DEPARTMENT: Office of Sponsored Programs
POSITION: Compliance Specialist
SALARY: (Grade 5) The position offers a competitive salary with excellent benefits including some (taxable) tuition exemption.

Responsibilities:
1. Reporting to the Director of the Office of Sponsored Programs, the individual in this position will have primary responsibility for assuring the college's compliance with all federal and state requirements for the protection of human subjects in the research and the ethical conduct of research. The College's Federal Wide Assurance requires review of human subjects in all research undertaken at the college, including doctoral dissertation research. The college's Institutional Review Board (IRB) reviews an average of 350 to 400 new protocols annually. In addition, as many of those protocols involve multiple year data collection time frames, there is a sizable number of protocols which require continuing review annually.
a. Responsibilities require an in-depth knowledge of and continuing education in federal and state human subjects protections regulations.
b. The Compliance Specialist is directly responsible for conducting preliminary review, routing, and tracking all applications to the TC IRB.
c. Position serves as primary point of contact for technical assistance concerning the application process, regulatory and administrative guidance, and inquiries about application status.  As such, it requires extensive contact with faculty, staff and students

d. Position has primary responsibility for conducting required training in humans subjects protections for all investigators and project staff.
e. The two primary vehicles for their review of research protocols are (1) monthly meetings of the IRB committee (a committee chaired by the Associate Dean and comprised of 12 to 15 faculty) and (2) frequent and periodic expedited reviews of protocols (involving 2-3 members of the IRB). The person in this position is responsible for coordinating all aspects of those reviews and communicating the results of those reviews to the principal investigators, as well as maintaining all paper and electronic records of the application and review process.
f. The college will move from a paper based to an electronic application, review and record keeping system provided by Columbia University during the 04-05 academic year.  The position will have primary oversight of the implementation process and will provide end-users (faculty, students, reviewers) with training in the use of the system.
2. Related to the protection of human subjects in research, emerging federal guidelines will require extensive, college wide training of faculty and many professional staff in the ethical conduct of research. Regulations pertaining to this requirement are still in development, but preliminary releases of those regulations indicate 8 to 10 separate areas (e.g., conflict of interest policies, scientific misconduct policies, intellectual property policies, etc.) which will require training and certification. The individual in this post will have primary responsibility for assuring the college's compliance with these regulations. As with human subjects, this will require the development of post training materials and processes to verify certification.
Required Qualifications:
1. Excellent organizational skills and the ability to create and sustain both computer-based and paper-based files in support of office activities and functions.
2. Excellent interpersonal skills, particularly with respect to working with faculty and students who are facing tight deadlines for submission of proposals.
3. A social or behavioral sciences background, with an advanced degree in an appropriate area.
4. Strong computer and database management skills to support the online review and identification of funding sources and opportunities, and the distribution of information regarding those opportunities to appropriate targeted offices and individuals.
Desired Qualifications:
1. Previous employment in a university sponsored program or compliance office, or experience in the management of a human research project.

Please send resume and cover letter including salary requirements to:
Paul A. Kran, Director, Office of Sponsored Programs
Teachers College, Columbia University
Box 151, 525 W. 120 Street
New York, NY 10027
Email(preferred): xxxxxx@tc.edu
Inquiries may be directed to the Employment Manager xxxxxx@columbia.edu
The search will remain open until the position is filled.

Teachers College as an institution has long been committed to a policy of equal opportunity in employment.

Paul A. Kran, Director
Office of Sponsored Programs
Teachers College, Columbia University
525 West 120th Street, Box 151
New York, NY 10027
(t.) 212/678-4106
(f.) 212/678-8110
www.tc.edu/osp

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