Director of the Center for Humanities in Action

Summary and Scope of Position

Ursinus College has recently implemented APEX:
Applied. Professional. Experiential, which is a learning initiative that integrates across students’ entire educational experience, equipping them with the skills and experiences to become forward thinking problem-solvers prepared for success in an ever-changing world. As part of this development, the College has received a 3-year grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation that will establish The Center for Humanities in Action (CHIA) and support a Center Director, with a plan for college support thereafter.

This Director will provide vision and leadership for an interdisciplinary center that serves as a nexus for curricular development, co-curricular programming, and community engaged learning designed for students to holistically explore problems related to social justice and human flourishing while centering humanistic inquiry. The Director will simultaneously establish CHIA’s reputation as a leading institution for humanistic thinking and inquiry while also empowering all Ursinus students to harness the power of human ingenuity to tackle complex global and local challenges and develop career-ready skills.

As a campus leader, the Director will foster interdisciplinary collaboration across divisions, integrate CHIA into APEX experiences, and develop partnerships with external organizations. The Director will position the Center as a national model for educating students to become thoughtful and critically engaged community leaders and ethically responsible professionals.

• Work with the grant team to enact a strategic vision for CHIA, an interdisciplinary innovation center that integrates humanistic inquiry, community‑engaged learning, and innovation across the liberal arts
• Align CHIA programs with APEX goals in experiential learning, career readiness, and interdisciplinary problem‑solving
• Integrate existing APEX hubs that center humanistic and interdisciplinary thinking into the structure of CHIA
• Foster campus‑wide dialogue about and engagement with the role of humanistic inquiry in analyzing and advocating for social and restorative justice
• Foster campus‑wide interdisciplinary engagement with CHIA

• Collaborate with the Mellon grant PI and implementation team to establish CHIA
• Develop, support, and oversee CHIA campus and community events, including existing projects such as the Welcome Home Project (a partnership between Ursinus, the Delaware Tribe of Indians, and the Perkiomen Valley School District)
• Support faculty and staff in developing new interdisciplinary courses, workshops, and experiential projects connected to APEX, including first‑year seminar sections
• Support, advocate for, and facilitate the development of new humanistic coursework in the college’s core curriculum
• Develop signature experiential opportunities such as community‑engaged learning projects and cross‑disciplinary projects and research that build on existing initiatives (such as the Welcome Home Project)
• Partner with academic departments to support humanistic programming and advising

• Mentor and advise students pursuing careers and pathways relevant to humanistic inquiry, social justice, and community engagement
• Support first‑year programming, including via collaboration with academic and career coaches and mentoring
• Support students in developing professional portfolios that integrate advocacy, community engagement, and interdisciplinary problem‑solving
• Collaborate with APEX career coaches, Career and Professional Development (CPD) staff, and faculty mentors to connect students with internships, fellowships, and postgraduate opportunities
• Assist with recruitment and retention of humanities majors to and at the college
• Embed global‑local perspectives into student experiences, including opportunities for international and domestic career exploration (such as Go Global) that link humanistic inquiry, justice, and innovation

• Convene interdisciplinary faculty teams to create courses and projects addressing societal…