Director, Research and Center of Excellence
Cabrillo College is seeking an Director, Research and Center of Excellence who under direction manages, coordinates, provides strategic direction, and conducts research activities including regional Center of Excellence (COE) for regional Labor Market Research activities and collaborative projects. Engages in project and workflow management, performs and/or oversees others engaged in complex professional duties in designing, conducting, writing and presenting labor market and educational pathway research, assessment, and evaluation studies; writes complex queries, performs complex quantitative and qualitative analyses to analyze a variety of educational research questions; provides quality control for work products and deliverables; supports training and professional development of research staff; and performs related duties as assigned.
The Centers of Excellence (COE)
According to the Centers of Excellence website, “The Centers of Excellence for Labor Market Research are part of the Workforce and Economic Development Division. As grant-funded technical assistance providers, the nine Centers are located strategically across the state to study California’s regional economies. Our work supports the community colleges by providing customized data on high growth, emerging, and economically-critical industries and occupations.
COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS:
Salary:
Full-time administrative/management assignment (223-day work year), 12 months per year, Monday through Friday 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., with evenings and/or weekends as needed. Current eight-step schedule ranges from $114,632 to $161,299 per year. Salary placement is determined by documented education and experience. A doctoral stipend of $4,775 per year is provided to eligible employees. Position scheduled to begin as soon as possible, pending categorical funding and Governing Board ratification. Cabrillo is unable to sponsor work visas.
Benefits:
Cabrillo College currently provides a generous benefit stipend for employees plus dependents that employees apply towards benefit selections for medical, dental, vision (optional) life, and short-term/long-term disability insurance provided at a share of cost on a pretax basis, PERS Retirement and an employee assistance program (EAP). Depending on health plan selections, in many cases full-time employee net out-of-pocket for benefit premiums may be as low as $0.
Classified administrators are required to join the Public Employee’s Retirement System (PERS) and as such must contribute 8% of their monthly salary to PERS on a pre-tax basis. Please see the Benefits link on the HR webpage for more information.
Work-Life Balance:
This opportunity is a full-time assignment, 12 months per year. Cabrillo administrators enjoy a 223-day work schedule, which equates to an average of 18 self-selected non-work days, 19 set holidays, 3 individual responsibility days off annually, 12 days of sick leave accrue annually, 7 days of which can be used as Personal Necessity.
Cabrillo’s Commitment to Diversity:
The ideal candidate will share Cabrillo’s commitment to educating its racially and socioeconomically diverse student population. Cabrillo College serves approximately 11,400 students per term. In the Fall of 2021, 58% of Cabrillo students are members of minoritized populations, identifying themselves as LatinX (48%), Multi Ethnic (5%), Asian (2%), Black Non-Hispanic (1%), Filipino (1%), American Indian/Alaskan Native (<1%) and Pacific Islander (<1%). In 2006, Cabrillo College was designated a Hispanic-Serving Institution, reflecting the great responsibility that the College has to the educational attainment and economic well-being of the surrounding community.
Cabrillo College has a tradition of collegial governance, and employees at all levels possess a long history of participatory governance in all levels of decision-making at the college. Cabrillo provides an excellent opportunity to learn, collaborate, create, and make a difference in the lives of its students and community.
Examples of Duties
The duties listed below are intended only as illustrations of the various types of work that may be performed. The omission of specific statements of duties does not exclude them from the position if the work is similar, related or a logical assignment to this class.
- Oversees and plans, designs, organizes and conducts complex project management and research, assessment and evaluation studies on regional labor markets, enrollment and employment patterns, assessment of regional programs and services, and related topics; exercises project responsibility from conceptual design and problem definition/hypothesis development through to data collection, analysis, interpretation and findings; selects appropriate research design and methodology, collects and analyzes complex data sets, prepares narrative and statistical reports and develops presentations of research findings and results appropriate to various audiences.
- Plans, directs, and coordinates research and evaluation meetings and discussions of results across multiple educational agencies and industry clusters the region; serves as a lead research and evaluation consultant to regional collaboratives as assigned.
- Coordinates and participates in the development, maintenance, and utilization of data systems focused on student access, success, completion, and wage gains for regional educational institutions and other participating data sharing entities.
- Directs, develops, and writes complex programs and queries, using applicable programming languages, scripts and tools, to extract and aggregate/ segregate data for analysis; develops and maintains stored procedures and models to streamline analytical processes; maintains schemas; applies machine learning techniques to extract data for analysis and predictive modeling studies; designs, creates, maintains and supports custom self-service data dashboards to provide easy access to student enrollment and success data; develops and uses a variety of data visualization methods and software to simplify data analysis and better convey understanding of data and research results.
- Reviews and conducts univariate and multivariate statistics, complex statistical analyses of data from multiple sources including data warehouses and/or data marts, surveys, online data sources, studies, and reports from internal departments and external agencies for research projects and ad hoc data requests on a variety of issues; interprets research results and communicates findings and conclusions to audiences with varying levels of understanding and knowledge about research.
- Reviews and conducts survey research as required , including designing and administering surveys.
- Utilizes professional techniques and software, including Microsoft T-SQL and other data management and query software to develop, administer and maintain research databases and automated reporting systems; uses Excel and related software to facilitate the organization and presentation of data to meet reporting requirements; develops programs and queries participates in development of automated reports and data displays; partners with internal departments to ensure data integrity.
