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Office of Student Research

Data Management Internship

Level: Undergraduate
Type of Position: Internship, For Credit
Contact: StevensonCenter@IllinoisState.edu
Deadline: April 27. 2020

Purpose of Position: The Data Management Intern provides key support to the Stevenson Center for Community and Economic Development. The Stevenson Center manages: interdisciplinary graduate programs in community and economic development; the Peace Corps recruitment office and Prep program for undergraduate students; and direct service projects to communities and organizations. The Data Management Intern will work closely with the director and program coordinator on the types of projects listed below.

Organizational Relationships: The Director, Senior Associate Director, Program Coordinator, and Staff Clerk will assign work, and the Data Management Intern will report accordingly on the execution of projects. The Director and Program Coordinator will conduct the final evaluation of work and product, with input from other staff.

Duties and Responsibilities are not in order of priority or percent of workload—needs will shift each semester, and staff members may assign other duties:

  1. Community Research: The Stevenson Center is under contract with McLean County to serve as the data analysis arm of the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council (CJCC). The data management intern's chief responsibility is to manage data files through a step-by-step process and check that the newest data are accurate. We regularly report details regarding the jail population to the CJCC, and the data management intern may write reports and publicly present these base findings. Graduate students with the Center also analyze patterns in: length of jail stay, recidivism, case processing time, mental health issues among inmates, jail bond and pre-trial services, and the public safety assessment. We meet with committees of the CJCC monthly and regularly communicate with the CJCC leadership. These efforts inform and support the data management intern, resulting in a powerful learning experience.
  2. Assessment: The Stevenson Center is committed to continuously improving our programs. Each year we conduct a set of assessment surveys and interviews with our students and alumni to gather their perspectives, which feed directly into our program review (official report to Illinois Board of Higher Education on several years of Center performance) and greatly inform recommendations for enhancing the Center's effectiveness as well as ensuring its sustainability. With supervision from the Program Coordinator, the Data Management Intern disseminates surveys and conducts face-to-face interviews. The Intern: conducts outreach as needed to ensure strong response rates. Collects, analyzes, and interprets quantitative and qualitative data. Identifies common themes in open-ended responses. Prepares summaries of findings. Collects and analyzes other Stevenson Center evaluation data as needed.
  3. Other Responsibilities: Occasionally scans, copies, collates, files, and/or archives documents. May support staff in database management and/or expansion of Stevenson Center digital archive and library. Additional duties may be assigned.

Knowledge/Skills/Abilities Required

  • Thorough knowledge of spelling, grammar, punctuation, and sentence/paragraph structure.
  • Knowledge of Excel and exposure to SPSS such that, with some instruction, the intern can independently perform analyses and create tables/charts.
  • Knowledge of PowerPoint for creating presentations.
  • Interview and/or survey skills.
  • Ability to operate standard office equipment and software.
  • Professionalism when making public presentations and interacting with students, alumni and stakeholders.

Supervisory Controls

The Director and Program Coordinator will most directly supervise the intern's daily work. As projects present themselves where the intern needs to work out of the office without supervision, she or he will work independently and professionally and report in regularly.

Environmental Demands

  1. Physical Requirements The individual in this position will be required to sit or stand and talk on the phone while performing the tasks above. Some tasks may require light lifting of documents and supplies and occasional travel to on-campus and off-campus locations.
  2. Work Environment The location will be in an on-campus office with adequate lighting and standard university physical working conditions.