The Texas A&M School of Public Health (SPH) is seeking an assistant or associate faculty member to join the Department of Health Promotion and Community Health Sciences and to serve as the Research Director of the Center for Community Health Development. As a faculty member, the individual will devote half of his or her time to the department with responsibilities that include teaching, research, service, and mentorship of students. In the role of Research Director for the Center, the individual will work in conjunction with the Center Executive Committee to provide strategic direction for the Center. Specifically, the Research Director will direct efforts to obtain external research funding that aligns with the Center’s research focus and supports the research interests of faculty, research staff, and students affiliated with the Center. Additionally, the Research Director will conduct and manage their own research through the Center while also engaging faculty, research staff, and students in research opportunities. The Research Director will provide support for all research conducted through the Center and oversee and mentor Center research staff and students in their research efforts.

As noted on the SPH faculty search website, the ideal candidate will have a history of funded community health research and national recognition as a scholar of behavioral and community health. The candidate should have a strong record of academic experience. A history of establishing and maintaining academic community partnerships to support academic-community based research is required as well as a commitment to faculty, staff and student development.

Research Assistant:
The Center for Community Health Development recently partnered with the American Heart Association to evaluate the activities related to one of five national Implementation and Dissemination for Chronic Disease Prevention grants funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. CCHD is currently looking for a Research Assistant to work closely with the CCHD research team, Dr. Ken McLeroy and Ms. Whitney Garney. Responsibilities include managing data from project sites, maintaining a database of project information and providing technical assistance to project sites on reporting processes.

Community Outreach Workers:
The School of Public Health, the AgriLife Extension Service and CCHD’s National Community Health Worker Training Center have begun to lay the foundation for project planning, implementation and evaluation of the “Working on Wellness” project in Hidalgo County. For this project, the NCHWTC will hire two bilingual Community Outreach Workers to assist in conducting community assessments, engage in community outreach and education, and promote project activities related to healthy food choices and physical activity. Both positions will be located in Hidalgo County. For more information on the Community Outreach Worker positions, please visit the job postings here and here.