Program Operations Specialist (Temporary)

University of Washington•Seattle, WA

19h

About The Position

The Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences within the UW School of Medicine is the third largest clinical department within the School of Medicine with 330 full-time faculty members, 460 courtesy faculty members, and over 350 staff. Department faculty provide clinical services in 5 hospitals, 14 primary care locations, and several outpatient sites in addition to telepsychiatry consultations to more than 150 clinics in Washington and beyond. As the only academic psychiatry department serving the five state WWAMI region (Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, Idaho), the Department’s highly competitive residency training program is largely responsible for developing the mental health workforce in the Pacific Northwest. The Department’s robust research portfolio totals $67 million in grants and contracts per year for projects ranging from clinical neurosciences to treatment development to health policy and population health. The Department is recognized as an international leader in developing, testing, and implementing Collaborative Care, an integrated care model increasingly seen as a solution for population-based mental health care. Other areas of excellence include Addictions, Autism, High Risk Youth, Neurosciences, and Trauma, and the Department is developing innovative new programs in Technology and Mental Health, Global Mental Health, Maternal and Child Mental Health, and Targeted Intervention Development. Psychiatry is the third largest department in the School of Medicine and the largest non-divisioned department. The overall annual operations funding from all sources is over $130 million. The Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences within the UW School of Medicine currently has an outstanding opportunity for a Temporary Program Operations Specialist. Seven Directions at the University of Washington is the first national public health institute in the United States to focus solely on improving Indigenous health and wellness. We are committed to cultivating and sharing knowledge, connecting communities and resources, and working to achieve shared goals for future generations. With funding from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) National Center for Injury Prevention and Control for “Building Capacity for Tribal Overdose Prevention Program,” Seven Directions is partnering with “Safe States” and the National Network of Public Health Institutes (NNPHI) to increase the capacity for overdose and injury prevention within tribes and tribal-serving organizations by building the Indigenous workforce and providing a forum for tribes to network and share Indigenous practices for prevention. Seven Directions will specifically focus on the Indigenous Workforce Development for Overdose Prevention activities under this project to support American Indian and Alaska Native participants in addressing tribal health issues while fostering leadership and capacity-building among Indigenous populations. The Temporary Program Operations Specialist is a key member of the Seven Directions team under the general direction of the Project Lead and works alongside senior team members in implementing a variety of project and research activities, such as: Developing tribal community engagement and cultural alignment approaches and plans in partnership development, grants and program design, administration and implementation, reporting and grant development; recruiting tribal community partners for pilot, TA, guest speakers, Advisory Board and executing and managing subawards to tribal partners; developing plans for addressing cultural needs for tribal partner site visits, in-person meetings with tribal partners, and trainings and understanding cultural protocols of local tribes in delivering services and products; planning for gifts and special guest speakers for welcomes, prayers, and closings for virtual or in-person gatherings; leading communication with tribal and urban Indian project sites to ensure team and meeting is respectful of cultural norms and community expectations; developing an approach for communications and dissemination with tribal sites and other partners of project deliverables, resources, and other materials; leading monthly, quarterly and annual reporting to the sponsors. The ideal candidate will be a highly organized project manager; with a special emphasis on leading culturally aligned partnership and program development; managing subawards and contracts with tribal partners; facilitating the incorporation of cultural humility, cultural congruence in all aspects of convenings, trainings, workshops and technical assistance, and providing technical assistance to community partners. In addition, the ideal candidate will bring deep experience working with AI/AN communities as well as an understanding of and humility toward AI/AN historical, contemporary, and cultural contexts. Seven Directions works with a wide range of tribes and Indigenous-serving organizations representing a wide range of social and cultural environments (e.g., urban vs. rural, Northwest vs. Plains vs. Southwest) that require cultural humility, understanding, and flexibility. The frequent telephone/video and e-mail contacts as well as occasional in-person contact with American Indian/Alaska Native communities require extraordinary tact and cultural sensitivity. This also applies to regular communication with funders, as well as other tribal and institutional partners.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Public Health, Social Work, Public Affairs, Psychology, American Indian Studies, or related fields and two years of relevant experience.
Equivalent education/experience will substitute for all minimum qualifications except when there are legal requirements, such as a license/certification/registration.
Demonstrated experience in community engagement, convening planning, and contract and subaward management.
Familiar with the tribal and urban Indigenous health system and tribal health governance.
Familiarity with issues affecting American Indian and Alaska Native health, healing, cultural diversity and strengths.
Experience facilitating meetings and discussions for internal and external (i.e., community, funders) partners.
Excellent problem-solving, organization, relationships, and project management skills.
Ability to be innovative, resourceful, and creative.
Curiosity, enthusiasm, willingness, and a positive attitude towards learning new and diverse concepts, methods, tools, knowledge and data systems, community cultural contexts, and solving problems.
The ability to work as a collaborative, cooperative, and congenial member of a close-knit scholarly research, practice, and administrative team, as well as work independently (experience in virtual team environments is a plus).
Detail-oriented; high degree of accuracy in all aspects of work.
Discipline and organizational ability to work in a hybrid environment both from a home-based office and on site at 7D offices.
Ability to respond to and accommodate dynamic priorities and schedules of faculty supervisors, including ability to set project calendars, provide reminders, and step into project management roles; ability to work independently.

