The Colorado Evaluation and Action Lab (Colorado Lab) at the University of Denver (DU) was created under the leadership of the Governor’s Office to unlock data-informed solutions to our most pressing social problems. Working together with a broad range of government and community partners, we conduct research with rigor to obtain the best available evidence to inform policies, programs, and investments. Our goal is to leverage data to inform policy and practice, set the wheels in motion to achieve and sustain change, and position our partners to pursue additional, meaningful change for the communities they serve with the guidance of eight essential elements.
The Colorado Lab team currently consists of management, research teams, Evidence-Building Hub teams, the Linked Information Network of Colorado (LINC) team, and the operations team. The Colorado Lab also works closely with a network of affiliated researchers and evaluation teams throughout the state. Colorado Lab staff are required to possess a solid intuitive understanding of research and evaluation methods and strong written and oral communication skills for explaining technical topics to non-experts. Staff members are expected to engage in a collaborative learning environment where employees are highly responsive to each other as well as to government and research partners. Staff hold themselves and each other responsible for completing high quality, well-documented work in a timely fashion. The Colorado Lab seeks to add one additional staff member at the Research and Evaluation Coordinator level to support evidence-building hub teams.
Evidence-Building Hubs
The Colorado Lab has created infrastructure to serve in a unique ‘Evidence-Building Hub’ role to provide strategic visioning and investment support and coordinate evidence-building efforts on behalf of state agencies. In this role, the Colorado Lab manages and aligns across multiple evaluation partners to reduce administrative burden on the state and produce actionable evidence for decision-making. The Colorado Lab currently serves as the Family First Evidence-Building Hub for the Colorado Department of Human Services and the Early Childhood Evaluation Hub for the Colorado Department of Early Childhood.
Position Summary
The Colorado Lab seeks to hire a Research and Evaluation Coordinator. This position will report to Dr. Whitney LeBoeuf, the principal investigator for the Early Childhood Evaluation Hub. A primary function will be to support the Colorado Lab’s Evidence-Building Hubs in operationalizing standards across evidence-building activities and teams.
Funding for this position is secured through June 30, 2025 with the possibility of an extension based on funding availability.
Essential Functions
- Project management: Proactively manage projects involving multiple partners, tight deadlines, sensitive data, and potentially high-profile and/or controversial topics. Use expertise in content and methodology to support project leads in informing and strengthening project design, deliverables, and actionable dissemination. Help keep other people organized.
- Contract management: Develop and manage subcontracted evaluation teams and consultant scopes of work and budgets, including amendments and renewals, ensuring consistency across Hub teams.
- Institutionalization of Hub standards: Operationalize standards and criteria across Hub evaluation teams, ensuring consistency across evaluation plans, data collection and analysis strategies, and common metrics. Compile strategies across teams, highlighting vulnerabilities, gaps, overlap, and alignment opportunities for leadership to make decisions. Support development of processes and documentation to allow for sustainable internal management of the Hubs.
- Analytic support: Complete a variety of analytic tasks required to institutionalize standards across evaluation teams and evidence-building activities, including preparation and administration of simple data collection tools and processes, basic analyses, and review of analytic documentation to ensure comprehensiveness and alignment with standards.
- Feedback and learning support: Create surveys and other tools to collect and respond to feedback from Hub evaluation teams. Develop and implement processes for tracking needs among evaluation teams. Support training and learning opportunities across Hub evaluation teams that are responsive to common needs.
- Communication support: Effectively communicate orally and in writing to a lay audience about technical analytic and policy issues, including drafting content for Hub deliverables to state partners, coordinating inputs from evaluation teams and consultants to synthesize evaluation findings for communications, generating insight statements and interpretation of data, and proactively identifying opportunities to create or leverage existing data visualizations.
- Administrative support: Coordinate a variety research and evaluation processes, including shepherding research projects through Institutional Review Board determination, drafting and facilitating opportunities to engage external support (i.e., graphic design, dashboard development, statisticians, subject matter expert review), and collaborating on funding proposal development.
- Partnerships: Productively engage in reciprocal partnerships with the Governor’s office, legislative staff, governmental agencies, and external researchers. The Colorado Lab is highly interactive with policymakers, and all staff are expected to play a role in supporting this value.
- Engage in other duties as necessary, requested, and appropriate to support the mission of the Colorado Lab.
Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities
- Solid understanding of research and evaluation processes.
- Demonstrated passion for improving government performance and addressing complex social problems.
- Experience with Qualtrics or similar survey-based tool.
- Excellence in both written and oral communications.
- Experience with technical and non-technical writing for peers, policymakers, and practitioners.
- Exceptional project management capabilities and creativity in problem solving.
- Basic analytical skills. Experience sourcing, managing, analyzing, and presenting data to drive insights and action.
- Track record of adeptly navigating complex organizations, developing trust with senior leaders, and building relationships among diverse groups of stakeholders.
- Self-motivated with an orientation toward balancing results and process, with limited supervisory direction.
- Demonstrable commitment to discretion and sensitivity in executing position duties and in partner relations.
- Eagerness to learn, attention to detail, and ability to multitask.
Required Qualifications
- Master’s Degree in Public Health, Public Policy, Public Administration, Program Evaluation, Economics, or related field.
- At least three years of relevant work experience.
- Prior experience with project management of research and evaluation projects, policy-based projects, or related work.
Preferred Qualifications
- In-depth knowledge of at least one major area of domestic social policy, such as child welfare, early childhood education, housing, or criminal justice
- Experience working with local, state, or federal government.
Working Environment
Physical Activities
Work Schedule
Monday – Friday, 8:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Must be based in the Denver region with a balance of virtual and in-person work.
Application Deadline
For best consideration, please submit your application materials by 4:00 p.m. (MST) Monday, November 27, 2023.
Special Instructions
Candidates must apply online through jobs.du.edu to be considered. Only applications submitted online will be accepted.
Salary Grade Number:
The salary grade for the position is 10.
Salary Range:
The salary range for this position is $65,000 – $72,000.
The University of Denver has provided a compensation range that represents its good faith estimate of what the University may pay for the position at the time of posting. The University may ultimately pay more or less than the posted compensation range. The salary offered to the selected candidate will be determined based on factors such as the qualifications of the selected candidate, departmental budget availability, internal salary equity considerations, and available market information, but not based on a candidate’s sex or any other protected status.
Benefits:
The University of Denver offers excellent benefits, including medical, dental, retirement, paid time off, tuition benefit and ECO pass. The University of Denver is a private institution that empowers students who want to make a difference. Learn more about the University of Denver .
Please include the following documents with your application:
The University of Denver is an equal opportunity employer. The University of Denver prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, ancestry, age, religion, creed, disability, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, marital status, pregnancy, genetic information, military enlistment, or veteran status, and any other class of individuals protected from discrimination under federal, state, or local law, regulation, or ordinance in any of the University’s educational programs and activities, and in the employment (including application for employment) and admissions (including application for admission) context, as required by Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972; the Americans with Disabilities Act; Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973; Title VI and VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964; the Age Discrimination Act of 1975; the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967; Equal Pay Act; Colorado Equal Pay for Equal Work Act; the Colorado Protecting Opportunities and Workers’ Rights (“POWR”) Act; and any other federal, state, and local laws, regulations, or ordinances that prohibit discrimination, harassment, and/or retaliation. For more information, please see the University of Denver’s Non-Discrimination-Statement .
All offers of employment are contingent upon satisfactory completion of a criminal history background check.
Advertised: October 20, 2023
Applications close: