Research Assistant (ENLACES) - Student Worker

Compensation Range:

Position Description

The Research Assistant for ENLACES, is a part-time (10-20 hours per week), graduate student worker opportunity with National University. Working directly under the leadership and supervision of the ENLACES Research Director, the Research Assistant plays a vital role in supporting research project start-up activities, including establishing operational workflows, creating project timelines, building data collection protocols, drafting IRB applications, coordinating initial partner convenings, and grant proposal drafting. Additional ongoing research activities include mixed-methods data collection, analysis, and reporting. ENLACES is committed to advancing culturally responsive, equity-focused research designed to promote continuous improvement of ENLACES initiatives to meet the needs of diverse and historically underserved populations.

The incumbent plays a key role to enact, implement, and write-up implementation and impact research, generate research deliverables, and support research-practice partnerships (RPPs) across the organization —such as literature reviews, research and policy reviews, peer-reviewed publication drafts, grant proposal drafts, and practitioner-friendly research briefs. This role provides graduate students with hands-on research mentorship, high-level project management experience, and scholarly writing opportunities in real world community-engaged research.

Opportunities will also be provided for the Research Assistant to engage internal and external research partners, provide support to external evaluators, and ensure tasks are executed in a timely manner. Specifically, this individual will conduct research to ensure a deeper understanding of ENLACES programs and initiatives for equity and excellence, as well as helping to ensure sustainability of the university-community partnerships.

 Essential Functions:

• Participate in regular ENLACES research team meetings and research-practice partnership convenings. (weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly, as needed).
• Provide project management support for start-up and ongoing projects by tracking priorities, creating and managing timelines, establishing workflow systems, and reporting deliverable statuses.
• Provide administrative support for day-to-day operations, including task monitoring, appointment scheduling, meeting documentation, and follow-up communication with internal and external partners.
• Assist with coordination and planning logistics for major research, community, and policy projects.
• Engage in mixed-methods research activities, including survey and qualitative interview protocol design, interview and focus group facilitation, document analysis, and observational data collection.
• Communicate with internal and external ENLACES partners to coordinate data collection activities, interpret analytic findings, and share results.
• Perform data management duties, including data cleaning, data entry, data validation, database structuring, and maintaining secure, de-identified participant data in compliance with data privacy standards.
• Analyze both quantitative data (descriptive and correlational data) and qualitative data (thematic analysis) in collaboration with leadership and partners.
• Draft comprehensive data reports, executive summaries, practitioner-friendly briefs, and manuscript sections for peer-reviewed publications in collaboration with leadership and partners.
• Synthesize and write up literature reviews and research briefs focused on priority topics identified with the ENLACES Research Director and research team partners.
• Help prepare presentation materials, posters, and slide decks for academic conferences, policy briefings, and partner meetings.
• Draft Institutional Review Board (IRB) applications, protocol modifications, and compliance documentation for projects.
• Collaborate with external evaluators and community partners to execute collaborative research projects and engage in authentic research-practice partnerships (RPPs).
• Ensure research projects consistently incorporate equity principles (e.g., disaggregation of data, evaluation of program accessibility, and assessment of outcomes across diverse student demographics).
• Complete special projects and other research-related duties as assigned by the ENLACES Research Director.

Requirements:

Education & Experience:

• Must be a Full-time or part-time graduate student in any school or program at National University
• Bachelor’s Degree is required.
• Minimum of 1-2 years of experience in education, social science research, or policy.

Competencies/Technical/Functional Skills:

• Exceptional interpersonal, teamwork, and collaboration skills.
• Demonstrated ability to work with underserved populations in high-need communities.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills.
• Strong organizational skills with the ability to manage timelines and deliverables independently.
• Experience in social and emotional development, K-12 education, or culturally responsive practices.
• General understanding of best practices in research and evaluation.
• Ability to analyze qualitative data and basic quantitative data.
• Proficient computer and standard office equipment skills.
• Excellent phone/Zoom etiquette.
• Conveys high integrity and honesty.
• Ability to handle ambiguity.
• Ability to travel, with possible overnight involved (when allowed).
• Experience with qualitative coding software (NVivo) and basic quantitative tools (SPSS, Excel) (preferred).
• Knowledge of IRB processes, grant proposal drafting, and research-practice partnerships (preferred).

Location: Remote, USA

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Candidate receiving offers will be offered a salary/pay rate commensurate with experience that vary based on a candidate’s qualifications, skills, and competencies.  Absent exceptional circumstances, candidates will be offered a salary within this range for this position. The minimum salary will be offered based on the minimum exemption threshold based on state of residency. Base pay is one component of National University’s total rewards package, as we are dedicated to supporting the needs of the “whole you” with our holistic approach to employee benefits by offering comprehensive well-being benefits for you and your family.  For full details about our benefit plan offerings, please visit benefits.nu.edu. For Part-time benefits, please click here.

National University is committed to maintaining a high-quality workforce representative of the populations we serve. National University employs more than 4,500 faculty and staff and serves over 45,000 students. We are united in our mission to meet the global education demands of the 21st Century and are dedicated to creating a supportive academic and work environment that allows students, faculty and staff to develop their interests and talents while experiencing a sense of community. With programs available both online and at our many campus locations, National University is a leader in creating innovative solutions to education and meeting the needs of our student population, including adult learners and working professionals.

National University (NU) is proud to be an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate against any employee or applicant per applicable federal, state and local laws. At NU, a mix of highly talented, innovative and creative people come together to make the impact of a lifetime for each of our student learners. All qualified applicants will receive equal consideration for employment, education, and admission at National University.