Nice To Haves

Master's degree in Public Health, Social Work, Public Affairs, Psychology, American Indian Studies, or related fields.
Two years or more of Indigenous community engagement, community based participatory principles (CBPR) knowledge and experience.
Four to five years' experience working with tribal nations and American Indian or Alaska Native (AI/AN) communities in both urban and rural settings.
Knowledgeable in Indigenous research approaches.
Knowledgeable substance use/misuse, stigma, mental health, and public health practice in general and among AI/AN communities.
Ability to conduct one-on-one interviews and facilitation of focus groups, collect quantitative and qualitative data.
Familiarity with literature management software packages, e.g., EndNote, Zotero, etc. and qualitative software management and analysis software packages, e.g., Dedoose, Atlas.ti etc.
Experience working closely as a trusted resource with communities to identify needs, define strategy, develop action plans, identify deliverables, present results, measure outcomes, and provide recommendations.
Knowledgeable public health communication best practices and effective communication for different populations.
Familiarity with project management tools and/or software packages, e.g., MS Project, Smartsheet, etc.

Responsibilities

Research and Project Management (40%) This position will work with Seven Directions PIs and project leads to plan the integration of community engagement principles and cultural relevance to overdose prevention, Indigenous evaluation, mentoring and building workforce capacity development programs, urban Indian pilot sites and more into our communications strategies, convenings, technical assistance products, and technical assistance delivery. Ensure that all Seven Directions convenings agendas and processes are designed, executed and evaluated with culturally centered approaches including centering Indigenous knowledge and cultural teachings. Identify culturally congruent supports, cultural protocols for convening and other gatherings into convening planning and agenda. Plan for gifts and create a roster of special guest speakers for welcomes, prayers, and closings. Lead communication with tribal and urban Indian project sites to ensure team and meeting is respectful of cultural norms and community expectations. This position will support and facilitate in-person or virtual small to large convenings, community meetings, listening sessions, conference presentations, workshops, webinars, etc. Provide direct technical assistance via consultative meetings to tribal public health partners; Support the implementation of research projects as required, including plan, training and tool development. Coordinate and manage contract, subaward and IRB submissions, monitoring and renewal with UW PBSCI, ABC, OSP, IRB and other UW centers, community partners and sponsors.
Administration and Operations (35%) Develop and track timeline and work plan for culturally congruent supports for convenings, trainings, TA, and other gatherings in ASANA in collaboration with project lead. Submit invoices and honoraria, requests for supplies and services, through UW PBSCI finance department. Track and monitor subawards and contracts, ensure timely submission of required reporting. Coordinate travel logistics for in person meetings, with team. Work with PI and senior staff with auxiliary project management duties as requested and anticipate additional areas for support. Serve on 1-2 Seven Directions internal committees.
Research and Project Implementation (10%) The Program Operations Specialist supports the PI with and the project team with identifying and developing approaches to addressing Indigenous cultural needs for tribal site visits, virtual and in-person partner convenings, trainings, workshops and technical assistance delivery and dissemination products and processes. This position will support with tribal community partner and site recruitment for pilot and research projects, technical assistance, guest speakers for webinars and convenings, Advisory Board to ensure program success. Engage key stakeholders and partners from NNPHI, Safe States, NCIPC, and Tribal recipients of CDC grants to integrate cultural humility and cultural congruence in program implementation.
Research Study Design and Grant Preparation (10%) Assist with ongoing grant submissions. Support in developing contracts and subawards.
Dissemination of Findings (5%) Support the dissemination of research findings to variety of audiences and in a variety of formats, including academic publications, online forums, webinars and virtual and in-person presentations. Contribute to manuscript development and report writing as needed. Prepare meeting summaries, progress reports, study deliverables, journal articles and other written materials, and present study findings at meetings as needed. Identify and attend relevant conferences, trainings and relevant events to highlight Seven Directions’ work.
Lead Responsibilities Take a leadership role in developing and implementing culturally congruent and community engaged approaches to convenings, TA and webinars of various sizes both virtual and in person. Take a leadership role in the recruitment of community partners and site for pilot and research projects, TA, guest speakers, Advisory Board members, etc. Take a leadership role in developing and managing subawards with tribal or urban Indian partner sites. This position will support senior staff and faculty with coordinating students and provide mentorship and training on community engagement, cultural humility in research activities and public health practice for undergraduate and graduate students.