Project Manager

Project Background:

This National Science Foundation-funded community-based participatory research project focuses on the use of government data by residents living in polluted areas to study health outcomes in their communities. Grounded in concepts of health equity and environmental justice, and working across the disciplines of environmental justice, science and technology studies and public health, this study seeks to empower residents in areas of Louisiana with a history of contested environmental health issues with analyses of existing government-collected health data to help answer community members’ questions about health and environment. In particular, this project may involve analyzing secondary data from government sources such as cancer registries and Medicaid databases. In addition to conducting quantitative data analyses, we will also iteratively workshop findings with residents of communities across Louisiana to refine analyses and generate additional hypotheses and directions for subsequent research. This iterative workshopping method enables community residents to guide the research and participate in the analyses and interpretation of publicly funded health data, thus making the research more relevant to their lives. The scientific information produced from these public workshops can be used by local residents to support their health claims towards regulatory and policy change.

The project, co-led by Dr. Barbara Allen, Dr. Alison Cohen, and Dr. Michelle Smith, and based at the Minority Health & Health Equity Research Center at Dillard University, a Historically Black College in New Orleans, will train undergraduate researchers as well as build on Dillard’s history of community-based research partnerships. In addition to working on this project, the postdoctoral scholar may also work on other applied epidemiology health equity projects at the Minority Health & Health Equity Research Center at Dillard University.

Position Summary:

We seek a highly organized project manager who will often be the public face of this community-based research project. The successful applicant will be comfortable working in and with diverse Louisiana communities and able to respectfully collaborate with community collaborators from across Louisiana. The project includes travel, meetings, and compensating many collaborators for their work. The project manager will be required to process payment requests within the Dillard University financial management system and maintain regular communication with Dillard’s staff in our Office of Sponsored Projects and with grant accountants. The successful applicant will also be able to collegially collaborate closely with project research staff including principal investigators, the lead research analyst, and Dillard undergraduate students, in addition to the duties and responsibilities listed below.

Required Documents:

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Ability to carry out administrative work in a university setting: grant budgeting, processing payments, conference organizing, scheduling meetings, etc.
• Communicating with project collaborators from institutional staff to community members and the media
• Professional writing (reports, press releases, public communications, grant reporting, etc.)
• Website design and maintenance
• Work with excel and google spreadsheets and similar organizational software
• Maintaining human subjects research certification in social/behavioral science
• Conference organizing
• Focus group facilitation
• Library research

Required Qualifications:

• Minimum of an Associate's. Bachelor's Preferred
• Fluency in oral and written English
• Computer skills using spreadsheets (e.g. Excel), Google Drive, word processing (e.g. MS Word)
• Excellent communication skills with diverse groups (university staff, researchers, undergraduates, community collaborators)
• Administrative experience ie processing payments, handling paperwork, scheduling meetings & events
• Residence in or near New Orleans, LA, or the ability and willingness to move to the area to work in person on the Dillard University campus as needed
• Willingness and ability to travel around Louisiana to meet with project collaborators (travel costs paid by project funding)
• Ability and willingness to learn new administrative, computer, and software systems such as internal Dillard University payment processing systems and contracting paperwork.
• Ability and willingness to complete human subjects ethics training per Dillard IRB requirements (time compensated)
• Collegial and collaborative approach to working in groups
• Valid drivers license and willingness to drive as needed

Preferred qualifications:

• Familiarity with and respectfulness of diverse communities across Louisiana
• Some knowledge of and/or familiarity with environmental justice issues especially in Louisiana

Environmental Conditions

General office conditions; moderate noise level.

Work Conditions

May require long hours sitting in front of a computer, and car travel for trips of several hours across Louisiana