Campus Compact is seeking a new President to lead a growing and vibrant national organization working collaboratively with 31 state affiliate offices representing more than 980 college and university presidents and their campuses. The President will serve as a strong national voice for higher education’s civic mission including public policy and advocacy work; collaborate with state affiliates to advance the civic mission on member campuses; coordinate with other national organizations who share a similar mission; and generate the public and private resources to support the organization.

Organization Statement

Campus Compact is the only national higher education association whose primary mission is to advance the scholarship of engagement and the best practices of collegiate involvement in communities across the country. Twenty years ago, Frank Newman, former President of the Education Commission of the States, along with the presidents of Brown, Georgetown and Stanford universities, founded the organization with the hopes of signing on 100 college presidents. Today, Campus Compact is a national coalition of nearly 1,000 college and university presidents—representing some 5 million students—and is providing national leadership for efforts to educate students for active and responsible citizenship in ways that both deepen their learning and improve the quality of community life. We do so by promoting public and community service that develops students’ citizenship skills, helping campuses forge effective community partnerships, and providing resources and training for faculty seeking to integrate civic and community-based learning into the curriculum and their research.

Our members are the presidents of public, private, two- and four-year institutions across the spectrum of higher education. These institutions put into practice the ideal of civic engagement by sharing knowledge and resources with their local and global communities, creating local development initiatives, and supporting service and service-learning efforts in areas such as K-12 education, health care, the environment, hunger/homelessness, literacy, and senior services.

Campus Compact comprises a national office currently based at Brown University in Providence, RI, and 31 state offices in CA, CO, CT, FL, HI, IA, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MA, ME, MI, MN, MO, MT, NC, NH, NY, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, TX, UT, VT, WA, WI, and WV. For additional background information, see the Campus Compact web site.

Future Directions

Campus Compact’s work to fully weave the scholarship of engagement into the fabric of higher education is not complete, in spite of considerable progress. To accomplish this will require recognition of engagement in accreditation and rankings, shaping a public policy agenda at federal and state levels, rigorous promotion and tenure guidelines for engaged scholarship and teaching, graduate education for engagement and the capacity of campuses to measure their impact on students’ civic skills and the improvement of their local communities. Public and private awareness and financial support for the civic mission of higher education must also be increased.

The next decade will require higher education to better prepare students to be effective citizens in a global knowledge economy while attracting and retaining economically, racially and ethnically diverse student populations. Campus Compact is well poised and committed to help address these important challenges.

Major Responsibilities

Strategic Vision and Leadership

• Identify strategic directions for the organization that maximize the impact of a national office with state affiliates.
• Develop a vision that can be connected to multiple stakeholders (other organizations, policymakers, funders, college presidents, service learning directors, faculty, students and community activists.
• Provide intellectual leadership to interpret and frame the network in ways that are motivating in staging this work.
• Continue to weave the scholarship of engagement into the fabric of higher education through recognition in accreditation and rankings, rigorous promotion and tenure guidelines for engaged scholarship and teaching, further expansion into graduate and professional education, and increased capacity to measure institutional impact on students’ civic skills and the improvement of their local communities.
• Shape a public policy agenda at federal and state levels and capitalize on opportunities to partner and collaborate with other higher education and national partnership organizations.

Operational Leadership

• Provide direction and support for member campuses and state affiliates.
• Work collaboratively with the national board, member college presidents, service learning center directors and other organizational leaders.
• Exhibit strong interpersonal, speaking and writing abilities in order to articulate and gain support for organization’s mission.
• Diversify revenue structure and raise funds from individuals, corporate, foundation and government sectors.
• Develop and oversee budgets, and manage significant public and private grant and contract expenditures.
• Recruit, motivate and sustain strong staff within the national office and affiliate state offices.

Qualifications

• Advanced degree preferred. Minimum of 10+ years of senior level leadership in education or non-profit organizations.
• Experience in developing and actualizing strategies that have taken an organization to the next stage of growth.
• Proven track record in raising and managing funds from diverse sources.
• Deep commitment and passion for the Compact’s mission.
• High energy level and ability to follow through, delegate and collaborate.
• Well-organized and flexible and able to manage in a dynamic environment.
• Strong personal and professional integrity.
• Willingness and ability to travel extensively.

Brown University is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer.

Please indicate salary requirements.
Cover letters and resumes may be submitted in confidence at the Brown University Online Employment System. From Brown’s careers page, navigate to “Search Postings” and enter H00282 in the Job No. field, then submit the search. Follow the View link under the search result.
Electronic submission of materials is preferred.
Questions should be directed to Deborah Hirsch (debh4460 {at} netscape(.)net).