The UC Santa Barbara Central Coast Community Labor Project invites applications for a Research Director. The initial appointment will be for a period of one to two years, with potential for reappointment contingent on funding. Administratively housed in the UCSB Blum Center on Poverty, Inequality, and Democracy , the Community Labor Project seeks to strengthen and expand the labor movement and serves working people and their communities through advanced research, education, and strategic partnerships with workers, labor and community organizations, policymakers, and philanthropic organizations on the Central Coast (Ventura, Santa Barbara, and San Luis Obispo Counties). With funding provided by the University of California Worker Rights Policy Initiative (WRPI), the Project aims to build our capacity for research, policy analysis, and community engagement that contributes to the empowerment and well-being of workers, their families, and their communities and that recognizes the diversity of the Central Coast economy and workforce, including its substantial immigrant and Indigenous communities. We work closely with the Central Coast Labor Council and its member organizations as well as other labor and community organizations working for economic, social, environmental, and intersectional justice. The UCSB Community Labor Project is connected with Labor Centers that exist across the entire UC system. We collaborate and work closely with those centers on issues of mutual interest.
We seek a Research Director to oversee and carry out research and research-related fundraising and grant development for this project. The Research Director will report to the Community Labor Project Executive Director and Faculty Director and is the senior, full-time person building and leading the project’s research and research-related grant activities in collaboration with community partners, the Faculty Director and faculty affiliates, the Advisory Board, as well as project staff, including undergraduate and graduate student research assistants. The Research Director will also maintain communications and work collaboratively with other UC Labor Center Research Directors. Working with the Executive Director and Faculty Director, the Research Director is responsible for development and coordination of the following core areas:
Research
Develop and oversee the implementation of a research and policy analytic agenda that reflects the needs and interests of labor and working-class communities on the Central Coast, ranging from surveys related to life and working conditions to more focused studies that address current and prospective policy priorities identified in consultation with our community partners.
Fundraising
Identify opportunities, develop, and initiate strategies for generating resources to support Project research activities through fundraising, donor relations, and grant and contract proposals, in consultation with UCSB’s Office of Research and Office of Development as well as Project leadership.
Community Outreach and Engagement
Coordinate and provide oversight for research-related communications, including research, policy, and grant presentations, website resources, social media, research and policy briefs, and press/external relations.
Event Development and Coordination
Plan and provide oversight for campus and community events related to the design, implementation, and/or dissemination of Community Labor Center research, policy analysis, and/or related contracts and grants.
Administration and Financial Management
Assist as needed in oversight, management, and reporting related to Project research budgets, contracts, and grants.
Project Management
Supervise and mentor undergraduate and graduate staff involved in research, policy analysis, and/or research-related fundraising.
The University is especially interested in candidates who can contribute to the diversity and excellence of the academic community through research, teaching, and service as appropriate to the position.