The UCR Inland Empire Labor & Community Center, or IELCC (https://ielcc.ucr.edu/) invites applications for a Research Director. The initial appointment will be for a period of 1.5 years, with a possibility for reappointment contingent on funding. The center is administratively housed within the UCR College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (https://chass.ucr.edu/). The UCR IELCC strengthens and expands the labor movement and serves working people and their communities through advanced research, education, and strategic partnerships with workers, labor and community organizations, policymakers, tribal organizations, and the broader Inland Empire region. We place the empowerment and well-being of workers, their families, and their communities at the forefront of our curricula, community engagement, public programs, and publications. We focus attention on the unique socio-economic circumstances of the Inland Empire region, including large immigrant communities and Indigenous nations in the region. Our research offers innovative policy perspectives that support workers and their communities while our worker-centered approach advances the goals of fair working conditions, living wages, and climate, gender, and racial justice.
We seek a Research Director to oversee and carry out research and research-related fundraising and grant development for this center. With funding through the University of California Worker Rights Policy Initiative (WRPI), the James Irvine Foundation, and other grants, the center aims, in the next three years, to: build our capacity for research, policy analysis, and grant development that supports the work of unions and community organizations, and do so in ways that help to develop the next generation of community-based and engaged researchers and grant writers among undergraduate and graduate students and expand the research capacity of unions and community organizations. We work closely with the Inland Empire Labor Council and its member organizations as well as other labor and community organizations working for economic, social, and environmental justice.
The Research Director will report to the IELCC Program Director and is the senior, full-time person building and leading the center's research and research-related grant activities in collaboration with community partners, the IELCC Program Director and staff, IELCC faculty co-directors and faculty affiliates, as well as graduate and undergraduate student research assistants, and managing its dynamic and growing portfolio of research and research-related grant development. The Research Director is responsible for independent development and coordination of the following core areas:
Research
Working with the IELCC Program Director(s), Staff, Faculty co-directors, Community Advisory Committee, and other IELCC-affiliated faculty, the Research Director will oversee and help develop the center's quantitative and qualitative research, policy analysis, and research-related grant development and implementation, often in collaboration with community partners.
Fundraising
Planning, developing, and initiating strategies for generating resources and/or revenues to support the IELCC's research activities, including through fundraising, donor relations, and grant and contract proposals.
The Research Director is responsible for assisting and collaborating with the IELCC Program Director, faculty co-directors, and other relevant IELCC staff with the following other four areas related to the implementation of its research activities:
Research-related Public Relations
Oversight and implementation of all aspects of the center's research-related communications, including public research, policy, and grant presentations, and related web presence, social media presence, report review, and external relations.
Research-related Event Development and Coordination
Oversight and implementation of events related to the design, implementation, and/or dissemination of IELCC research, policy analysis, and/or related contracts and grants.
Research-related Administration and Financial Management
Assisting as needed in the management and reporting of the IELCC's research budgets, contracts, and grants related to research and/or policy analysis.
Research-related Center Management
Responsible for supervising and mentoring relevant staff involved in research, policy analysis, and/or research-related fundraising, and ensuring HR needs are met.
A reasonable salary range estimate for this position is $85,000 - $103,000. The posted UC academic salary scales set the minimum pay determined by rank and/or step at appointment. See the salary scale titled, Academic Coordinator Series - Fiscal Year for the salary range https://www.ucop.edu/academic-personnel-programs/_files/2023-24/july-2023-acad-salary-scales/t36-i.pdf, https://www.ucop.edu/academic-personnel-programs/_files/2023-24/july-2023-acad-salary-scales/t36-ii.pdf.
Qualified applicants must possess a Master's degree or higher (or an equivalent foreign degree) in social science, humanities, public administration, public policy, urban planning, labor studies, or related fields. Applications should demonstrate a minimum of two years of experience with increasing levels of responsibility in quantitative and/or qualitative research.
Complete applications must include: a cover letter of interest, an updated CV, a statement of contribution to diversity, and three to five professional letters of reference.
Review of applications will begin on March 15, 2024, and may continue until the position is filled. Applications received by March 15 will receive full consideration.
Unit: https://ielcc.ucr.edu/