The VCU Clark-Hill Institute for Positive Youth Development is seeking two post-doctoral scholars (full-time) to collaborate on a large-scale community-based intervention project. The Institute is a National Academic Center of Excellence on Youth Violence Prevention funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Institute is housed in the VCU Department of Psychology, but faculty, staff, and students from the School of Education, Department of Epidemiology & Community Health, School of Social Work, and School of Nursing are also represented. The Institute’s mission is to empower youth, schools, families, and other stakeholders to promote the healthy, safe, and otherwise positive development of youth from early adolescence through emerging adulthood. Faculty within the Institute are engaged in a variety of research projects representing both applied research (e.g., risk and protective factors associated with youth violence) and development and evaluation of preventive interventions in school and community settings. Additional information regarding the Institute is available on our website (www.clarkhill.vcu.edu).
Post-doctoral fellows will join an active team of faculty, professional research staff, other post-doctoral fellows, and graduate students. The primary focus will be on a research project to develop and evaluate a comprehensive youth violence prevention strategy at the community level with (a) a school-based universal intervention for middle school youth, (b) a family intervention for high-risk youth, and (c) community outreach to support the school and family interventions. Fellows will provide support in intervention development and implementation, evaluation, data collection and analysis, and writing manuscripts. Fellows will also gain experience in grant writing and participate in mentoring activities. Although fellows will have opportunities to participate in multiple aspects of this project and to collaborate with multiple researchers within the Institute, each fellow will also be given a primary assignment to either the Evaluation Core led by Dr. Albert Farrell or the Family Intervention core led by Dr. Rosalie Corona. Fellows will also have a secondary assignment in the Evaluation Core, Family Intervention Core or School Intervention Core (led by Dr. Terri Sullivan). Applicants interested in the Evaluation Core will be expected to have a background in evaluation research and advanced quantitative methods. Applicants interested in the Family Intervention Core will be expected to have clinical training; fluency in Spanish is desirable (though not required).
Qualified candidates will have earned a doctorate in Psychology, Education, Social Work, Public Health or other relevant discipline by the time of appointment. Expertise in quantitative and/or qualitative data analysis, strong written and oral communication skills, and strong organizational and interpersonal skills are required. The position offers a competitive salary plus health benefits, and funds for professional development activities. Initial appointment will be for one year with funding for a second year dependent on available funds and performance review.
We anticipate that appointments will begin in June, 2013, with some flexibility for starting earlier or later – though no later than September, 2013. Applicants should email a cover letter including a statement of career goals and their interest in one or more of the core areas, CV, a writing sample and arrange to have three letters of recommendation sent to afarrell@vcu.edu. Review of applications will begin no later than January 5th and will continue until the positions are filled.