About the role
Proudly housed at the University of South Florida in the College of Behavioral and Community Sciences, the Florida Center for Behavioral Health Workforce (FCBHW) was commissioned by the Florida legislature through Senate Bill 330 (2024) "to support an adequate, highly skilled, resilient, and innovative workforce that meets the current and future human resources needs of the state’s behavioral health system in order to provide high-quality care, services, and supports to Floridians with, or at risk of developing, behavioral health conditions.”
The FCBHW is seeking a 12-month, tenured or tenure-track open rank professor specializing in research, evaluation, policy analysis, and educational training related to the behavioral health workforce. This faculty member will advance the Center’s mission through the development of a successful research agenda relevant to the development of a highly skilled behavioral health workforce. Faculty member’s tenure home will be one of the CBCS departments. The successful candidate will join a growing team committed to informing state policy and addressing workforce shortages in behavioral health.
Primary Responsibilities:
- Develop a successful research agenda relevant for Florida’s behavioral health workforce
- Collaborate with state agencies, service providers, and community partners to produce actionable research
- Teach and develop graduate-level courses in an area of specialization
- Mentor graduate students and early career scholars
Minimum Qualifications:
- Ph.D. in Psychology, Public Health, or related behavioral health field
- Evidence of scholarly productivity through peer reviewed publications, a successful grant portfolio, and other scholarly products
- Prior experience and demonstrated excellence in teaching at the undergraduate and graduate level.
- Evidence of successful service and professional engagement
- Potential for national/international professional recognition in area of expertise
Preferred Qualifications:
- Strong familiarity with workforce development issues in behavioral or mental health systems, including with workforce innovation (e.g., artificial intelligence, integrated care, workforce design & role deployment)
- Prior involvement with state or community-based behavioral health initiatives
- Successful experience with federal grants and funding
- Experience with both quantitative and qualitative methodologies
- Experience with community-based and participatory research methods
- Experience managing personnel, in a direct supervisory capacity or as PI on an extensive research project.
Review of applications will begin on or after November 26th, 2026, and continue until the position is filled.
The University of South Florida is a top-ranked research university serving approximately 50,000 students from across the globe at campuses in Tampa, St. Petersburg and USF Health. In 2025, U.S. News & World Report recognized USF with its highest overall ranking in university history, as a top 50 public university for the seventh consecutive year and as one of the top 15 best values among all public universities in the nation. U.S. News also ranks the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine in the highest tier, placing it as one of the top 16 medical schools in the nation and inside the top 10 among public universities. USF is a member of the Association of American Universities (AAU), a group that includes only the top 3% of universities in the U.S. With an all-time high of $750 million in research funding in 2025 and as a top 20 public university for producing U.S. patents, USF uses innovation to transform lives and shape a better future. The university generates an annual economic impact of nearly $10 billion for the state of Florida. USF’s Division I athletics teams compete in the American Conference. Learn more at www.usf.edu.