Homeoffice Interfaith America - Director of Campus Partnerships at Interfaith America

ABOUT US  

Interfaith America is a national nonprofit working to realize the promise of a truly pluralistic nation—one where people of all faiths and worldviews respect, relate, and cooperate across deep differences for the common good. Our mission is to activate leaders who will build an interfaith America. Grounded in the principles of interfaith leadership, we equip individuals and institutions to build bridges, strengthen democracy, and create cultures of cooperation. 

At Interfaith America, we are ever-adapting and changing. We look for people who set audacious goals and love that one workday may not be like the next. We have a strong commitment to pluralism and building bridges across deep differences. Our programs help people build skills to bridge deep ideological divides. Our work is about staying in relationship with one another and contributing to the common good even when we might disagree on fundamental things. We seek to attract and retain a team of staff comprised of a wide variety of views and backgrounds we need to achieve our vision. 

ABOUT THE POSITION 

Interfaith America has worked with American colleges and universities for two decades. We are committed to providing high quality programming that suffuses and sustains higher education’s commitment to engaging religious diversity and advances a culture of pluralism more broadly on campuses. At this moment, higher education is reckoning with its role in society and re-prioritizing a commitment to pluralism. Given this current context, the Director of Campus Partnerships will be responsible for key aspects of IA’s growing work with campuses seeking to become exemplars of pluralism. This work involves consulting with college and university presidents, senior administrators, and other stakeholders – through both network-based work and partnerships with individual institutions - to develop a strategy for modeling pluralism across all areas of the campus experience.

Responsibilities:

Serve as senior-level consultant to college presidents, administrators, and network leaders

• Build relationships with external higher education networks and professional associations and represent IA at their professional conferences and spaces.
• Build relationships with individual college and university presidents and senior leaders who are committed to modeling pluralism and identify strategic collaboration opportunities.
• Offer strategic advising to university presidents and senior leaders on how to build a culture of pluralism on their campuses 
• Collaborate with IA colleagues, partner organizations, and higher education networks to advance a proactive strategy of increased attention to modeling pluralism across American higher education.
• Contribute articles and best practice resources to the fields of pluralism and interfaith cooperation in higher education.

Oversee IA Consultations, Cohorts, Programs, and Trainings to Support Campuses Becoming Exemplars of Pluralism 

• Recruit, convene, facilitate, and design curricula for groups of institutions to develop and implement a cross-campus strategy for pluralism in cohorts, with the goal of helping participating colleges and universities learn from each other as they implement key practices to model pluralism.
• Support campuses participating in cohorts in achieving articulated outcomes through follow-up grants and ongoing offerings. 
• Synthesize best practices from cohorts and share these strategically with the broader field of pluralism work in higher education 
• Lead in-depth consulting engagements with campuses seeking to become exemplars of pluralism.
• Lead short-term consulting, workshops, and trainings with individual campuses as needed.
   

Contribute to Organizational Culture and Projects as Needed  

• Lead or contribute to additional time-bound projects as determined by organizational needs and cultural realities. Projects may include building relationships with key networks of campuses (e.g., community colleges, Historically Black Colleges and Universities along with other Minority Serving Institutions, religiously conservative institutions) or guiding interest groups on topics of salience. 
• Ensure that all programming delivers excellently on IA goals and grant requirements.
• Contribute to funder reports regularly.
• Contribute positively to organizational culture and collaboration; uphold IA policies and values.
• Offer guidance, feedback, and mentoring to the program manager and program assistant on the Campus Partnerships team
   

Required Qualifications: 

• Graduate degree in higher education, organizational management, religion, or related field 
• High level of religious literacy 
• Fluency in pluralism and an “engaging deep differences” approach to diversity 
• Seven or more years’ experience and a record of success in higher education, consulting, bridgebuilding or interfaith work, or other related sectors  
• Experience working with senior level executives 
• Excellent written, verbal, and presentation skills 
• Authorization to work in the United States

Preferred Qualifications (not required) 

• Experience effecting change in or consulting for complex organizations, ideally in a college or university environment 
• Experience leveraging interfaith leadership in a variety of settings  
• Experience addressing antisemitism and/or Islamophobia from a pluralism perspective 
• Experience fostering partnerships with historically black colleges and universities and/or minority serving institutions. 
• Experience advancing pluralism programs on both public and private campuses with diverse religious and secular orientations to include liberal, centrist, conservative, etc.  
• Training, facilitation, curriculum design, pedagogy, or related skill sets 
• Supervision (direct or indirect) of individuals with diverse working styles and backgrounds

Competencies: 

• Strategic Thinking - Aptly explores, deciphers and interprets the best concepts for achieving organizational excellence, anticipating and responding to change and aligning organizational systems, processes and people with changes in the IA business landscape.  
• Trusted advisor - Apt at building trust-based relationships both internally and externally and viewed as a source of valuable advice.  
• Program Leadership - Ability to lead programs, manage staff, and delegate work effectively, ensuring that all items are completed within scope, budget and timelines.  
• Project Management - Aptly leading, planning, and executing project or pieces of a project, ensuring all project members are staying within timelines and budgets. 
• IA Theory and Methodology –Ability to explain and engage constituents in Interfaith America’s theory and methodology in a way that resonates with that constituent, and they understand our work within their own context. (learned on the job, not required prior to start date) 
• Inclusive and equitable decision maker - Ability to lead, listen, think critically, and leverage the thinking of diverse groups for smarter ideation and decision making that lead to equitable outcomes in our work. 

Supervisor: Senior Director of Campus Partnerships 

Leadership level: Director 

Compensation: $100,000-$110,000 annually, plus excellent benefits. Please read more about our benefits here. 

Travel: 30% of the time traveling on behalf of IA 

Location: Remote, regular travel for work, and 4-6 trips to our Chicago office per year. IA supports remote staff from DC, MA, MD, MI, NC, NY, OH, VA, and WI. 

Benefits: The Director of Educational Partnerships position is a full-time, regular hire role, this position is eligible for the full suite of Interfaith America's benefit offerings. Interfaith America offers medical, dental, vision, disability, life insurance. For employee-only coverage of medical, dental, vision, disability and life insurance, Interfaith America covers 100% of the premium costs. Interfaith America also offers a retirement plan and a generous paid time off plan. More information can be found here: https://www.interfaithamerica.org/careers/    

Other Requirements: The Director of Campus Partnerships position requires the ability, with or without reasonable accommodation, to: maintain regular attendance; travel to campuses across this US; work cooperatively with others; adhere to Interfaith America personnel policies and safety rules; sit and/or stand for extended periods of time; operate standard office equipment, including computers, telephones, photocopiers, and projectors; communicate orally, in writing, and via computers and digital devices; and requires close visual acuity to prepare and analyze data and figures, transcribe, view a computer terminal and other office equipment.  

Interfaith America is an Equal Opportunity Employer, and does not discriminate on the basis of religion, race, ethnicity, national origin, age, gender, sexual orientation, disability, pregnancy, marital status, or any other status protected by applicable law. Reasonable accommodation will be provided as needed to enable qualified applicants with a disability to participate in pre-employment procedures.