Executive Director of the Center for Social Concerns

Leo and Arlene Hawk Executive
Director, Center for Social Concerns

ABOUT UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME
The University of Notre Dame seeks a collaborative, strategic, proactive, and experienced leader to serve as the next Leo and Arlene Hawk Executive Director (Executive Director) to lead the Center for Social Concerns (CSC). As Notre Dame's academic institute for engaged social teaching, the CSC is the beating heart behind the University's commitment to advance pedagogies of engagement, leverage personal transformation for social change, and transform principles of Catholic Social Teaching into 21st century leadership.

The Executive Director carries a vibrant portfolio of responsibilities, including stewardship of the Center's research programs, events, courses, and activities in areas related to Catholic Social Tradition and community-engaged learning and scholarship. The CSC is driven by justice and the common good. The Executive Director is at the epicenter of community-based research, teaching, and learning that brings students, faculty, and community partners together for personal and social transformation and justice. As such, Notre Dame seeks an exceptional communicator, influencer, and mission driven leader.

CENTER FOR SOCIAL CONCERNS
The Center for Social Concerns (CSC) was established at Notre Dame in 1983. The center is one of the proud products of the commitment and contribution to social service and social justice by Notre Dame students, faculty, staff, alumni, and alumnae, since the founding of the University by the Congregation of Holy Cross in 1842.

The center's commitment to working for justice and the common good is at its core and manifests through the teaching, research, scholarship, training of students to be leaders in their community, and programming across disciplines.

In the late 1970s, with students as a catalyst, guided by the vision of the center's founding director, Rev. Don McNeill, C.S.C., Notre Dame leadership took steps to merge many initiatives and activities into one center. The Center for Social Concerns inherited a strong tradition of service and learning from the Notre Dame Office of Volunteer Services (a unit of the Office of Student Activities from 1972-1983) and the Center for Experiential Learning (a part of the Institute for Pastoral and Social Ministry from 1977-1983). The center opened its doors in the former WNDU building on campus, just north and west of the library, in January 1983.

Fr. McNeill served as Executive Director until 2002 and over time the center experienced impressive growth in programs and resources available to engage students in the local, national, and international communities. Part of that growth included moving into the Center's new offices in Geddes Hall, which it shares with the Institute for Church Life. This move acknowledged the importance of the center's mission within the general mission of the University. The center continues to make great strides in community-based research and learning and in a renewed emphasis on Catholic social tradition in programs and courses.

An increasing number of students participate in a variety of center programs each year. This growth in student participation and service involvement in programs sponsored or co-sponsored through the center is significant. The faculty have increased their contributions to the educational and reflective components at the core of the center's courses and programs. Work with many partners of the center also enhances the faith-based learning of all who serve and helps lay a strong foundation for future service and action.

The center's mission and goals continue to be supported and encouraged by the administrative guidance of Notre Dame president, Rev. John Jenkins, C.S.C., and by the provost, Marie Lynn Miranda. The center remains an active partner on campus with the Institute for Church Life and shares in its mission and outreach to the larger Church in the United States.

For more information on the Center for Social Concerns, please visit the center's website.

LEADERSHIP

Marie Lynn Miranda
Charles and Jill Fischer Provost and Professor of Applied and Computational Mathematics and Statistics

Marie Lynn Miranda began her tenure as Charles and Jill Fischer Provost of the University of Notre Dame on July 1, 2020, the fifth provost at Notre Dame since the position was established in 1970. The University's second-ranking officer, the provost is elected by the Board of Trustees and, at the direction of the president, exercises overall responsibility for the academic enterprise.

A distinguished scholar in the field of children's environmental health, Miranda is especially well-known for her research on childhood lead exposure. She served as provost at Rice University from 2015-19 and as dean of the University of Michigan's School of Natural Resources and Environment for the four years prior to that.

In addition to her responsibilities as provost, Miranda is a professor of applied and computational mathematics and statistics at Notre Dame, maintaining an active research portfolio. She is a leader in the rapidly evolving field of geospatial health informatics and is the founding director of the Children's Environmental Health Initiative (CEHI), a research, education, and outreach program committed to fostering environments where all people can prosper. Her research has garnered more than $60 million in funding from federal, state and foundation sources. CEHI was among the inaugural winners of the EPA's Environmental Justice Achievement Award in 2008.

An elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a member of Sigma Xi, she is an adjunct professor of pediatrics at Duke and Indiana University. She sits on the boards of the Environmental Defense Fund and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and has provided extensive service to the NIH.

Miranda graduated Phi Beta Kappa, summa cum laude from Duke with a bachelor's degree in mathematics and economics and was named a Truman Scholar. She received her master's and doctorate from Harvard University, where she held a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship. She holds an honorary doctorate from Mount Sinai School of Medicine.

