West Virginia University (WVU) seeks a visionary and enterprising leader to serve as the inaugural Director of the Institute for Policy Research and Public Affairs affiliated with Eberly College of Arts and Sciences and the John D. Rockefeller, Jr. School of Policy and Politics. This is a tenured faculty position at the rank of Professor or Associate Professor in the Eberly College. The Director will lead a new initiative to advance public policy and public affairs research and translational activities. This initiative is one of three divisions planned to be established within the Rockefeller School. The other two deal with academic programs and engaged learning and service. In addition to the duties outlined below, the Director would work closely with WVU leadership to help fully establish the Rockefeller School.
As Director, the successful applicant will support faculty and researchers across complementary disciplines to collaboratively build research capacity in public policy. They will strengthen related resources, build on expertise and research capabilities that currently exist across campus, increase externally sponsored research in social and public policy, as well as create partnerships with foundations, industry, government agencies and other universities. As part of this effort, the Director will be expected to recruit Research Fellows to work within the school. In addition to Departments affiliated with the Rockefeller School, Research Fellows may be recruited from within other WVU programs and external institutions and agencies. The Director will connect policy research to the teaching and outreach mission of the Rockefeller School and will report to the office of the Dean of the Eberly College. The Director will have a dedicated administrative assistant as well as support for graduate research students.
WVU is a comprehensive land grant university with approximately 30,000 students and is classified by the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education as a very high research (R1) Institution. The Rockefeller School of Policy and Politics currently consists of 21 tenured and tenure-track faculty and is affiliated with the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences.
The University community of Morgantown offers plentiful educational opportunities as well as recreational outlets, is within easy driving distance of Pittsburgh, PA, and is about 200 miles northwest of Washington, D.C.
West Virginia University, founded in 1867, has a long and rich history as a public, land grant institution. WVU encourages scholarship, offers high quality academic programs while serving the state of West Virginia and the nation. WVU is located in Morgantown, West Virginia, has been ranked as a #1 Small City in America, with divisional campuses in Charleston, Keyser, Martinsburg, and Montgomery. WVU is a Research University (Highest Research Activity) and ranks among the top 100 public universities in the nation, including a top 15 ranking in most affordable tuition for out-of-state students. WVU offers 184 degrees throughout the 15 colleges and schools within the university. Areas of specialty include STEM education, healthcare in Appalachia, shale gas utilization, radio astronomy, and forensics. There are more than 32,000 graduate and undergraduate students along with 190,000 alumni worldwide who are pioneering, passionate, innovative, tireless and caring.
