Program Associate - Higher Education Program_

Washington

New America’s Higher Education Program (ewamerica.org/higher-education/about/) is looking to add an entry-level program associate to our team. We seek candidates with an interest in learning more about federal higher education policy, and who are highly organized to help us with administrative functions on our team. New America is a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy institute that is dedicated to realizing the promise of America in an era of rapid technological and social change. The vision of the Higher Education Program is a higher education system that is accessible, affordable, equitable, and accountable for helping students lead fulfilling and economically secure lives.

Candidates will support existing or new research projects to identify and/or develop promising student-centered federal policy recommendations or reforms. Additionally, we expect candidates to help effectively communicate ideas to policymakers, educators, the media, and other key audiences, including through writing or co-authoring compelling policy papers, briefs, blogs, talking to media, and supporting or participating in public events. About 30 percent of the role will require supporting the administrative functions of the team, including helping plan and organize meetings and events, helping book travel, and tracking various legislative priorities.

The ideal candidate is intellectually curious, entrepreneurial, a team player, committed to creating more equitable higher education outcomes, highly organized, detail oriented, and able to help form new ideas in federal higher education policy.

Primary Responsibilities:

+ Support research projects. This includes performing literature reviews, and qualitative and quantitative analysis. Please note, candidates do not need a strong quantitative background, but should have experience interpreting descriptive statistics.

+ Contribute to various written products. This includes authoring and co-authoring blogs, policy briefs, reports, and other documents and deliverables for the general public, policymakers, the media, and other stakeholders.

+ Assist the higher education team with administrative functions. This includes helping to plan meetings and events (including calendar management, ordering food, setting up event and meeting spaces, note taking), booking travel, helping with reimbursement processes, and using internal databases to help track our legislative priorities. Up to 30 percent of time will be dedicated to administrative task work.

+ Be a public representative for New America. This includes presenting at various external events, including panels, conferences, and symposia.

Qualifications and Requirements:

+ Our program associate position is entry-level. Some experience (e.g. a prior internship or coursework) in higher education policy is a plus.

+ Experience conducting research and ability to learn how to perform some light quantitative analysis for policy development and qualitative research protocols with mentorship from senior staff.

+ Strong writing, editing, and verbal communication skills—candidates should be able to communicate ideas clearly and concisely.

+ Excellent organizational skills and keen attention to detail—candidates should have the ability to prioritize work and manage time on multiple projects and tasks to meet deadlines.

+ Demonstrated ability to work both independently and collaboratively—candidates should be self-motivated, but also enthusiastic team players open to helping on existing projects, giving and receiving feedback, and working in a collaborative environment.

+ Curiosity, eagerness, and ability to develop new knowledge and skills.

+ Inclined to think independently and challenge conventional wisdom in education policy.

Location:

This is a hybrid position requiring presence in our DC office on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

Application Process:

Submit a resume and cover letter explaining how you meet the qualifications and requirements for the position. Priority will be given to applications submitted by July 8 th .

Compensation & Benefits:

This position is a full-time role with benefits. New America offers a highly competitive benefits package that includes health care, dental, and vision coverage; a generous retirement plan; observes all federal holidays; 20 days of paid time off (combined vacation and sick days) in your first year of employment and 30 days of paid time off in subsequent years; 12 weeks of paid parental leave; and an office-wide closure between Christmas and New Year. The starting salary range for this role is $58,000-$62,000. This is a bargaining unit position.

Originality and Transparency:

At New America, we value authentic voices and intellectual property rights. All application materials, including cover letters, writing samples, and any other submissions, must be solely your own original work. The use of AI text generation tools like ChatGPT, language models, or other artificial intelligence writing assistants is strictly prohibited for any part of your job application. Submissions found to contain AI-generated content will be disqualified from consideration. Applicants have a responsibility to be fully transparent about authorship and any tools or resources utilized. We celebrate human ingenuity and want to hear your genuine thoughts and experiences.

No phone calls or emails, please.

New America is an equal opportunity employer committed to hiring a diverse workforce at all levels of the organization thereby creating a culture that allows us to better serve our clientele, our employees and our communities. We value and encourage the contributions of our employees and strive to create an environment where everyone can reach their full potential and drive outstanding results. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, national origin, age, sex, religion, disability, sexual orientation, marital status, veteran status, gender identity or expression, or any other basis protected by local, state, or federal law. This policy applies with regard to all aspects of one’s employment, including hiring, transfer, promotion, compensation, eligibility for benefits, and termination. This is a bargaining unit position.

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