Research Assistant Professor

Research Assistant Professor in the College of Social Work’s Social Research Institute (SRI)

Salt Lake City, UT

Reqid: PRN01589CF

Job Type: Faculty

Position Information

Proposed Faculty Rank Research Assistant Professor

Department 00166 - CSW - ACADEMICS

City Salt Lake City, UT

Track Non Tenure Track

New Position to Begin May 16, 2027

Details

Position Summary

The University of Utah College of Social Work’s Social Research Institute ( SRI ) invites applications for two 12-month, career-line faculty positions at the rank of Research Assistant Professor. These are non-tenure-track positions intended to support long-term careers within the University’s Career-Line Faculty structure, with renewable appointments contingent upon satisfactory performance, programmatic need, and availability of funding.

SRI partners with public agencies, community organizations, faculty, and other collaborators to conduct applied research, program evaluation, workforce development, training, technical assistance, and implementation support that improve health and human services. The successful candidates will lead and contribute to externally funded projects, cultivate productive partner relationships, supervise project teams, and help translate research into practical improvements in policy, programs, training, and service delivery.

The specific portfolio assigned to each position will reflect the successful candidate’s expertise and SRI’s evolving project needs. Work may emphasize partnerships with the Utah Department of Health and Human Services and other public agencies; research and evaluation in child welfare and related human-service systems; evaluation and implementation support for the Virtual Skills and Workforce Trainer ( VSWT ) and other digital learning technologies; or a combination of these areas. The positions require both strong research capability and the ability to manage complex, partner-driven work in a collaborative university environment.

Primary Responsibilities

• Lead as Principal Investigator or Co-Principal Investigator on externally funded research, evaluation, training, technical-assistance, and implementation projects from planning through completion.

• Manage project scopes of work, timelines, budgets, staffing, partner expectations, and deliverables in coordination with SRI leadership and University administrative personnel.

• Lead or contribute to applied research and program evaluation, as appropriate to the faculty member’s expertise and project assignment, including development of research questions, protocols, measures, sampling and data-collection plans, analytic approaches, and interpretation of findings.

• Provide or coordinate methodological consultation to investigators, agency partners, and project teams regarding study design, data quality, analysis, and the appropriate use of findings.

• Build and sustain trusted relationships with public health and human-service agencies, community organizations, funders, technology partners, and other collaborators.

• Work with partners to identify needs, establish shared goals, resolve challenges, support sound decision-making, and ensure that project activities remain useful and responsive to practice settings.

• Recruit, supervise, and mentor research staff, project personnel, students, and contractors, as assigned; establish clear expectations and support timely, high-quality work.

• Prepare clear, accurate, and audience-appropriate reports, presentations, scholarly products, implementation resources, and other deliverables for academic, government, practitioner, and community audiences.

• Contribute to the development of proposals, contracts, and other opportunities for grant/contract funding.

• Support implementation, continuous quality improvement, and organizational learning within partner agencies, including assessment of readiness, fidelity, uptake, effectiveness, sustainability, and outcomes.

• Depending on project assignment, contribute to the evaluation, implementation, refinement, and expansion of VSWT or other instructional technologies; collaborate with subject-matter experts, instructional designers, software or data professionals, and agency leaders; and help ensure that products are evidence-informed, usable, accessible, and responsive to workforce needs.

• Strengthen and extend SRI’s methodological and analytic capacity by introducing, applying, and disseminating rigorous quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods approaches; advise colleagues on emerging designs and analytic techniques; and support the growth of methodological and statistical expertise across faculty and staff.

• Maintain current knowledge of research, policy, practice, workforce development, adult learning, and emerging technologies relevant to assigned projects.

• Contribute to the academic and service missions of SRI , the College of Social Work, and the University through collaboration, mentoring, committee work, dissemination, and other activities aligned with the faculty member’s role.

• Travel periodically to partner offices, training sites, conferences, and other project locations within Utah and, on occasion, elsewhere in the United States.

Required Qualifications

• Master’s degree in social work or a closely related field, with at least three years of relevant post-master’s professional experience.

• Demonstrated experience contributing to applied research, program evaluation, or other grant- or contract-supported work in health and human services or a closely related area.

• Experience coordinating complex projects and producing high-quality deliverables within established timelines.

• Ability to establish and maintain effective partnerships with government agencies, community organizations, universities, funders, or other large and complex organizations.

• Strong interpersonal skills and demonstrated ability to facilitate groups, build consensus, navigate competing priorities, resolve problems, and maintain trust while offering candid professional guidance.

• Ability to supervise or coordinate the work of multidisciplinary personnel and contribute effectively in a highly collaborative environment.

• Excellent written and oral communication skills, including the ability to translate technical information for nontechnical audiences.

• Strong organizational, time-management, follow-through, and professional judgment.

• Ability to travel as required for assigned projects.

Preferred Qualifications

• Doctoral degree in social work, public health, education, psychology, sociology, public policy, business, or another discipline relevant to SRI’s work.

• Five or more years of relevant professional experience.

• Experience serving as principal investigator, co-investigator, project director, or lead evaluator on externally funded grants or contracts.

• Record of securing or contributing substantially to extramural funding, publications, evaluation reports, or other influential scholarly and practice-oriented products.

• Experience working in or with public child welfare, behavioral health, health and human services, workforce development, public-benefit, or related government systems, particularly in Utah.

• Knowledge of federal and state policy affecting health and human services, including experience with Title IV-E or other public funding structures.

• Demonstrated strength in one or more specialized areas, such as advanced quantitative analysis and statistical software; qualitative or mixed-methods research; organizational or program evaluation; implementation science or implementation support; cost analysis; data visualization; or related methods.

• Experience with adult learning, workforce development, competency-based education, deliberate practice, simulation, virtual reality, e-learning, learning management systems, instructional technology, or other digital learning approaches.

• Experience evaluating or supporting the implementation, adoption, scaling, and continuous improvement of technology-enabled programs or services.

• Experience collaborating with information-technology, software-development, database, business-intelligence, communications, or instructional-design professionals.

• Familiarity with university-sponsored project administration, public-sector contracting, data-use agreements, accessibility requirements, and the terms and conditions commonly associated with government-funded work.

• Knowledge of graduate social work education and the ability to collaborate effectively with faculty, students, and university partners.

Working Relationships

The Research Assistant Professors will report to the Director of the Social Research Institute and will work closely with SRI faculty and staff, College of Social Work leadership, University administrative units, and external partners. Suc