Manager of Administration and Strategic Initiatives, Lunder Institute of American Art

Manager of Administration and Strategic Initiatives, Lunder Institute of American Art

Reporting to the Director of the Lunder Institute for American Art (LIAA), the Manager of Administration and Strategic Initiatives plays a central role in translating the Institute’s goals and vision into effective operations and sustainable practices. Working closely with the Director, the Manager provides leadership in the planning, management, reconciliation, and evaluation of the Lunder Institute's budget and operations while overseeing the administrative and operational infrastructure that supports the Institute’s programs, fellowships, residencies, and initiatives.

The Manager collaborates with the Manager of Fellowships and Programs, the Coordinator of Fellowships, and other Institute staff to operationalize the Institute’s mission and values through effective project management, administrative systems, and organizational processes. They support the Director in ensuring that budget and program administration processes and projects are completed efficiently and accurately, serving as a key liaison with the Colby Museum and Colby College finance teams.

In this capacity, the Manager coordinates financial management activities, including reporting and reconciliation, and works with museum and College partners to prepare financial, demographic, and program information required for institutional and grant reporting.

The Manager also oversees the day-to-day administrative and logistical functions of the Institute, including maintaining records and documentation, preparing meeting materials and presentations, coordinating communications with museum and College partners, and supporting special projects and institutional partnerships. They supervise interns supporting administrative and operational functions and serve as a primary logistics liaison for fellows, residents, and visiting scholars. In addition, the Manager coordinates the use and operations of Lunder Institute spaces and facilities, including those at the Greene Block + Studios and housing for fellows, working closely with Colby facilities and external partners.

Through this work, the Manager represents the Lunder Institute across campus and within the broader community, helping to sustain, monitor, and communicate the Institute’s work through a strong finance, operations, and program management lens.

Founded as part of the Colby College Museum of Art in 2017, the Lunder Institute for American Art acts as a research incubator at a national level, investigating and producing new understandings of American art, past and present, and its relationship to the crucial questions of our time. With convening and studio spaces in downtown Waterville, Maine, it is guided by this mission:
Informed by place, in collaboration, and in community, the Lunder Institute for American Art seeks to expand who shapes American art and alters its contours, while demonstrating the value of art as a public good.

The Lunder Institute achieves this mission by stimulating experimental, collaborative, and transdisciplinary inquiry about America and its art, by building research and practice communities among a diversity of artists, scholars, educators, and cultural producers at different stages in their careers, and through a foundational commitment to equity and racial justice. Fellowships, workshops, convenings, mentorship, and public programs connect artists and scholars with faculty, students, and communities near and far, advancing Colby College’s educational purpose, which prioritizes research and learning within a civically engaged, interdisciplinary, and global context.

Located in Waterville, Maine, the Colby Museum opens access to art and artists for the Colby community, for Maine residents and visitors, and for audiences beyond, creating a forum for experimentation, research, dialogue, and connection. We grow and use our stellar collection in ways that activate the power of art to expand imagination and forge new connections, fostering a more open, creative, and compassionate society.

We teach to inspire and…