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Grand Canyon University! One of Arizona's leading institutions of higher learning. Located in the Valley of Sun in the heart of Phoenix, Arizona, GCU is an institutionally accredited, private, nondenominational Christian University.

The Research Program Administrator supports Grand Canyon University's mission as a missional, Christ-centered institution by coordinating research and programming that advances Christian character formation and human flourishing. Situated within GCU's Canyon Center for Character Education (CCCE), this role manages faculty and student research initiatives, facilitates programming that deepens virtue literacy and faith integration, and contributes to the strategic alignment of Christian character education across GCU's colleges and community partnerships.

Through scholarly engagement, the Research Program Administrator helps GCU pursue its vision of cultivating Christ-like character rooted in faith, oriented by hope, and inspired to love, forming transformative leaders who pursue virtue through practiced wisdom for the common good.

Schedule: Mon-Fri, 8am to 5pm onsite
Location: GCU Main Campus

Benefits: Full benefits portfolio including tuition benefit

What You Will Do:

• Facilitate Christian Character Boot Camps for faculty and students to strengthen understanding of faith, hope, and love as foundations for Christ-like character development, as well as overarching concepts in character education and development.
• Design and deliver training experiences, resources, and reflection tools that promote virtue formation and moral imagination across curricular and co-curricular settings including the curation and expansion of library resources, journal access, and other scholarly or research databases.
• Coordinate strategic programming alignment across GCU's colleges to unify and amplify character education and research efforts including storytelling initiatives as well as the publication and dissemination of research findings (peer-reviewed, whitepapers, presentations, etc.) in coordination with GCU's Office of Research and Grants (ORG).
• Partner with Christian Character Champions (C3) to foster scholarly engagement, storytelling, and research initiatives in faith, character, and virtue.
• Support faculty and student research projects that advance CCCE's mission and contribute to the broader field of Christian character education.
• Lead the CCCE Research Grant Selection Committee, overseeing the full process from developing and publishing RFPs to reviewing, selecting, and managing funded proposals.
• Partner with the ORG to discover, recommend, and pursue targeted character and virtue grants in support of GCU's mission and larger grant initatives.
• Provide guidance and administrative oversight for project budgets, timelines, and deliverables in collaboration with the ORG.
• Collect and track key performance indicators (KPIs) aligned with CCCE's strategic plan and Kern Family Foundation grant obligations, ensuring timely and accurate reporting on outcomes related to curriculum integration, faculty engagement, research productivity, and program scalability.
• Coordinates assessment revisions and longitudinal impact tracking (EOCS, FEOCS, alumni/worldview surveys).
• Serve as a leader within the university research Pillar 4: Faith, Character, and Human Flourishing, coordinating university-wide data collection, tracking metrics, and reporting faculty and student scholarship outcomes in these areas.
• Maintain organized documentation and dashboards of CCCE research activities, publications, and engagement measures.
• Coordinate GCU's annual Christian Character Research Conference, coordinating logistics, speaker engagement, proposal review, and dissemination of scholarly outputs to strengthen CCCE's national profile.
• Explore and support the development of a new Christian Character Journal, collaborating with internal and external partners to establish editorial standards, submission processes, and publication strategy.
• Represent CCCE and GCU at conferences, events, and collaborative initiatives focused on Christian character education and human flourishing.
• Other duties as assigned.

What You Will Have:

• Master's degree in social sciences, theology, education, or related field from an accredited institution.
• Minimum of 3-years of experience teaching and/or administration in higher education.
• Some demonstrated record of scholarship preferred, including publications in peer reviewed journals and presentations at academic conferences
• Program evaluation experience preferred.
• Analytical and project/process management skills.
• Demonstrated excellent interpersonal and communication skills with the ability to collaborate and communicate complex information in a professional, academic manner with the university community, business partners, administration, and students.
• Must be able to successfully pass background checks.

Why work at GCU:

• Exceptional workplace benefits include medical, dental, vision, life and disability insurance, flexible spending accounts, a 401K savings plan
• Generous time off plan and 11 paid holidays
• Paid time off to volunteer in the community or at GCU sponsored events
• Free covered parking
• We also offer full-time employees, their spouses, and dependent children an Education Tuition Discount Program
• Free on-site gyms at all our office locations

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