Description

POSITION SUMMARY

The Assistant Director of Corporate, Foundation, and Government Relations will join a growing team that supports external funding for research, teaching, and other projects in all disciplines at Grinnell College. In addition to helping faculty and staff members identify funding sources for their work or institutional projects, develop and submit proposals, and manage grants, the Corporate, Foundation, and Government Relations Office has also begun to support research development at Grinnell College (including developing and implementing programming for faculty members and celebrating scholarship on campus). The Assistant Director will play a lead role in these efforts, in collaboration with other members of the office and with partners across campus. We seek an intellectually curious, highly motivated, and collaborative person who is interested in fostering a supportive intellectual community, managing complex projects, and helping Grinnell faculty and staff members translate their ideas into successful grants.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Researches, prepares, and submits proposals and reports to external funding agencies:

• In cooperation with the Director, maintains a portfolio of major institutional grants.
• Conducts research on potential foundation, government, and corporate funding sources. 
• Writes, prepares, and submits proposals to funders. 
• Works closely with the Grants Accountant to monitor expenditures according to grant budgets.
• Coordinates with Director submission of financial and progress reports, both interim and final, in accordance with the terms of the grant. 
• Advises faculty, staff, and administrators on funding opportunities, interprets foundation interests to college constituencies, and ensures that special requirements in the development and presentation of proposals are communicated. 
• Encourages grant-seeking by faculty and staff, pursues opportunities to link grant-seeking with faculty and staff development, aids in developing proposals, and reviews them for accuracy, completeness, and clarity.

Cooperates with Director on office operations: 

• Assists in maintenance of official institutional files, recording all communication with and proposal submission and reporting to external funding entities. 
• Stays well-informed about college programs and initiatives, individual faculty and staff interests, and institutional priorities. 
• Maintains effective working relationships with the Associate Deans and other College leadership, as well as with individual members of the faculty and staff. 
• Serves as liaison between the College and foundations and governmental funding agencies, including briefing senior College officials on visits and arranging phone conferences and site visits.
• Serves as liaison between the College and professional organizations and networks relevant to the work of the Office. 
• Represents the College in regular meetings of professional organizations involved with grant seeking, grant making, and research development at regional and national levels, and makes presentations to disseminate best practices.

Creates and implements research development programming:

• Develops and implements research development programming to support College researchers, including but not limited to writing groups, information sessions, workshops, and opportunities for successful researchers to mentor colleagues. 
• Regularly assesses research development programming to ensure that the office provides an array of high-impact programming that meets the diverse needs of the College; communicates with researchers about their needs and interests for RD programming. 
• Collaborates with other offices that provide related programming to ensure that our offerings fit into the College’s overall menu of professional development offerings. 
• Advertises research development programming to faculty members and other audiences.

Supports the Vice President for Academic Affairs and the academic program as needed:

• Substitutes for Director as Secretary to the Faculty Executive Council and select meetings of the Committee for the Support of Faculty Scholarship, as needed 
• In cooperation with the Director, assumes additional duties at request of the Vice President for Academic Affairs 
• Collaborates with Dean’s Office staff on research development and faculty development programming.