May 12, 2023
Website EdPlus at Arizona State University
Overview:
Action Lab at EdPlus at Arizona State University (ASU) is seeking an Associate Director to join and lead our dynamic, interdisciplinary research team of scholars. Action Lab is a learning laboratory inside EdPlus that provides key research findings to improve the ASU learning environment. EdPlus is a unit of the ASU Enterprise focused on the design and scalable delivery of digital teaching and learning models to increase student success and reduce barriers to achievement in higher education. We advance the economic, social, cultural, and overall health of the local, national, and international communities served by ASU.
Action Lab moves this all-encompassing EdPlus mission forward with our ability to conduct high-quality, rigorous scholarly research studies. With an emphasis on online learning, our predictive and evaluative analyses support student success and persistence. Action Lab works on transformational projects to increase the scale of learning through rigorous, multidisciplinary scholarly research committed to improving equity, inclusivity, and the quality of education for learners everywhere.
Action Lab conducts timely and actionable research that sits at the boundary between business-oriented and scholarly, publishable output. Our research is action and operationally-oriented, supporting and coordinating with university stakeholders, executives, leaders, designers, and thinkers to improve student learning and persistence and increase equity across the university. We center our efforts on a truly transdisciplinary approach creating and executing co-informing research for each project, that is, research resulting from multiple methodological perspectives.
Our currency for success is clear, accurate, and highly designed Action Lab reports. The quality of Action Lab reports, and our research findings, are vital to our success as a unit. These reports, from time to time, are strategically turned into formal conference proceedings and publications in top-tier academic journals. Another performance measure for Action Lab is our ability to present our findings to various audiences, including executive leadership, possible investors, other scholars, and news media outlets.
Description:
The Associate Director of Research will bring robust skills in two critical ways. The first critical element is the ability to oversee code development and statistical modeling by a team of researchers, to ensure that the highest standards are maintained for data analysis, robust modeling, and visualization in the R software environment. The ideal candidate would also know and leverage other coding languages or applications to support our research efforts and train the team. Along with being able to model data in various applications and support others conducting these efforts, knowledge of correct research methodology, ability to describe and defend research protocols, and a passion for improving and equalizing student learning and success across all demographic groups are vital to the success in this position. The Associate Director will review research models and findings with a focus on reliability of data, manage project research efforts to meet deadlines, identify and refine conceptual frameworks and models, support the creation of research findings, and ensure research reports are relatable and actionable to an executive audience. This leader will collaborate on research investigations to enhance tactical and strategic decision-making, improve the EdPlus portfolio through research on critical topics such as ASUOnline courses, promotion of student success and degree attainment, and increasing equity in representation and achievement for diverse populations.
The second critical aspect of this position is the ability to be an executive leader in Action Lab, train the team on processes and applications, robust analysis in R, general training in code development in R and other coding languages, and data modeling in transformative ways. Simultaneously, the ideal candidate would be a leader of leaders, set a pace for the production of work, mitigate challenges, set strategic research plans, and support the research operations, senior research team, and researchers in Action Lab as they develop technical and leadership skills in their portfolios. This requires the ability to set and articulate clear expectations, coordinate with researchers in the Action Lab and within other departments at ASU, work independently, facilitate team communications, define and assign research responsibilities and timelines, and coordinate with researchers to ensure all deadlines and quality controls are met. As a leader, the ideal candidate would be able to present findings to other executive leadership at ASU and beyond with clarity and conviction, rich understanding of the data, and provide just-in-time thought leadership on projects as they transform in real-time, all with passion for the Action Lab mission. This leader would provide seamless engagement with a diverse and talented team from both a methodological and analytical perspective.
The Associate Director of Research will be a part of the Action Lab executive leadership team and will provide input on the development of long-and short-range goals and objectives. They will represent the Action Lab on boards and committees, and foster cooperative working relationships with internal, national, and international researchers. Duties will be relatively balanced, from research oversight and research tactics to performing executive leadership tasks including driving excellence through high level strategy.
Essential Duties
- Supports the Executive Director in their mission to create rich co-informing data driven insights that combine qualitative and quantitative methods.
- Leads a best-in-class quantitative research team that aims to develop predictive and inferential models with the goal of clearly and transparently measuring how variables in the environment may be acting on outcomes.
- Finds ways to meaningfully weave qualitative findings into quantitative data to articulate robust co-informing research findings.
