James Madison University (JMU) is seeking applicants for the Director of the African, African American, and Diaspora Studies Center. We are looking for an advanced associate or full professor appointable in any of the ten academic departments of the College of Arts and Letters, which houses the center. Field of specialization is open.
This is a 12-month tenured appointment that will begin August 25, 2022. The Director reports to the Dean of Arts and Letters and works collaboratively and inclusively with faculty and staff in the college, university, and community to advance the mission and goals of the Center. We are looking for a leader who can contribute to and support programming that is committed to racial and social justice. The Center and its affiliates value work that is transformational, inclusive, sustainable, and equitable. This visionary thinker and leader will have strong interpersonal skills as well as competencies and experience in managing an academic unit, center, or institution. The leader will also be skilled at overseeing, growing, and sustaining programs. The Director will demonstrate capacity to work collaboratively with 80+ faculty affiliates, and internal and external boards to develop and implement timely, inventive, and effectual strategic plans and policies.
The African, African American, and Diaspora (AAAD) Studies Center provides interdisciplinary knowledges, programming, and initiatives related to Black peoples, histories, cultures, languages, economics, technologies, philosophies, ideas, and socio-political structures. The core mission is to serve student-faculty constituencies which have academic interests in the peoples, cultures, and institutions of Africa and the African Diaspora. The Center is built on the principle of effective inter-departmental cooperation, particularly regarding core curriculum courses on Africa and the African Diaspora.
The College of Arts and Letters at James Madison University is committed to diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice, welcomes diversity in its myriad forms, and contests all forms of discrimination.
Duties and Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:
- Provide visionary leadership for the AAAD Center.
- Support affiliated faculty, staff, and students in pursuance of the Center’s mission and strategic plan.
- Promote policies and strategies designed to establish the AAAD Studies Center as a leader in the field.
- Promote a collaborative culture for affiliates, partners, and communities.
- Support decolonized AAAD curriculum and pedagogy.
- Facilitate consensus-building and transparency in decision-making.
- Foster a collaborative culture based on open communication with the dean(s), faculty, staff, students, alumni, and university administration.
- Promote the Center as a standard-bearer of inclusive, intersectional space and experiences.
- Oversee the Center’s budget, personnel, and space.
- Oversee fundraising initiatives for the Center.
- Align the needs of the Center with the college and university strategic plans.
- Manage external and internal governance for the Center.
- Teach (1:1 load) and contribute to the curriculum.
Qualifications
- Terminal degree in any field represented by Arts and Letters, with particular focus on AAAD Studies.
- Strong record of leadership.
- Strong record of artistic or scholastic research, publication, and/or performance.
- Strong record of integrating and amplifying diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice efforts.
- Strong record of, or interest, in grant writing.
- Experience in strategic planning, budgeting, programming, community engagement, and effective personnel administration.
- Proven ability to articulate the values of AAAD Studies to internal and external constituents.
- Desire to advocate for students and faculty.