Boston College IntroductionFounded in 1863, Boston College is a Jesuit, Catholic university located six miles from downtown Boston with an enrollment of 9,484 full-time undergraduates and 5,250 graduate and professional students. Ranked 35 among national universities, Boston College has 888 full-time and 1,281 FTE faculty, 2,711 non-faculty employees, an operating budget of $1.4 billion, and an endowment in excess of $3.5 billion.
Job DescriptionCompetitive salary commensurate with relevant experience.
RESEARCH ASSOCIATE
POSITION FOR MULTI-YEAR, MIXED-METHODS EVALUATION OF HOUSING AND COMMUNITY
DEVELOPMENT EFFECTS ON CHILD AND ADULT HEALTH AND WELLBEING.
Professors
Rebekah Levine Coley and Samantha Teixeira of Boston College are recruiting a
full-time Research Associate to work on the 5-year Housing Opportunity and Mobility Experiment (HOME)
project. Preferred start date of June 1, 2025.
With funding from the National Institutes of Health,
this project evaluates how the redevelopment of a concentrated poverty public
housing development into a mixed-income community with quality housing,
enhanced services, and economic integration affects children’s educational
success and children’s and adults’ mental, behavioral, and physical
health. Using an innovative
multi-methods, quasi-experimental design, we are collecting longitudinal child
and parent surveys, biological data, direct environmental assessments, in depth
qualitative interviews and observations, and local and national administrative
data following 600 households (including children, youth, adults, and older
adults) over 5 years. The research team brings together a multidisciplinary and
highly effective group of scholars with specialization in economic and social
inequalities in child and parent wellbeing (Rebekah Levine Coley, Developmental
Psychology), community engaged research and neighborhood effects (Samantha
Teixeira, Social Work), biological stress measures (Amanda Tarullo, Child
Clinical Psychology), environmental assessments of housing quality (Gary
Adamkiewicz, Public Health and Engineering), and gerontology (Tina Matz, Social
Work). The Research
Associate will be directly
supervised by Principal Investigators Coley and Teixeira at Boston College. Work
will take place at Boston College and at a community site in South Boston.
The Research Associate will assist with all aspects of
the project, including overseeing and engaging in participant recruitment, data
collection, and data management; providing support to field staff and
investigators; liaising with partner organizations; disseminating results; and supporting
project reporting requirements. This is an excellent position for a fluent
Spanish-speaking candidate with research and community engagement experience
(preferably with racially/ethnically diverse and economically marginalized
populations) who wishes to contribute to multi-methods research and
multi-disciplinary teamwork. The
position will provide exceptional preparation for further graduate
training.
Key Responsibilities
- Coordinate participant recruitment, field staff assignments, and organization of data collection efforts. Work closely with the study team to ensure communication between community participants and research staff.
- Engage in survey, environmental, and qualitative interviewing data collection efforts.
- Develop and use data management systems to track outreach, recruitment, data collection, and distribution of research incentives (using REDCap and Excel).
- Support data cleaning, coding, and analysis (using Stata and NVivo software). Translate and transcribe study materials.
- Participate in weekly interdisciplinary project meetings, weekly supervision meetings with field staff and data collectors, and occasional community activities and advisory board meetings.
- Support development of research products, including journal articles, conference presentations, policy briefs, and grant proposals. Create accessible materials to translate research findings to community audiences.
- Assist with grant administration and management, including human subjects and project reporting compliance.
We will begin review of
applications immediately and continue until the position is filled. Applicants
should provide a cover letter describing their interest in and experience
relevant to the project as well as their past research and community engagement
experience; a resume; and contact information for 3 professional references.
Additional documents helpful in the evaluation of the candidate are welcome.
Inquiries regarding this position may be directed to Dr. Rebekah Levine Coley
at coleyre@bc.edu.
Requirements- Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in psychology, social work, public health, sociology, or related field.
- Minimum of 1 year of research experience.
- Demonstrated interest/experience in community settings, preferably with diverse populations and/or in low resource settings; comfort engaging in home visits in underserved public housing community context.
- Exceptional organization and communication skills, ability to work. independently and proactively, maturity and strong commitment to teamwork.
- Experience with data collection (quantitative/qualitative), data coding and management, and data collection/statistical software (STATA, RedCAP, NVivo, Excel) preferred; willingness to learn essential.
- Desire to build skills and expertise in policy-focused and community-based research and research translation.
- Capacity to travel to and work in South Boston public housing setting, including home visits.
- Successful completion of Massachusetts Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) check.
- Fluency in Spanish required.
Closing StatementBoston College offers a broad and competitive range of benefits depending on your job classification eligibility:
- Tuition remission for Employees
- Tuition remission for Spouses and Children who meet eligibility requirements
- Generous Medical, Dental, and Vision Insurance
- Low-Cost Life Insurance
- Eligibility for both University-Funded 401k and Employer-Sponsored 403b Retirement Plans
- Paid Holidays Annually
- Generous Sick and Vacation Pay
- Additional benefits can be found on https://www.bc.edu/employeehandbook
Boston College conducts pre-employment background checks as part of the hiring process.
Boston College is an equal opportunity employer. In concert with our Jesuit, Catholic mission, Boston College is dedicated to the goal of building a culturally diverse and pluralistic faculty and staff committed to teaching and working in a multicultural environment and strongly encourages applications for women, minorities, individuals with disabilities, and covered veterans. To learn more about how BC supports diversity and inclusion throughout the university please visit the Office for Institutional Diversity at https://www.bc.edu/diversity.
Boston College's Notice of Nondiscrimination can be viewed at https://www.bc.edu/nondiscrimination.
