Assistant Director of Global Research, Innovation and Partnerships Center for Global Engagement - UTK

Position Summary 

The Center for Global Engagement, (CGE), is hiring an Assistant Director for Global Research, Innovation and Partnerships to join a team of professionals who help UTK colleges and departments identify, establish, and strengthen connections with international partners across higher education, industry and government. 

Job Description 

The Assistant Director for Global Research, Innovation and Partnerships plays a critical role in strengthening international collaborations while ensuring research security and compliance. The AD supports UT's global vision and research innovation by engaging faculty and developing global research initiatives, supporting proposal development, and coordinating strategic international travel briefings. Additionally, this position monitors federal guidance on global research security, implements partner vetting processes, and identifies risks and opportunities for UT's international partnerships. The role also involves administrative oversight of global partnerships, data analysis, and process evaluation to align international engagement with UT's strategic vision.

Partnership Development and Faculty Engagement 

• Researches and recommends partnership opportunities to the GRIP Director and attends partnership meetings to build new partnerships for research and scholarly activities. 
• Contributes to the design and implementation of the Academy for Global Engagement faculty development program by developing curriculum, inviting speakers, researching and recommending new funding sources, connecting with donors and planning and overseeing all travel/experiences for the program.
• Coordinates and leads research-focused team-building activities across disciplines to foster collaboration and transdisciplinary engagement. 
• Provides personalized consultation, strategy development, and substantive guidance to faculty to support their research, scholarship, and creative activities. 
• Utilizes existing data to craft and provide country, partnership and potential funding briefings to identified travelers who are attending conferences and meetings overseas. 
• Uses PIVOT and other funding search platforms to identify funding opportunities to support faculty’s global research and engagement activities and match opportunities with UT faculty’s expertise through individual outreach, GRIP newsletter, and other methods.
• Researches foundation and funding agencies’ priorities and forecasts and identifies funding and networking opportunities to inform GRIP director.
• Provides proposal development support as needed. Proposal development support can include overall project management, writing and editing proposal content, managing document collection, and coordinating with other team members to ensure all required documents are complete, compliant, and responsive prior to the proposal deadline. 
• Provides strategic post-award support as needed, such as program delivery, workshop organization, international travel, and partnership networking.
• Collects, compiles, and analyzes global research data. Creates reports and presents to the Director of GRIP and ORIED leadership to influence decision making on improvements to tracking mechanisms, matrix, reporting frequency, design, and storytelling.
• Disseminates periodic reports highlighting the impact of global partnerships and their value add to faculty and the university more broadly. 
• Conducts research and generates briefing documents for related UT stakeholders on prospective partners.

Partnership Security and Compliance 

• Keeps abreast of US Federal Agency guidance on research security, regulatory, or compliance that can impact global partnerships. 
• Shares periodic reports with CGE leadership and provide consultation on best practices.
• Provides input to the Director of GRIP and the AD for GSRR to formalize and implement partner vetting process and engagement strategy.
• Identifies opportunities and potential risks for the University's international collaborations. 
• Regularly works with Export Control and the AD for GSRR to monitor emerging threats with partners and their geographic location. 
• Stays attuned to the dynamic requirements and contexts surrounding research security in a global environment and provides suggestions to internal policy changes based on new requirements.
• Works with GSRR, ORIED, and other appropriate stakeholders to lead or participate in research security briefings for international travelers

Administration

• Meets and discusses with the Director of GRIP to improve upon the existing partnersh