (NTI; https://adoptionsupport.org/nti/) aims to strengthen the capacity of the child welfare and mental health workforce to use adoption-competent, trauma-informed practices as they serve diverse populations. CCFL leads the project evaluation, which includes the design and execution of a variety of training evaluation activities.
3. The National Center for Adoption Competent Mental Health Services (https://bridges4mentalhealth.org/) is a new 5-year project on which CCFL leads the project evaluation, which includes a wide range of program evaluation activities designed to measure project progress and outcomes.

The selected candidate will work in a team environment to design and implement workforce interventions and conduct program evaluations of multiple workforce-related projects. Evaluation activities will include designing methodically rigorous and theoretically appropriate evaluations, collecting and managing data, using appropriate and diverse statistical analyses, and writing reports for interdisciplinary audiences, as policymakers, child welfare administrators, and researchers. The range of evaluation work includes implementation design and logic model/theory of change development through evaluation design including, experimental and quasi-experimental designs, data collection and measure development, and analysis and reporting. This position will also have opportunities to work with the existing team to provide consultation and technical assistance to agency leaders, work with the team to write grant proposals, present research results at national conferences, and publish the results of recently completed and ongoing applied research on a variety of workforce topics.

Proposed Salary: $80,000

Minimum Qualifications

• Ph.D. in psychology, sociology, research methods, program evaluation, or a closely related field.
• Strong self-motivation.
• Excellent critical thinking skills.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills.
• Skill in using statistical analysis packages such as SPSS, R, STATA, or SAS.
• Ability to work independently and in a collaborative team environment.
• Ability to adapt to new situations or changes in work plans.
• Ability to manage and balance the demands of multiple projects and deadlines.
• Willingness to travel, including occasional overnight stays.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience or graduate training in I-O psychology.
• Understanding of child welfare systems.
• Experience in the design and conduct of training evaluation.
• Experience using Qualtrics.

Lincoln, NE

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln is located in a vibrant and safe city of nearly 300,000 people that has many of the cultural and entertainment benefits of a much larger city, with the feel of a friendly Midwestern community. As the second-largest city in Nebraska, Lincoln provides sufficient outlets for a variety of interests. Venues such as the Lincoln Children’s Zoo, which is nationally ranked among other children’s zoos, and the Lincoln Children’s Museum provide opportunities for quality, family-oriented leisure. The Haymarket District, a historic section of downtown Lincoln, houses numerous restaurants, shops, and bars. Downtown Lincoln is home to the Pinnacle Bank Arena, the Haymarket Park baseball complex, and Memorial Stadium. Additionally, Lincoln has its own airport and over 300 miles of bike trails. Find more information about Lincoln using the links below.

• https://aboutlincoln.unl.edu/relocating-lincoln/
• https://aboutlincoln.unl.edu/
• https://go.unl.edu/connections

Application Process

Review of applications will begin June 10, 2024 and continue until the position is filled or the search is closed. To apply, go to https://employment.unl.edu, requisition F_240068. Click “Apply for this Job” and complete the faculty information form. Attach the following documents:

1. A letter of interest.
2. A curriculum vitae.
3. Names and contact information for references.

As an EO/AA employer, the University of Nebraska considers qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, ethnicity, national origin, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, disability, age, genetic information, veteran status, marital status, and/or political affiliation. See https://www.unl.edu/equity/notice-nondiscrimination.