"Community Engagement Program Lead"

The new NSF-supported Center for Land Surface Hazards program at the University of Michigan, Department of Earth and Environmental Science is looking for a Community Engagement Program Lead to direct community engagement activities and research translation for the general public. This leadership position serves as the strategic and operational owner of the Center for Land Surface Hazards (CLaSH) Major Activity 6 (MA6) Community Engagement and Collaboration. Reporting to the Assistant Director and working closely with the Executive Team, the Program Lead is charged with designing, executing, and evaluating programs that translate CLaSH cutting-edge research into actionable standards of practice, with a critical focus on ethical engagement and enhancing disaster resilience among diverse and vulnerable populations.

The Community Engagement Program Lead will perform the following duties and responsibilities;

Provide Strategic Program Ownership & Financial Management by serving as the MA6 Program Lead, including driving the strategic development, execution, and evaluation of all community engagement and research translation initiatives. The Program lead will provide functional supervision for the Major Activity, overseeing the contributions from about a dozen faculty members, students, government research scientists and education software developers. Manage the MA6 budget, including full authority to approve spending for events, travel, and participant support costs. Coordinate groups of paid volunteer participants (e.g., public community members and hazard professionals) for simulations and workshops, ensuring successful recruitment, stipend processing, and training logistics. Lead the development and coordination of major annual Center workshop and stakeholder events, including the CLaSH Annual Meeting and the CLaSH Stakeholder Workshop, managing all logistics for MA6-related attendance, meetings, and travel.

Provide expertise for specialized immersive program design and delivery. The program lead will oversee the development and successful deployment of immersive role-playing simulations for both community preparedness and responsible disaster fieldwork training, leveraging the ViewPoint SaaS platform. Act as the primary non-technical partner to scenario development experts and educational specialists (e.g., EarthScope), ensuring the immersive simulation content and pedagogy meet program goals for responsible disaster engagement and learning outcomes. Translate Center research outcomes into accessible, high-impact training materials and develop dissemination strategies.

Provide high-level external relations and partnership integration. Program lead will cultivate and manage CLaSH's highly varied stakeholder network, which includes state and federal agencies (e.g., USGS, Alaska DGGS), academic partners (e.g., NSF-funded facilities), and local community leaders (e.g., Chilkat Indian Village). Facilitate the bidirectional flow of information between Center researchers and external practitioners, ensuring that community and agency needs directly inform research priorities and that Center findings are rapidly translated into new standards of practice. Serve as the content coordinator for the CLaSH website and online hub, collaborating with technical partners to ensure data, research findings, and educational resources are disseminated openly, adhering to FAIR and CARE principles.

Data, Evaluation, and Process Improvement. Maintain a strong grounding in social science data analysis to help establish metrics, organize program data, and track participation across all MA6 activities. Work closely with the external evaluator to facilitate participant surveying and ensure the accurate capture of data necessary for measuring program impact, particularly related to broadening participation and disaster resilience. Develop and implement streamlined record-keeping and communication workflows for MA6 to enhance operational efficiency and support evidence-based programmatic decision-making.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Communications, Public Administration, Public Policy, Social Science, Natural Hazards or a related field.
• Minimum of five (5) years of experience managing complex, multi-stakeholder programs, preferably within a university research, government, or non-profit environment.
• Supervisory experience of complex teams.
• Demonstrated experience managing program budgets, events, and travel.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's degree (e.g., MPA, MPH, M.A. in Strategic Communication) or equivalent advanced professional training.
• Experience with immersive learning environments, role-playing simulations, or professional development curricular design.
• Experience working with or in the hazards community (e.g., emergency management, geoscience, climate resilience).
• Familiarity with social science concepts, including survey design and basic data analysis techniques (e.g., descriptive statistics).

This is a full-time, 12-month term-limited position with a possibility of renewal based on the availability of funding, the availability of work, and overall successful performance.

Interested applicants should provide a cover letter detailing their specific interest in the position, CV and contact information for three references.