- Manipulates data from multiple sources for analysis through mastery of various software packages.
- Mentors and supports the quantitative research team in exploratory data analysis, generalized linear modeling, mixed modeling, path analysis, structural equation modeling, and nonlinear modeling.
- Prepares executive summaries and slide decks for the Executive Director of Action Lab.
- Coordinates research training programs and workshops for staff.
- Monitors progress of research initiatives.
- Executes comparative analyses to support executive-level decision-making and strategic planning.
- Collaborates with the Action Lab leadership team in the development of lab-wide communications, performs EDGE conversations and related performance management, training, and mentoring activities.
- Oversees the identification and prioritization of appropriate new research opportunities and development of teams to respond to targeted research initiatives.
- Consults with team members to identify strengths, challenges, and prospective options with the goal of executing the most swift and rigorous research plans.
- May supervise, train, and evaluate assigned staff from researchers to student workers.
- Other duties as assigned.
Minimum Qualifications
Bachelor’s degree in a field appropriate to the area of assignment AND seven (7) years of related administrative experience, which includes four (4) years of supervisory experience; OR, Eleven (11) years of related administrative experience, which includes four (4) years of supervisory experience; OR, Any equivalent combination of education and/or experience from which comparable knowledge, skills and abilities have been achieved. Employee must possess a valid US Driver’s license of the appropriate class and required endorsements throughout employment.
Desired Qualifications
Research Methodology: knowledge of correct research methodology, ability to scope and scale projects, and a passion for creating co-informing qualitative and quantitative protocols. Clear demonstrated knowledge of IRB and related data sharing agreements required per-research processes.
Technical Skills: extensive and demonstrable experience in exploratory data analysis, generalized linear modeling, mixed modeling, path analysis, structural equation modeling, and nonlinear modeling to denote a few. Additionally, they should be able to manipulate, transform, and clean data from multiple sources. Strong skills in data analysis, particularly in R, and knowledge of other coding languages or applications that support research efforts.
Leadership: strong ability to lead and train the team on processes and applications, robust analysis in various programs, R training, and data modeling in transformative ways. Strong demonstrated ability to present findings to executive leadership with clarity and defend research findings. Strong desire and creative ideas to move Action Lab goals/mission forward. Desire to lead and shape the team. Ability to clearly divide out tasks and manage workflow of others while allowing for creative freedom of the team.
Communication: effective communication skills to collaborate on research investigations, foster cooperative working relationships with internal, national, and international researchers, and present findings to various audiences, including executive leadership, possible investors, other scholars, and news media outlets.
Project Management: demonstrated ability to manage research project efforts to meet deadlines, identify and refine conceptual frameworks and models, support the creation of research findings, and ensure research reports are relatable and actionable to an executive audience.
Strategic Planning: demonstrated ability to provide thought leadership on projects as they transform in real-time, set strategic research plans, and support the research operations, senior research team, and researchers in Action Lab as they develop technical and leadership skills in their portfolios. Support the co-creation of Action Lab 1, 3, 5, and 10 year strategic plans.
Collaboration: demonstrated ability to coordinate with researchers in the Action Lab and within other departments at ASU, work independently, facilitate team communications, define and assign research responsibilities and timelines, and coordinate with researchers to ensure all deadlines and quality controls are met. Create and foster external research relationships that benefit Action Lab.
Mentoring: demonstrated ability to mentor and support the quantitative research team. Coordinate research training programs and workshops for staff. Lead with expertise on new ways of analyzing data.
Strategic Thinking: demonstrated ability to identify strengths, challenges, and prospective options with the goal of executing the most business-minded and rigorous research plans. Oversee the identification and prioritization of appropriate new research opportunities and the development of teams to respond to targeted research initiatives.
Higher Education: Clear experience within the higher education ecosystem. A visible publication record that highlights technical skills. Experience with online, flipped or hybrid learning environments at the undergraduate level. A record of teaching at the undergraduate level.
Experience: Beyond the described minimum qualifications, a demonstrated record of leadership in higher education, and a clear record that highlights more than ten years of experience as a principal investigator or lead researcher.
Grant Experience: A candidate that can demonstrate a record of authoring and procuring grant funding at the PI or co-PI level from philanthropic or other sources would be valuable to this role.
Deadline: May 25, 2023, 3:00PM AZ time
To apply for this job email your details to kevin.potts@asu.edu