- Directs, manages the performance, and oversees the selection of assigned classified staff; establishes performance requirements and professional development targets for direct reports; regularly monitors performance and provides coaching for performance improvement and development including performance evaluations; accurate reporting of absence time; hears and acts on grievances; subject to concurrence by senior management and Human Resources, approves or takes disciplinary action, up to and including termination, to address performance deficiencies, in accordance with Board Policies, Administrative Procedures, Human Resources procedures and collective bargaining agreements.
- Provides day-to-day leadership and works with staff to ensure a high performance, service-oriented work environment; promotes workplace diversity, inclusion, cultural competency and a positive work environment.
- Provides support to reporting managers and/or administrators regarding disciplinary actions and grievances; approves related decisions.
- Facilitates dialogue on how to interpret results and use research findings in decision-making processes and in implementing new and modified programs, policies, practices and systems to effect desired changes in outcomes.
- Provides technical and analytical support decision making; prepares information and reports with accompanying statistical detail, descriptions of analytical methods used and narratives with findings and conclusions.
- Conducts meetings as appropriate to provide for effective coordination of activities and communication of new developments.
- Stays current on trends, developments and best practices in research.
OTHER DUTIES
- Generates and/or reviews data to meet a variety of mandated reporting requirements within established timeframes; trains staff of other departments and agencies to ensure accuracy in data reported and in data entry.
- Serves as lead researcher in representing the regional consortium at state and local meetings and presents a variety of research studies and topics at conferences.
- Demonstrates sensitivity to and understanding of diverse academic, socioeconomic, cultural, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation and ethnic backgrounds of community college students, faculty and staff.
- Performs related duties as assigned.
Minimum Qualifications
EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE
Any combination of experience and training that would likely provide the required knowledge and abilities is qualifying. A typical way to obtain the knowledge and abilities would be:
- Understanding of, and sensitivity to, the diverse academic, socio-economic, ethnic, religious, and cultural backgrounds, disability, and sexual orientation, of community college students, faculty and staff AND
- Graduation from an accredited four-year college or university with a degree in social science, statistics, data science, or a related discipline AND
- At least seven (7) years of progressively responsible experience conducting labor market, institutional, data science or social science research, preferably in a higher education setting; OR
- An equivalent combination of training and experience.
Desirable:
- Experience in teaching, curriculum development, and/or student support services.
KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES
Knowledge of:
- Principles, best practices, policies and trends applicable to the field of educational program development and assessment particularly as relevant to a community college environment.
- Advanced mastery of theories, principles, practices, methods and data analysis tools and technologies used in research.
- Data science principles, practices and methodologies.
- Statistical analysis methodologies and procedures including regression analysis and other methods using statistical research packages such as SPSS, Stata and R.
- Applicable technology software and tools and relevant query, scripting and programming languages.
- Data warehousing and relational database principles and methods.
- Principles and practices of survey development, design, and dissemination.
- Basic principles, tools and techniques of project planning and management.
- Data visualization and presentation software and tools.
- California Education Code and other federal, state and local rules, regulations and requirements applicable to the work.
- Customer relationship management and internal consulting concepts and practices.
- Principles and practices of Equal Employment Opportunity in hiring, retention, performance and advancement.
- Basic principles and practices of organizational improvement, equity and culture change.
- Safety policies and safe work practices applicable to the work being performed.
- Principles and practices of sound business communications, including correct English usage, grammar, spelling and punctuation.
Skills and Abilities to:
- Plan, organize, direct and evaluate the programs and activities of the office.
- Identify, investigate and define research questions, issues and problems and locate sources of relevant data to meet research needs and requirements.
- Develop, document and maintain research databases, models and information tools and reporting systems.
- Develop and enhance complex queries, scripts and stored procedures and processes using applicable technology programming and scripting languages and tools.
- Read, interpret, explain and apply pertinent laws, codes, rules, regulations and policies applicable to areas of responsibility.
- Present research findings clearly, logically and in a meaningful and understandable format appropriate to the audience and purpose.
- Prepare clear, concise and comprehensive reports and other documents in various formats.
- Define issues, analyze problems, evaluate alternatives and develop sound, independent conclusions and recommendations in accordance with social science research principles and applicable laws, regulations, rules and policies.
- Work collaboratively and partner with research staff, faculty and other internal and external stakeholders in developing and executing research projects and studies.
- Organize, set priorities and exercise expert, independent judgment within areas of responsibility.
- Develop and maintain an inclusive work environment that fosters diversity, respect and engagement.
- Develop and implement appropriate procedures and controls.
- Prepare clear, concise and comprehensive correspondence, reports, studies and other written materials.
- Operate a computer and standard business software including word processing, spreadsheet, database and presentation applications.
- Represent regional consortia effectively in dealings with the Chancellor’s Office and outside organizations.
- Communicate effectively, both orally and in writing.
- Understand, interpret, explain and apply applicable laws, codes and ordinances.
- Understand and follow written and oral instructions.
- Establish and maintain effective working relationships.
- Support an inclusive work environment that fosters diversity, respect and engagement.
LICENSES, CERTIFICATES AND OTHER REQUIREMENTS:
A valid California driver’s license or ability to access and use alternative transportation.