Director of the Center for the Humanities

Date posted: March 9, 2022
Deadline to apply: April 1, 2022

Arts & Sciences at Washington University is seeking to fill the position of Director of the Center for the Humanities.  The ideal candidate will be a scholar at the rank of Professor at Washington University with a strong, clear vision of the role of the Humanities at Washington University and beyond, now and into the future. The new Director will be a strategic, inclusive thinker with an appreciation for interdisciplinary connections, who can galvanize, enhance, and lead our diverse community of scholars, students, and staff. As with other directorships in Arts & Sciences, the individual will retain a primary academic appointment in a home department. 

The Director of the Center for the Humanities at Washington University in St. Louis is charged with executing the mission of the Center, which is to facilitate “the labor of humanists by nurturing innovative research, transformative pedagogy, and vibrant community engagement locally and globally.” 

Duties include: 
•    Being an effective advocate for the humanities on campus 
•    Linking the mission of the Center with the goals of the Arts & Sciences strategic plan 
•    Raising the national and international profile of the Center 
•    Nurturing innovative disciplinary and interdisciplinary projects that represent the full range of humanities scholarship on campus 
•    Identifying and facilitating opportunities for collaboration between faculty, departments, programs, and other entities on campus 
•    Working with faculty in developing programs and events  
•    Providing training and support for humanities faculty and graduate students applying for fellowships and grants 
•    Supporting innovative humanities graduate education and diverse career pathways through initiatives like the Redefining Doctoral Education (RDE) program  
•    Expanding public-facing and community-engaged scholarship, teaching, and service 
•    Sustaining Center programs that support research and collaboration, such as the Faculty Fellows program, Graduate Fellows program, faculty seminars, and reading and writing groups  
•    Managing important undergraduate programs, such as the Children’s Studies minor, the Medical Humanities minor, and the Merle Kling Undergraduate Honors Program 
•    Overseeing the Center, its budget, and operations; supervising and mentoring Center staff 
•    Overseeing grant applications and working with the development office to raise funds and secure large-scale grants 
•    Collaborating with the Center’s executive committee in managing and expanding the Center’s programming 

To apply, please submit a CV and brief cover letter to Hannah Ishmael (hannahi@wustl.edu) by Friday, April 1, 2022. Nominations are also welcome.

If you have questions, please feel free to reach out to any member of the search committee.