Director, Intentional Design for an Equitable Academy

Overview of ACLS

Formed a century ago, the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) is a nonprofit federation of 81 scholarly organizations.  As the leading representative of American scholarship in the humanities and social sciences, ACLS’s core principle is that knowledge is a public good. As such, ACLS strives to promote the circulation of humanistic knowledge throughout society. In addition to stewarding and representing its member organizations, ACLS employs its endowment and $34 million annual operating budget to support scholarship in the humanities and social sciences and to advocate for its central role in the twenty-first century.

Job Summary

ACLS seeks an experienced academic in the humanities and social sciences to serve as Director, Intentional Design for an Equitable Academy (IDEA). The Director will design, implement, assess and report on programs that advance ACLS’s mission to support scholars and scholarship in the humanities and social sciences by encouraging the adoption of forward-thinking, humane academic best practices and resilient infrastructure. Reflecting the general values and aims of ACLS, IDEA’s initiatives seek to help :

• broaden the range of scholarly perspectives in American academia
• improve and strengthen academic culture and infrastructure by encouraging forward-looking practices and structures
• support projects and fields of study facing underinvestment in the academy
• make scholarship more accessible to the public.

As a member of the senior staff, the Director will collaborate with colleagues within the organization and across ACLS networks, including member societies and member institutions; will curate and facilitate forums for circulating knowledge and collaboration that bridge groups across our ecosystem, and design initiatives that improve scholars’ futures while helping scholars to navigate current systems.

Unit scope

Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship program and Mellon Mays Graduate and Professional Initiatives

Emphasizing mentoring, research support, and student cohort building, the Mellon Mays programs partner with member colleges and universities to identify and support students of great promise and to help them become scholars and professionals of the highest distinction. The Mellon Mays staff at ACLS are currently responsible for :

Intention Foundry

A forum for advancing equity within and across fields, in partnership with emerging scholars, ACLS member society leadership, and college / university interlocutors.

Digital Justice Grant Program

This program promotes and provides resources for projects at various stages of development that strengthen the intellectual domain of digital humanities, with particular attention to improving accessibility and to ensuring the co-creation and preservation of an expansive and inclusive landscape of materials and stories.

Responsibilities of the Director include but are not limited to :

IDEA Program Strategy and Leadership

Outreach and Development

Management and operations

Qualifications :

Compensation and Benefits

Base salary range : $175,000 - $200,000, commensurate with experience

ACLS offers a comprehensive benefits package; including medical, dental, vision, life, accidental death and disability insurance; generous time off benefits; a retirement savings plan, including employer contributions; and professional development support.