Senior Program Officer, CORE-STEM Scholar Pipeline Project (S2P2)

Posted by on October 10, 2010

Senior Program Officer
CORE-STEM Scholar Pipeline Project (S2P2)

Job Summary
Position: S2P2 Senior Program Officer
Salary: Competitive; Commensurate with Experience
Education: Bachelor’s Degree (BA, BS, etc.)
Location: Philadelphia, PA; Newark, NJ; Boston, MA; Charlotte, NC
Job Category: Administration, Communications, Planning, Project Management, Research
Area of Focus: Education & Academia, Children & Youth
Sector: Nonprofit
Type: Part-time
Language(s): English
Last Day to Apply: November 5, 2010

Job Description

About CORE
College Opportunity Resources for Education (CORE) is a federal tax-exempt organization designed to provide scholarships and college prep assistance to high school students. Our scholarships are only applicable to students who reside in Philadelphia, for now. CORE is a nonprofit initiative designed to unite communities around the goal of ensuring that all of our children have access to college. CORE was formed in September 2003 under the leadership of U.S. Congressman Chaka Fattah. Our premier program, the CORE Philadelphia Scholarship, is the first if its kind in the nation to offer all high school seniors – whether from the public, private, charter or parochial systems – in Philadelphia a unique opportunity to attend select Pennsylvania colleges and universities. Over the past seven years, CORE has awarded over 16,000 Philadelphia students a total of more than $27 million dollars.

Position Overview
Senior Program Officer sought to cover program territory across three cities to support the expansion efforts of a federally-funded college scholarship program. The CORE Stem Scholar Pipeline Project (S2P2) is an initiative designed to build and support an academic and practical skills pipeline for middle school students exploring a career within a range of growing STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics)
industry careers. The program territory includes the cities of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Newark, New Jersey; Boston, Massachusetts; and Charlotte, North Carolina.

Responsibilities
You’ll facilitate the work of the CORE STEM Scholars Pipeline (S2P2) Director by providing critical day-to-day oversight and administrative/logistical support of program operations. As a subject matter expert, work closely with the Director in maintaining the Program’s relationships with multiple external parties by representing, interpreting and explaining the Program to applicants, grantees and other constituents, elevating all major issues, final constituent decisions and precedent-setting requests to the Director. Make site visits and proactive telephone calls, conduct informational and/or initial meetings with applicants, maintaining ongoing communication with grantees. Work with Director on researching and identifying program consultants and panelists, as necessary. Work closely with Director on conceptualization and realization of STEM industry activities for continued STEM engagement among grantees, including multiple STEM-career roundtables, workshops, after school tutoring, project-based learning opportunities, and fieldtrips per year, as well as publications. Review and confer with Director as appropriate, on discretionary grants. Prepare summaries of progress by grantees and communicate concerns and updates to the Director. Conceptualize content and compose articles and descriptive copy for the Program’s website and print/online publications.

You’ll work in collaboration with the Executive Director, Social Media Strategist and other CORE personnel on projects where efforts naturally overlap, and as needed, ensuring smooth and efficient day-to-day operations.

And, you’ll work closely with the Director and other staff in all phases of S2P2 program implementation including: scholarship recruitment and community application awareness; external communication involving the program’s website; researching local STEM-related activities to populate a regional activities database for S2P2 grantees to maintain their connection to the stem-industries and ultimately nurture a desire to major in a STEM-field college major; print and electronic correspondence and large mailings; tracking and processing incoming applications; monitoring/reporting of grants (both interim and final reports); program evaluation; conception and planning of annual Peer Review Panels and other public events including STEM industry careeer roundtables & gatherings, mentor/mentee activities, lectures, and trips; managing database updates; and, creation and distribution of annual program guidelines.

You’ll need to remain aware of the big picture of what is happening in the forefront of STEM-learning opportunities for high-school aged students, and constantly bring that knowledge to bear on the work of the Program, actively sharing perceived trends and other information with the Director and other staff.

Qualifications
To be selected, you’ll need a Bachelor’s Degree, with a minimum of 5 years of experience serving the education community and/or in educational research, ideally with a broad knowledge of STEM resources for a local context.

Knowledge of general office practices and procedures is essential.

You’ll need strong organizational skills and an aptitude for program development and administration. The job requires deep knowledge of, and commitment to the field of educational academic support services in the STEM fields. You’ll need to have intellectual curiosity and an interest in cross-disciplinary practices and activities. We require excellent written and oral communication skills, including accurate message-taking, professional composition, proofreading and editing skills, grammatical correctness, style appropriateness, formatting consistency and attention to overall completeness of documents and web content.

You’ll need effective interpersonal skills to successfully interact with a variety of people, including assorted local School District employees and high school counselors, parents, applicants, the private-sector STEM community, grant recipients, and the general public with diverse cultures and backgrounds. You must be skilled in analyzing information, situations, practices or procedures to define the problem or objective, identify relevant factors, formulate logical and objective conclusions, and recognize alternatives and their
implications.

Fluency is required in the Microsoft Office Suite (Excel, Outlook, Word, PowerPoint).

Fluency in Adobe Acrobat and Photoshop and Apple iTunes are desirable. Experience and proficiency with Microsoft Access and knowledge of basic HTML are helpful as are good word processing skills (50+ w.p.m.). You must be comfortable assembling and operating basic A/V equipment. Working knowledge of Basecamp, and fluency in ExpressionEngine, WordPress or other web content management systems is also desirable.

Valid driver’s license and ability to drive preferred. You must be able to attend meetings and events which are after standard business hours or on weekends.

Salary: Competitive; commensurate with experience.

How to Apply
Interested, qualified applicants should submit letters of application and resumes to:
CORE SCHOLARSHIPS
Attn: S2P2 Search Committee
12th Floor East Tower
Philadelphia, PA 19102
Or send your application via email to personnel@corescholars.org.
Note: CORE Scholarships is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
For more information, please visit http://www.corescholars.org/about/jobs.