Academic-Creative Generalist

Title: Academic-Creative Generalist (Part-time, 50%)

Location: Minneapolis United States

Full/Part Time

Part-Time

Regular/Temporary

Regular

Job Description:

About the Job

The Management Information Systems Research Center & the academic journal, Management Information Systems Quarterly, are seeking a part-time (0.5 FTE) Academic-Creative Generalist to help transform cutting-edge academic research published in the Management Information Systems Quarterly (MISQ) journal into compelling, accessible multimedia content. The ideal candidate combines strong intellectual and animation skills with creative storytelling and hands-on experience using AI tools to develop narratives, scripts, visual storyboards, animations, podcasts, and other digital artifacts based on content from academic research articles. This role will involve reading and evaluating academic papers, identifying, and synthesizing their key contributions, and translating complex research into engaging stories, characters, and animated visual/audio experiences for academic and practitioner audiences.

Duration: The initial appointment term is one year and may be renewed annually.

Role Expectations

Translate peer-reviewed academic research into compelling, accessible multimedia narratives (e.g., executive summaries, podcasts, narrated presentations, animation, and other digital artifacts) using AI tools without sacrificing intellectual accuracy or nuance.

• Read and critically evaluate academic papers: identify key research questions, theoretical contributions, methods, findings, limitations, and practical implications. (25%)
• Develop creative characters, scenarios, metaphors, narrative arcs, and dialogue that make abstract academic concepts understandable and engaging. (20%)
• Create and iterate scripts, storyboards, visual concepts, prompts, and scalable, repeatable AI-assisted production workflows that translate complex academic research into compelling multimedia artifacts. (35%)
• Collaborate closely with academic subject-matter experts/faculty to ensure that creative outputs remain faithful to the underlying research and evidence. (20%)

Qualifications

Required:

• BA/BS degree plus at least four years of relevant experience, or an advanced degree plus at least two years of relevant experience, or a combination of education and relevant work experience to equal at least eight years.
• Demonstrated ability to understand, analyze, and synthesize scholarly/academic research, ideally including empirical or quantitative research. Strong visual and conceptual thinking: ability to turn abstract theories, models, data, and research findings into visual metaphors and storyboards.
• Hands-on experience with generative AI and multimodal AI tools for storytelling, visual creation, animation, podcasts, or other multimedia artifacts, with demonstrated ability to move from research findings → narrative concept → script → visual/audio artifact, and the ability to construct repeatable creative pipelines.

Preferred:

• background spanning two or more of academia/research, journalism, science communication, creative writing, filmmaking/animation, design, data visualization, or AI-assisted media production.

Pay and Benefits

Pay Range: $40.00/hour

Time Appointment: 50% Appointment

Position Type: Civil-Service & Non-Faculty Labor Represented Staff

Please visit the Office of Human Resources website for more information regarding benefit eligibility.

The University offers a comprehensive benefits package that includes:

• Competitive wages, paid holidays, and generous time off
• Continuous learning opportunities through professional training
• Low-cost medical, dental, and pharmacy plans
• Healthcare and dependent care flexible spending accounts
• University HSA contributions
• Disability and employer-paid life insurance
• Employee wellbeing program
• Excellent retirement plans with employer contribution
• Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) opportunity
• Financial counseling services
• Employee Assistance Program with eight sessions of counseling at no cost