The Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice will launch in September 2018 in the College of Education at Temple University. It will be a translational research center focused on rethinking and restructuring higher education and social policies, practices, and resources to create opportunities for all students to complete college degrees.
Helping research create impact requires deep knowledge and meaningful activities in the areas of both research application and community engagement. The Hope Center aims to mitigate challenges undermining college attainment and the practitioner-researchers are responsible for contributing to that effort by ensuring that the challenges are accurately identified, understood, and addressed. The practitioner-researcher will work to ensure that the Hope Center’s research and communications efforts are tightly connected to the needs of communities of students, practitioners, policymakers, and other stakeholders. These projects will build awareness and impact positive changes with regard to the challenges facing vulnerable populations, such as former foster youth, returning citizens, and student-parents, as well as broader challenges such as affordable housing, food, and transportation. The practitioner-researcher will create practitioner-focused materials, including toolkits and explainers, policy briefs, and other deliverables. The practitioner-researcher will contribute to the planning and visioning for community engagement roles across multiple research projects. In addition, they will represent the Hope Center via national speaking engagements, media engagement, and in interactions with communities. Based on their set of skills and interests, the practitioner-researcher will report to either the Director of Research or the Director of Community Engagement and Research Application. They may also provide support for the Hope Center’s development activities and policy analytic activities, including quantitative analyses. Performs other duties as assigned.