(The Rev.) Hugh R. Page, Jr.
Professor of Theology and Africana Studies
Hugh Page, professor of theology and Africana studies, was appointed vice president and associate provost for undergraduate affairs in 2013. His major responsibilities include expanding opportunities for and participation in undergraduate scholarship and research, implementing the Undergraduate Academic Code of Honor, leading the University's enrollment management efforts by overseeing the Office of Undergraduate Admissions and the Office of Student Financial Services, and furthering campus conversation on issues related to diversity.

Page was dean of Notre Dame's First Year of Studies from 2005 to 2019. He has also served as associate dean for undergraduate studies in Notre Dame's College of Arts and Letters and director of the African and African American Studies Program. He was instrumental in the development of the latter into the Department of Africana Studies, which he then chaired.
An Episcopal priest, Page holds a bachelor's in history from Hampton University, two master's degrees from The General Theological Seminary in New York, a doctorate in ministry from the Graduate Theological Foundation, and a master's and doctorate in Near Eastern languages and civilizations from Harvard University. He joined the Notre Dame faculty in 1992 and, in 2001, received a Presidential Award for distinguished service to the University.

Page's scholarly interests include early Hebrew poetry, Africana biblical interpretation, esoterism in Africa and the African Diaspora, poetry as a medium for theological expression, and the use of religious traditions and sacred texts in the construction of individual and corporate identity in the Africana world.

He is the author or editor of Exploring New Paradigms in Biblical and Cognate Studies; The Myth of Cosmic Rebellion: A Study of its Reflexes in Ugaritic & Biblical Literature; Exodus: A Bible Commentary for Every Day; The Africana Bible: Reading Israel's Scriptures from Africa and the African Diaspora; and Israel's Poetry of Resistance: Africana Perspectives on Early Hebrew Verse.

THE OPPORTUNITY
Fulfilling Notre Dame's mission to cultivate a disciplined sensibility to the poverty, injustice, and oppression that burden the lives of so many, the Center for Social Concerns gathers, forms, and nourishes community- engaged scholars in the study, practice, and renewal of Catholic Social Tradition.

By focusing on human dignity, pursuing the common good, and standing in solidarity with the marginalized and poor, the center advances pedagogies of engagement, leverages personal transformation for social change, and transforms principles of Catholic Social Teaching into 21st-century leadership. The next Executive Director will have the opportunity to build upon the CSC's steadfast commitment to working for justice and the common good.

As the face of Notre Dame's academic institute for engaged Catholic Social Teaching, the Executive Director oversees a robust portfolio of activities, including the center's courses, programs, and signature events, and two academic minors. A thriving hub of service-learning, community-based research, and community-engaged courses, the Center serves as the nexus where classroom learning meets lived experiences, and where faith-based learning becomes a conduit for future service and action. Hosting over 1,000 students each year, the growth in student participation and service involvement in programs sponsored or co-sponsored through the center is significant and is enriched by the educational outcomes of agencies, their clients, and the students.

Reporting to Rev. Hugh R. Page, the Executive Director provides critical leadership to a talented team of 41 faculty and staff members (including 7 faculty fellows). Core responsibilities of the role include:

• Leading with inclusivity, positioning the center to develop a robust portfolio of activities grounded in community-engaged research, teaching, and learning that positively affect and influence a diverse spectrum of communities, partners, and individuals
• Nurturing, sustaining, and growing the center's many partners and reinforcing the value proposition of partnerships within the local communities around the world
• As a critical thought partner to the broader Notre Dame community, building compelling, thoughtful partnerships across units, disciplines, and audiences to expand the center's reach within the institution and beyond
• Assessing organizational strengths and opportunities, and building and leading a high-performing, solutions- oriented team that can effectively execute the strategic plan and establish the center as a thought leader in service, social analysis, and theological reflection
• Supporting the academic and research portfolio and activities of a highly engaged faculty
• Serving as the ambassador, spokesperson, intellectual leader, and public-facing figure to represent the organization to funders, donors, and partners
• In close partnership with the center's leadership team and core University stakeholders, ensuring that the center is financially viable with the resources to meet current program growth plans
• Stewarding a complex fiscal landscape, including management of 150+ independent funds that provide critical resources for the center to operate
• Working closely with the budget management unit to establish, maintain, and consistently improve financial practices and controls, monitoring the budget, and setting financial priorities for center activities
  
  CANDIDATE PROFILE
  A champion for nurturing and developing the center's approach to Catholic Social Teaching through community-engaged research, teaching, and learning, the successful candidate will demonstrate the deeply held conviction that community-based research, teaching, and learning is the bridge that brings students, faculty, and community partners together to understand, confront, and reflect on current and historic social challenges.
  
