Faculty Director

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POSITION SPECIFICS

Position Overview

The Penn State Imagining America Search Committee invites applications for a full-time Faculty Director position for Imagining America (IA), a national organization hosted at Penn State whose mission is to bring together scholars, artists, designers, humanists, and organizers to imagine, study, and enact a more just and liberatory ‘America’ and world. Working across institutional, disciplinary, and community divides, IA strengthens and promotes public scholarship, cultural organizing, and campus change that inspires collective imagination, knowledge-making, and civic action on pressing public issues.

The Faculty Director is an academic administrative role who would be tenure eligible in one of the three colleges: Arts & Architecture, Liberal Arts, and Health & Human Development, preferably with a research profile that aligns with the mission and values of IA. The Faculty Director will lead a team of 2-4 professionals with administrative and programmatic duties, and will work closely with the Imagining America National Advisory Board to collaboratively advance and embody IA’s mission, values, and goals, advocating for and strengthening arts, humanities, and design methodologies within and beyond the cultural disciplines.

The Faculty Director reports to the Penn State Provost’s Office and has a secondary reporting relationship to IA's National Advisory Board (NAB). The Faculty Director also has a dotted line to the Dean of the College in which they are appointed. The Faculty Director has responsibility for leadership in four distinct, but interrelated, areas: National Advocacy and Thought Leadership; Organizational Leadership; Engaged Scholarship and Creative Practice; Institutional and External Engagement.

This position is scheduled to begin on July 1, 2027. Salary and benefits will be competitive and commensurate with the successful candidate’s qualifications and experience. This is an in-person position. Regular on-campus presence is an essential function of this position.

Key Responsibilities

National Advocacy and Thought Leadership

●     Serve as IA’s national advocate and spokesperson to articulate IA’s vision, provide intellectual leadership, and respond thoughtfully and strategically to the challenges and possibilities of the moment.

●     Represent IA at conferences and public events and strengthen relationships with higher education networks, government and policymakers, philanthropic organizations and foundations to advance IA's mission. 

●     Contribute to and shape national conversations on higher education’s public role and the contributions of humanities, arts, and design to community flourishing through research, publications, presentations, and public engagement.

Organizational Leadership

●     Partner with the National Advisory Board and PSU as the host institution to set IA’s vision, assess higher education trends, and execute strategic plans that advance mission, impact, and sustainability with attention to political, cultural, and institutional complexities.

●     Ensure strong governance, fiduciary oversight, compliance, reporting, and financial sustainability through budget management and diversified revenue, e.g. grants, philanthropic support, membership growth, and institutional partnerships.

●     Lead IA’s national staff and core initiatives - including the annual conferences, research activities, institutes, member programs, and evaluation processes, while strengthening organizational culture and learning.

●     Cultivate and mentor emerging leaders on member campuses and in the field through initiatives such as the PAGE Fellowship and Undergraduate JGS Fellows.

Engaged Scholarship and Creative Practice

●     Advance IA’s rich legacy of public and community-engaged scholarship, creative practice, and collaboration.

●     Catalyze interdisciplinary engaged research initiatives connecting the host institution, IA’s national higher education network, and community partners around issues of higher education and public significance.

●     Align scholarly work with IA’s strategic priorities to foster collaborative research and shared learning across campus and national partners.

Institutional and External Engagement

●     Build and sustain strong relationships with the host institution, consortium members, and organizational partners that catalyze cross-disciplinary collaboration across Penn State.

●     Coordinate shared projects and strategic partnerships with community, cultural, educational, civic, and higher education organizations for shared programming to advance IA’s mission.

●     Foster communication, trust, and alignment across institutional partners, the national membership network, and the broader higher education and cultural ecosystem.

Required Qualifications

●     A terminal degree in an academic discipline housed within one of the following three academic schools (College of Arts and Architecture (A&A), the College of Health and Human Development (HHD), or the College of Liberal Arts (CLA) is required by the appointment date.

●     Eligibility for a tenured faculty appointment at Penn State (at the Associate or Full level), supported by an ongoing record of scholarship, teaching, and/or community engagement that aligns with the core values and work of IA.

●     Demonstrated excellence as a researcher, scholar, creative practitioner, and teacher with experience in the practice of engaged scholarship and teaching.

●     Experience leading interdisciplinary initiatives that intentionally bridge silos—among academic disciplines, between faculty and staff, and across university and community boundaries.

●     Experience building relationships and partnerships with a wide range of stakeholders, i.e. college administrative leaders, academic leaders, faculty, staff and students, higher education thought partners, as well as community, cultural arts, and education organization partners.

●     Proven ability to collaborate effectively across diverse cultural, ethnic, gender, and individual backgrounds, demonstrating a deep respect for difference.

●     Proven leadership in managing human and financial resources within an environment of shared governance

●     Exceptional written, oral, and public communication skills and experience presenting and writing for broad public and higher education audiences, such as the American Association of College & Universities.

