Director, Strategic Projects & External Relations

Boston College; Boston (MA); On-site; USD 118,700 - 148,400; Full time

Job summary

Boston College, a Jesuit university near downtown Boston, seeks a Director to shape Strategic Partnerships and External Relations for CPHE. The role focuses on building networks, securing resources, and translating psychological humanities into institutional change.

The Director will lead three flagship initiatives, represent the Center to senior leaders, and collaborate with faculty and staff to advance research and public engagement. Strong scholarly and entrepreneurial skills are essential.

Qualifications

• PhD in humanities, social science, or professional discipline.
• Scholarly agenda recognized as a genuine contribution to the field.
• 10+ years building institutional relationships across sectors with measurable impact.
• Knowledge of online platform development for practitioners and scholars.
• Experience coordinating complex teams including consultants, staff, and students.
• Excellent written and oral communication for academic and general audiences.
• Experience with philanthropic cultivation and grant development including funding narratives.
• Deep familiarity with virtue ethics and moral philosophy.
• Commitment to expanding psychology's humanistic and moral foundations.

Responsibilities

• Lead external presence, build partnerships, networks, and flagship initiatives for visibility and impact.
• Serve as primary architect of the Center's external presence and intellectual impact.
• Oversee three flagship initiatives: digital ecosystem platform, Civic Imagination Forum, Teaching Commons.
• Translate the Center's approach into institutional change across research, formation, and public life.
• Represent the Center to senior audiences in philanthropy, higher education, policy, and public discourse.
• Lead and manage a team in collaboration with Center leadership.

Skills

Scholarly leadership

Networking

Academic writing

Public speaking

Grant development

Team coordination

Strategic planning

Digital platforms

Virtue ethics

Policy engagement

Education

PhD in humanities/social science/professional discipline

Tools

Google Suite

Job description

Boston College Introduction

Founded in 1863, Boston College is a Jesuit, Catholic university located six miles from downtown Boston with an enrollment of 9,654 full-time undergraduates and 5,072 graduate and professional students. Ranked 37 among national universities, Boston College has 923 full-time and 1,336 FTE faculty, 2,822 non-faculty employees, an operating budget of $1.4 billion, and an endowment in excess of $3.9 billion.

Job Description

The Center for Psychological Humanities and Ethics (CPHE) at Boston College invites applications for the position of Director of Strategic Partnerships and External Relations. The Center was founded on a conviction that contemporary psychology operates within too narrow a frame — one stripped of the humanistic, moral, and civic dimensions that once animated the field. CPHE’s mission is to recover and advance those dimensions, not by abandoning psychological science, but by re-embedding it in the philosophical, theological, and humanistic traditions from which it was uprooted. The Director will serve as a primary architect of the Center’s external presence and intellectual impact, building the partnerships, networks, and flagship initiatives through which that mission becomes visible, credible, and consequential across research, professional formation, and public life.

After a period of significant growth and increased demand, the CPHE is now seeking a Director of Strategic Projects and External Relations to serve as a primary external face of this intellectual and civic project, building many of the partnerships, networks and initiatives through which it becomes visible, credible and impactful. The Director role requires academic research, institution-building and field-building in equal measure. The Director will serve as a primary architect of the Center’s external presence and intellectual impact by building networks, initiatives, and resources that will help to translate the Center’s approach to psychological humanities into institutional change across research, professional formation and public life. The Director will be a recognized scholar with a substantive research agenda, an institutional entrepreneur with experience building networks and programs across sectors and a strategic leader who will represent the Center to senior audiences in philanthropy, higher education, policy and public discourse. The person will lead three flagship Center initiatives—development of a major digital ecosystem/online platform, the Civic Imagination Forum, and the Teaching Commons—while constructing the broader partnership infrastructure through which the Center exercises influence beyond its walls and curricular offerings. The work that this position leads would be expanded and scaled by a team that this person will work with Center leadership to build and manage. This is an appointment for a scholar-entrepreneur — someone who brings genuine intellectual ambition, relational depth, and institutional imagination to a role that demands all three in equal measure. The Director will serve as a public intellectual contributing to influential outlets, representing the Center at academic conferences and public convenings, and helping to define what a humanistic, morally serious approach to psychology can mean for institutions and communities navigating genuine cultural crisis.

Work will take place at Boston College under the direct supervision of the Executive Director of the Center for Psychological Humanities and Ethics. Full-Time Equivalent Hiring Range: $118,700 to $148,400; salary commensurate with relevant experience.

Requirements

Qualifications:

• PhD degree in a relevant humanities, social science, or professional discipline
• Demonstrated scholarly achievement, including publications in peer-reviewed venues and a research agenda recognized as a genuine contribution to the field
• Significant experience (10+ years) building institutional relationships, networks, and programs across organizational and sectoral boundaries, with evidence of genuine field-building impact
• Knowledge of technical solutions through online platform development for practitioners and scholars
• Significant experience in coordinating complex teams, including consultants, staff, and students.
• Exceptional written and oral communication skills, including the capacity to write for both academic and general audiences and to present complex intellectual ideas to senior non-specialist audiences
• Experience with philanthropic cultivation and grant development, including a proven track record of translating scholarly vision into compelling funding narratives and closing solicitations
• Deep familiarity with the intellectual tradition of virtue ethics, moral philosophy, and/or related frameworks
• Deep commitment to the Center's mission of expanding psychology's humanistic and moral foundations

Additional Desirable Experiences and Skills:

• Familiarity with the landscape of university-based research centers, think tanks, and scholarly networks in the US and Europe, and existing relationships in relevant intellectual communities
• Experience convening senior leaders across sectors, including designing and facilitating high-quality academic and cross-sector meetings
• Google Suite expertise is preferred to enable maximum organizational efficiency
• Able to lead diverse groups of Faculty and Administrators towards a common goal.
• Background in or knowledge of classical education, religious education, formative education, or professional formation in medicine, law, or other fields where moral formation is a recognized concern
• Experience in major gift fundraising or institutional development at a research university and/or independent research center
• Excellent communication, interpersonal, problem solving, and organizational skills.
• A superb attention to detail and the ability to manage multiple portfolios of offerings.
• Ability to consistently work closely and effectively with all levels of an organization.

Closing Statement

Boston College offers a broad and competitive range of benefits depending on your job classification eligibility:

• Tuition remission for Employees
• Tuition remission for Spouses and Children who meet eligibility requirements
• Generous Medical, Dental, and Vision Insurance
• Low-Cost Life Insurance
• Eligibility for both University-Funded 401k and Employer-Sponsored403bRetirement Plans
• Paid Holidays Annually
• Generous Sickand Vacation Pay
• Additional benefits can be found onhttps://www.bc.edu/employeehandbook

Boston College conducts pre-employment background checks as part of the hiring process.

Boston College is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of any legally protected category, including disability and protected veteran status.

Boston College's Notice of Nondiscrimination can be viewed athttps://www.bc.edu/nondiscrimination