  Aligned with the University's Spirit of Inclusion, the center's next Executive Director will play a crucial role in advancing its longstanding commitment to ensuring that research, programming, and activities reflect a life-long commitment to social justice. An advocate for a just and equitable society, the Executive Director will align the center's impact and influence to address the broader equity issues that impact human dignity, the common good, and solidarity with marginalized communities. As both a leader and supervisor, the Executive Director will lead by example in fostering a professional ecosystem that is grounded in a culture of inclusion, engagement, and participation for staff members at all levels of their careers.
  
  Collaborative Leadership
  Collaborative by nature, the Executive Director will demonstrate humility and grace, highlighting an innate ability to build bridges, foster a collaborative team environment, and build solidarity among center constituents. Resourceful and solutions-oriented, the next Executive Director will possess a track record of success developing and executing strategic plans. The Executive Director will model empathy and build a supportive culture that nurtures critical inquiry, academic scholarship, and fosters a climate of inclusivity. They will possess demonstrated success managing teams and mentoring staff, with a track record of recruiting, inspiring, and retaining a diverse, mission-driven team. A natural collaborator, they will demonstrate excellent partnership-building and consensus-building skills, with the ability to work across a range of center activities and partnerships both within the institution and beyond.
  
  Scholarship and Intellectual Leadership
  The Executive Director will have a track record of academic engagement, broadly construed, that demonstrates immersion in and contribution to the scholarly domains relevant to the Center. Such grounding would allow the Executive Director—as a scholar, teacher, and leader—to collaborate with colleagues from diverse academic fields to build on the CSC's success in fostering collaborative, applied, and interdisciplinary research connected to the Center's mission. The Executive Director will collaborate and consult with faculty, deans, department chairs, and other institute leaders to identify academic opportunities that expand and deepen the Center's impact and visibility at the University, in the local community, nationally, and beyond.
  
  Strategic Communications
  A gifted storyteller, the Executive Director will paint a compelling narrative, animating the center and positioning it as the “heartbeat” of the University. An exceptional communicator, the incoming Executive Director will possess excellent partnership-building and consensus-building skills, with the ability to work with stakeholders across a range of functional responsibilities (e.g. administrative, faculty, staff, outside partners, donors, and sponsors), and a natural ability to brand and champion the center's mission, values, and strategic priorities across a wide range of academic disciplines.
  
  Fundraising and Strategic Relationship Management
  The Executive Director will develop and steward a vibrant fundraising and revenue plan, advocating for critical resources to advance and amplify the center's programmatic and academic reach. Working collaboratively with the McGrath Institute for Church Life, the center's next leader will capitalize on the center's capacity and infrastructure and be responsible for expanding the base of philanthropic relationships and creating opportunities for financial engagement. The Executive Director will have a strong understanding of the philanthropic landscape and will be able to identify strategic opportunities for partnerships, shared programming, and other dynamic initiatives. The Executive Director will bring a thoughtful, creative, and bold approach to engagement and fundraising to raise the center's visibility, both internally and externally.
  
  In addition, strong candidates will offer:
• Demonstrated commitment and alignment with the values of diversity, equity, inclusion, advocacy, and social and economic justice
• Evidence of a commitment to working for justice and the common good and leading others to advance this mission
• Successful administrative and operational experience in a complex environment including building partnerships across campus, managing a large team, budget, and internal operations
• The scholarly reputation, drive, and professional credibility to earn the trust of internal and external partners
• A respected intellectual and scholarly record of achievement as a leader, scholar, and teacher with standing in their field
• Innovative, solutions-oriented approaches to change-management
• Experience leading and influencing in academia, policy-making, education, or in a research-related setting
  
  Ideal candidates will have demonstrated success as a leader of cross-functional teams, and administrative experience in a non-profit, faith-based, mission- driven, or similar environment. A terminal degree or a PhD is preferred. While all safety concerns will be explored and respected, a willingness for occasional travel to represent the center and/or pursue new partnerships is required.
  
  CONTACT
  Beth Schaefer, Malissa Brennan, and Charlotte Harris of Koya Partners have been exclusively retained for this search. To express your interest in this role please submit your materials here: https://talent-profile.koyapartners.com/search/4265.
  
  All inquiries and discussions will be considered strictly confidential.
  
  The University of Notre Dame seeks to attract, develop, and retain the highest quality faculty, staff and administration. The University is an Equal Opportunity Employer and is committed to building a culturally diverse workplace. We strongly encourage applications from female and minority candidates and those candidates attracted to a university with a Catholic identity. Moreover, Notre Dame prohibits discrimination against veterans or disabled qualified individuals and requires affirmative action by covered contractors to employ and advance veterans and qualified individuals with disabilities in compliance with 41 CFR 60-741.5(a) and 41 CFR 60-300.5(a).
  
  
  
  
  
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