The Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC), part of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI), is a multidisciplinary community dedicated to research and training in issues of international security. The Center brings together scholars, policymakers, area specialists, business people, and other experts to focus on a wide range of security questions of current importance.

CISAC grew out of Stanford University's pioneering commitment to explore concerns about the escalating arms competition that marked the decades following World War Two. With the founding of the Arms Control and Disarmament Program in 1970, Stanford University became one of the first academic institutions in the nation to commit faculty and resources to the study of the critical issues surrounding the Cold War and the ability of great powers for the first time in history to destroy each other's societies.

 

Research and Administrative Staff Positions at CISAC  

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Administrative Staff: Social Science Research Assistant

This position has a fixed-term of 24 months.

Stanford’s Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC) seeks talented individuals who desire to work in a multidisciplinary community dedicated to research and training issues of international security. The Center brings together scholars, policymakers, area specialists, business people, and other experts to focus on a wide range of security questions of current importance. The qualified candidate will partner with Consulting Professor Philip Taubman by providing critical research assistance.

This is a two-year fixed term position with the possibility of renewal. It is an exempt position designated at the 2P1 level. A general summary of the benefits available to employees of Stanford University can be found at the following link: http://benefits.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/

 

Job Description:

The research assistant will work with Phil Taubman to conduct research, draft reports, and assist with a range of research and administrative needs. Incumbent will assist main author on a biography of George P. Shultz, who served as secretary of state during the Reagan administration and as labor secretary, director of the Office of Management and Budget and treasury secretary during the Nixon administration. This will be the first comprehensive biography of Shultz. It will be done with Shultz’s cooperation and exclusive access to his personal papers but author will retain full editorial control.

Research areas will include:

• Biographical research spanning Shultz’s career, starting with his childhood and extending across his academic, government and business service, as well as later years; biographical research about American and foreign leaders with whom Shultz interacted.
• Preparing a detailed chronology of Mr. Shultz’s life and career.
• Researching domestic and international issues that he engaged during his career, including labor, civil rights and economic policy matters during the Nixon administration and defense and intelligence issues that played out during the Reagan administration; the Iran-Contra affair; Cold War history, particularly US-Soviet relations, US-China relations, the Middle East; the rise of suicidal terrorism.
• Reviewing archival materials at the National Archives, The Nixon Library, the Reagan Library, the Hoover Institution and other collections. Including preparing and tracking requests to seek the declassification of government documents and records.
• Organizing and maintaining large data sets and assembling so that it can be efficiently exploited during the writing phase of the project and serve as the basis for endnotes and fact-checking during the editing phase of the project.
• Preparing research reports on various aspects of Mr. Shultz’s career and the economic, national security and other domestic and international issues he engaged during his career.
• Conducting interviews of individuals frequently along with Philip Taubman, and sometimes individually.
• Working with Philip Taubman to prepare detailed chapter outlines.
• Among the administrative tasks are coordinating a very busy calendar, arranging complex domestic and international travel, reimbursing various research expenses and drafting and sending correspondence.
• Will require travel of approximately 5% time.

Qualifications/Skills:

Applicants must posses a bachelor’s level college degree and minimum of 3 years, 5 years desired, of significant University level research experience, preferably in diplomatic and economic issues, history and in biographical research. Other qualifications include:

• Familiarity with 20th century American and world diplomatic and economic history, in particular the history of the Nixon and Reagan administrations, knowledge of international affairs specifically Cold War history, including US-Soviet relations.
• Excellent written communications skills.
• Experience with advanced research skills including fact-checking, picture and map research, outlining research, footnotes and compiling biographies, as well as organizing and managing large volumes of research materials in bibliographic software programs.
• A commitment to accuracy and meticulous crediting of sources.
• Proven record of thinking and writing clearly and insightfully about public policy issues and historical matters.
• Proven ability to work productively and collegially with colleagues in an academic environment.
• Incumbent must have the ability to meet deadlines, be very organized, self-driven, and have outstanding Power Point, word, Excel, and calendaring skills.
• Travel required within the United States and abroad required approximately 5% of responsibilities.

Philip Taubman

Philip Taubman is the author of “The Partnership: Five Cold Warriors and Their Quest to Ban the Bomb” (HarperCollins, 2012), and “Secret Empire: Eisenhower, the CIA and the Hidden Story of America’s Space Espionage” (Simon & Schuster, 2003). Before coming to Stanford as a consulting professor in 2008, he worked for thirty years as a reporter and editor at The New York Times, including stints as Moscow bureau chief, Washington bureau chief and deputy editorial page editor. He also serves at Stanford as associate vice president for university affairs and secretary of the Board of Trustees.

To Apply
The Shultz biography projected is expected to take three to five years. A minimum commitment of two years is required. Applicants should be available to start work this spring or summer or no later than Sept. 4, 2012. The job is based at Stanford and applicants should be prepared to relocate to the San Francisco Bay Area if selected (relocation expenses will not be reimbursed).

Applicants should submit a resume and cover letter outlining why they want to work on a biography of George Shultz and what skills they believe they would bring to the project. Please attach the cover letter to the resume and upload as one document.

To apply, go to the Stanford Jobs website. Job position #47012. 

Stanford University is an equal opportunity employer. 

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Stanford Student Positions at CISAC

If you are interested in applying for these Stanford student positions please email your resume, transcript, writing sample (maximum 5 pages), and cover letter (optional) to Dmitry Soustin at dsoustin@stanford.edu. Please note these positions are open to Stanford students only.

Undergraduate Research Assistant Positions

CISAC is seeking a Stanford undergraduate student to work with Dr. Gail Lapidus on a project focused on recent Russian policy in dealing with rising nationalism and xenophobia. The job would require excellent knowledge of Russian language, and would involve searching, reviewing, synthesizing and summarizing relevant articles in Russian governmental, media and internet sources.

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Research Assistant

Research assistant will assist Professor Martha Crenshaw with interactive website construction linked to her NSF-funded project on “mapping terrorist organizations.” Knowledge of HTML 4.01, Javascript, CSS 2, AJAX, PHP, and MySQL required. For this position, no writing sample is required.