RRI - CREST Senior Research Assistant II

About the role

Portland State University is Oregon’s most affordable public research university, located in the heart of one of America’s most dynamic cities. Our mission to “let knowledge serve the city” reflects our dedication to turning ideas into action — in Portland and around the world. The city is our campus, giving students unmatched access to career connections, a vibrant cultural scene and hands-on learning experiences with hundreds of community partners. More than 20,000 students from all backgrounds bring diverse perspectives to our classrooms and campus life, from the tree-lined Park Blocks to the bustling Urban Plaza and state-of-the-art science labs. We are proud of our world-class faculty, groundbreaking research and international reputation for excellence in sustainability, community engagement and innovation. The Regional Research Institute (RRI) in the School of Social Work conducts innovative research and program evaluation that addresses critical community issues. We work at the intersection of research, practice, training, and policy with local, state, regional, national, and international agencies and partners. The quality of our community-based participatory action work has gained us a national reputation.

Responsibilities

• Support RRI projects funded through federal grants, state agencies, city governments, and community partners.
• Work on various research and evaluation projects that change over time, primarily focused on conducting small to large scale surveys.
• Evaluate community-based behavioral healthcare.
• Develop measurement tools.
• Develop relationships with community partners.
• Work collaboratively on teams with other researchers and independently.

Qualifications

Minimum Qualifications

• Master’s Degree in social work, psychology, sociology, or related human services field.
• Expertise with MS Word, Excel, and Access; SPSS; Atlas.ti; Qualtrics.
• Knowledge and experience with the social service system, particularly substance abuse and mental health treatment.
• Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively on a team and with diverse, culturally-specific community agencies and partners.
• Experience implementing community-based research and evaluation projects.
• Demonstrated expertise with survey research methodology and implementation.

Preferred Qualifications

• Two years post-MSW in order to provide field placement supervision to social work students.
• Familiarity with southwestern Oregon behavioral health services.
• Familiarity with City of Portland government and experience working with the service areas and individual bureaus/offices.
• Experience working on research and evaluation projects through SAMHSA federal grants, Oregon Health Authority contracts, and City of Portland contracts.
• Expertise with door-to-door data collection in small, rural Oregon communities.
• Knowledge of arts education across the six Portland school districts.
• Experience writing federal grant proposals.
• Experience managing participant incentives.
• Ability to balance tasks across multiple projects at once.

Skills

• Technical: MS Word, Excel, Access; SPSS; Atlas.ti; Qualtrics; survey methodology; door-to-door data collection; federal grant proposal writing; participant incentive management; balancing multiple projects.
• Cultural competencies: create an environment that acknowledges, encourages, and celebrates differences; function and communicate effectively and respectfully within varying beliefs, behaviors, orientations, identities, and cultural backgrounds; seek opportunities to gain experience working and collaborating in diverse, multicultural, and inclusive settings with a willingness to change for continual improvement; adhere to PSU’s policies on Prohibited Discrimination & Harassment and the Professional Standards of Conduct.
• Environmental stewardship: contributes to a culture of environmental stewardship, practices resource conservation, and actively works toward achieving long-term sustainability goals.
• Professional standards: conduct oneself in a professional manner which maintains a safe, respectful, and productive environment for faculty, students, administrators, and staff in accordance with PSU Professional Standards of Conduct.

Pay

The starting annual salary for this position is $72,636 (at 1.0 FTE), but may be negotiated above this rate dependent upon years of related experience, applicable skills, knowledge and abilities, market parity, internal equity, and departmental budget approval.

Benefits

• 95% premium paid healthcare.
• Generous retirement and vacation package.
• Reduced tuition rates for employee, spouse or dependent at any Oregon University System schools.
• Refer to the total compensation calculator for the full value of the benefits package.

Schedule

• Position FTE: Variable 0.5 – 1.0 FTE, initially 1.0 FTE.
• Term of Service: 12 month.