Re: qualifications and job description -Reply Steven R. Hoagland, Ph.D. 10 May 1999 09:47 EST
I agree in part with Bill and Charlie, but find myself wondering about the implicit assumption that good technicians make good managers. However, that is probably best left for a management listserv. Cheers! Steve Hoagland Charlie Hathaway wrote: > 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") > ======================================================================