Post Graduate Fellow (Evaluation-Philanthropy)

Salary Range: 

Salary commensurate with experience and qualifications

About SMU

SMU’s more than 12,000 diverse, high-achieving students come from all 50 states and 90 countries to take advantage of the University’s small classes, hands-on research opportunities, leadership development, community service, international study and innovative programs. The University offers a strong foundation in the humanities and sciences and undergraduate, graduate and professional degree programs through eight schools.

Now in its second century of achievement, SMU is increasingly recognized for the ways it supports students, faculty and alumni as they become ethical leaders in their professions and communities. On the most beautiful college campus in the country, SMU Mustangs are energized by unbridled opportunities – from teaching, learning and research to creativity, performance and athletic endeavor.

About SMU's Center on Research and Evaluation (CORE)

Housed within Southern Methodist University (SMU)’s Simmons School of Education and Human Development, The Center on Research and Evaluation (CORE) provides a variety of research, evaluation, and consultation services.  CORE staff have a wide range of skills, including evaluation planning, grant writing, community-based and multi-site interventions, quantitative and qualitative analysis, data collection and management of large and multi-year datasets.  CORE values highly collaborative evaluation work with innovative programs and leverages multiple strategic partnerships.  CORE brings rigorous evaluation science to study design that allows us to go beyond describing trends to testing the relationship between program participation and eventual outcomes.

About the Position:

SMU CORE is kicking off the Advancing Evaluation in Philanthropy Fellowship program. SMU is seeking a Post Graduate Fellow who will work closely with the senior leadership team of the Center on Research and Evaluation (CORE) to work on evaluation projects of mutual interest.  This will help the Fellow learn more about social science research fundamentals, project management, evaluation and philanthropy content and trends.  This person will also be mentored by staff at the Walton Family Foundation (WFF) for exposure to philanthropy work.  Fellows will also be expected to develop professionally in a variety of ways, such as reading articles, attending workshops/trainings, as well as research dissemination at conferences and creation of a Capstone project.  This position will require analysis skills, ability to share findings in a variety of formats, ability to manage quantitative and qualitative data sets, and close coordination with project teams and leads. 

The Advancing Evaluation in Philanthropy Fellowship is a two-year position with salary and benefits, as well as a travel budget to work in person with Walton Foundation and to attend and present at national conferences.

Essential Functions:

• Project Management: Provide support for project-specific tasks & deliverables, This includes working closely with team members and project leads on carrying out specific project activities (e.g., data collection, instrument development, data management, data analysis, etc.) while managing time, staying within budget, troubleshooting data issues or requests, being responsive to client dashboard needs, and facilitating communication between client and team. This role may also include report writing.

• Project Design & Scoping - Work with project leads and CORE supervisor to assist with project design and including budgeting and proposal development.

• Professional Development - This includes monthly meetings with CORE supervisor, travel to the Walton Family Foundation offices and meetings with WFF mentor, conference presentations, and Capstone Project work.  This could also include miscellaneous meetings such as All-CORE meetings and Walton Family Foundation Strategy, Learning and Evaluation Department meetings.  Perform other duties as assigned.

  Qualifications  

Education and Experience:

Master’s degree in Social Science or related field is required.  Candidates with a Doctoral Degree are welcome to apply.

Two years of work experience is preferred.  Experience in nonprofit, education or philanthropic organization is preferred.

Fellows would be required to possess knowledge and skills related to social science research fundamentals.  These include understanding the basics of formulating appropriate research questions, designing a study that seeks to answer those research questions, sampling, instrument development, reliability and validation, data collection, data organization, and data analysis

Specific trainings, such as IRB CITI training will be required upon hiring.

Microsoft Office (such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint) are required.  Online meeting programs like Zoom or Teams are required.

Prefer experience with the following:

• Quantitative data analysis programs – such as SPSS, STATA, R, or SAS
• Qualitative data analysis programs – such as NVivo, Atlas, or MaxQDR
• Data visualization programs – such as Tableau or Power BI
• Survey design programs – such as Qualtrics
• Relational database programs – such as Microsoft Access or SQL
• Cognos, Salesforce, Quickbooks

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

Candidate must have excellent verbal and written communication skills.

Must have strong customer service orientation.  Must be able to work effectively with a wide range of constituencies and diverse communities.

Candidate must have well developed organizational skills that include effective planning and time management.  

Must be willing and able to travel occasionally.  Requires approximately three trips per year to Walton Family Foundation offices.  Conference travel is also likely, approximately twice annually.

This position will work in person at the CORE offices, Simmons School of Education & Human Development at Southern Methodist University (SMU), Dallas, Texas.  Some remote/online work will take place but the position is for an in-person hire and relocation to the Dallas area would be required.

Physical and Environmental Demands:

• Sit for long periods of time
• Carry/lift 25 lbs.

Deadline to Apply:

This position is open until filled.

EEO Statement:

SMU will not discriminate in any program or activity on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, disability, genetic information, veteran status, sexual orientation, or gender identity and expression. The Executive Director for Access and Equity/Title IX Coordinator is designated to handle inquiries regarding nondiscrimination policies and may be reached at the Perkins Administration Building, Room 204, 6425 Boaz Lane, Dallas, TX 75205, 214-768-3601, accessequity@smu.edu.

Benefits:

SMU offers staff a broad, competitive array of health and related benefits. In addition to traditional benefits such as health, dental, and vision plans, SMU offers a wide range of wellness programs to help attract, support, and retain our employees whose work continues to make SMU an outstanding education and research institution.

SMU is committed to providing an array of retirement programs that benefit and protect you and your family throughout your working years at SMU and, if you meet SMU's retirement eligibility criteria, during your retirement years after you leave SMU.

The value of learning at SMU isn't just about preparing our students for the future. Employees have access to a wide variety of professional and personal development opportunities, including tuition benefits.