Preferred Qualifications

●     Previous engagement with Imagining America or with a similar organization.

●     Demonstrated commitment to IA’s vision, mission and strategic priorities, the ability to articulate IA’s vision and enact that vision in a manner that cultivates new and nurtures existing relationships with member institutions, individual members, and partner organizations.

●     Broad knowledge of key issues and opportunities affecting higher education and demonstrated experience contributing to conversations about higher education’s public purpose and role.

●     Demonstrated ability to develop a sound strategic plan, using deep listening to synthesize diverse perspectives and coalesce varied interests into a unified vision for the future.

●     A track record of dynamic, transparent partnership with academic leaders, higher education thought partners, and community, cultural arts, and education organizations.

Application

Applicants must submit 1) a cover letter; 2) a curriculum vitae, including the names and contact information of at least 3 to 5 references; and 3) a statement of leadership/ vision for Imagining America at Penn State and the value of community-engaged interdisciplinary research/ creative endeavors. System limitations allow for a total of 5 documents (5MB per document) as part of their application. Please combine materials to meet the 5-document limit.

Review of applications will begin November 16, 2026, and will continue until the position has been filled.

Please direct questions about the search process via email to the search committee co-chairs, Nicole R. Stokes, Professor of Sociology at Penn State Abington [email protected]  and Sylvia Spears, Vice Chair, National Advisory Board, Imagining America [email protected]

About University Park Campus

Penn State - University Park is the largest campus in the Penn State portfolio, home to approximately 45,000 undergraduate students and 8,000 graduate students. In addition to the University Park campus, Penn State Commonwealth Campuses are a network of 19 Commonwealth Campuses—located in urban, suburban, and rural regions—thus extending the University’s reach throughout Pennsylvania. These campuses function as place-based hubs for community partnerships, student experiential learning, and cultural programming tailored to local needs. Penn State’s organizational model is unique and emphasizes that we are one university, geographically dispersed. Our Commonwealth Campuses provide diverse learning environments, often with smaller classes and specialized programs, embedded in communities, allowing students the flexibility to either start at a local campus and transition to University Park or remain at their Commonwealth Campus for degree completion.

About Imagining America
The Imagining America consortium (IA), founded in 1999, brings together scholars, artists, designers, students, and cultural organizers to imagine, study, and enact a more just and liberatory ‘America’ and world. Working across institutional, disciplinary, and community divides, IA strengthens and promotes public scholarship, cultural organizing, and campus change that inspires collective imagination, knowledge making, and civic action on pressing public issues.

IA approaches its 25th anniversary as a solid, vibrant, and growing national consortium of over 70 higher education institutional members and longstanding cultural partners. Imagining America’s National Gathering is a well attended convening, serving a diverse range of students, faculty, administrators, and community based cultural leaders from across the country committed to the power of art, design, and public humanities in transformative social change. Live webinars throughout the academic year engage hundreds of diverse constituents on issues emergent from Imagining America’s consortium. Research initiatives, publications, and network collaboratives bring new knowledge on pressing public issues, and resources and tools to serve and engage membership.  Undergraduate JGS and PAGEgraduate student fellows create communities to support the next generation of public artists, designers, and scholars.

About the Next Chapter for IA

Penn State was selected as the new campus host of Imagining America, a national consortium that connects scholars, artists and designers to promote public scholarship, humanities and the arts in higher education. Imagining America at Penn State will advance IA’s ongoing efforts to build connected, informed and equitable communities, while expanding understanding of how art, design and the humanities impact health and wellbeing.

As part of a planned hosting transition, the organization will move its headquarters from the University of California, Davis, to the Penn State University Park campus in July 2027, for a renewable five-year period. Penn State is the fourth institution to serve as a host campus since 1999.Penn State’s College of Arts and Architecture, College of the Liberal Arts and the College of Health and Human Development will lead the partnership with Imagining America. Students, faculty, staff and community partners across Penn State’s campuses will work together to reinforce Penn State’s national leadership in arts- and humanities-informed approaches to social well-being. The work will build upon existing humanities-infused scholarship across Penn State as outlined in the respective school-level strategic plans below.

BACKGROUND CHECKS/CLEARANCES

Employment with the University will require successful completion of background check(s) in accordance with University policies. Due to the financial and fiduciary responsibilities of this position, successful completion of a credit history check will be required in addition to standard background checks.

BENEFITS

Penn State provides a competitive benefits package for full-time employees designed to support both personal and professional wellbeing. In addition to comprehensive medical, dental, and vision coverage, employees enjoy robust retirement plans. One of the standout benefits is the generous 75% tuition discount, available to employees as well as eligible spouses and children.

For more detailed information, please visit our Benefits Page. (Note: For Postdoctoral benefits, please see our Postdoctoral Benefits page.)

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