Re: qualifications and job description -Reply Charlie Hathaway 10 May 1999 09:25 EST
I agree with Bill. But I would suggest that a long-term view also be considered: Could a PhD leaving academia/research eventually come to understand institutional budgetary concerns and cost accounting standards? Probably. Could a CPA/CRA without research experience eventually come to understand what it is like to start an experiment on Monday, work on it all week, find out it was a flop on Friday, and then spend all day Saturday writing a grant proposal? Probably not. Remember: Marv Levy DID play college football! Charlie Hathaway At 08:45 AM 5/10/99 -0400, you wrote: >Mitchell, I think you should be quite flexible about your requirements. Folks >wander into research administration through a variety of routes, none of which >is automatically better than any of the others. There is no prescribed means >of preparation for this job. > >I recommend listing the bare minimum of qualifications (Master's required, >doctorate preferred; 3-5 years experience working in higher ed; etc.) but >listing the sorts of things you expect this person to do. Will s/he write >proposals? Then list proposal-writing experience. Create budgets or oversee >post-award accounting? Then mention those tasks, perhaps require some >experience. Find funding sources? Experience with funding agencies? Mention >that. > >But the most important things may be ability to work with faculty in stressful >situations; high degree of tolerance for ambiguity; ability to work on many >tasks at once; sense of humor; excellent communication skills, both written and >oral; and--most important of all--willingness to do whatever has to be done to >get proposals out the door. > >The trick, I think, is to write a job description which is flexible enough to >attract a bunch of highly qualified candidates, select the few most likely and >interview them; if they don't wash, keep going down the list. > >Regards and good luck, >Bill Campbell (Ph.D.) >Director, Grants & Research >University of Wisconsin-River Falls > > >====================================================================== > Instructions on how to use the RESADM-L Mailing List, including > subscription information and a web-searchable archive, are available > via our web site at http://www.hrinet.org (click on "Listserv Lists") >====================================================================== > > ************************************** Charles B. Hathaway, Ph.D., Director Office of Grant Support 908A Belfer Albert Einstein College of Medicine 1300 Morris Park Avenue Bronx, NY 10461 Phone: 718 430-3642 Fax: 718 430-8822 email: xxxxxx@aecom.yu.edu http://www.aecom.yu.edu/ogs ====================================================================== Instructions on how to use the RESADM-L Mailing List, including subscription information and a web-searchable archive, are available via our web site at http://www.hrinet.org (click on "Listserv Lists") ======================================================================