Senior Director, Community Engagement, DCA

Summary

The Senior Director of Community Engagement is a member of the team at the Duke Center for Community-Engaged Scholarship, which is an interdisciplinary hub facilitating collaborative scholarship between community partners and Duke faculty, staff, and students, to address pressing societal challenges. The Center connects community organizations with students and researchers to explore difficult questions, analyze data, and enhance their impactful work. The Duke Center for Community-Engaged Scholarship is a joint effort of Duke Community Affairs and Interdisciplinary Studies in the Office of the Provost. The Center supports the university’s ongoing commitment to “partner with purpose,” a cornerstone of Duke’s vision for its second century.

 

This role reflects Duke's commitment to and strategic investment in community-engaged scholarship. The position reports to the Associate Vice Provost/Assistant Vice President for Community-Engaged Scholarship and is dedicated to forging purposeful partnerships with Duke constituents and neighbors in the region. The role involves collaboration with key Duke and community-based partners to advance overlapping and mutual interests around community-engaged research, teaching, and scholarship. The position will implement DCA and the Center’s vision and strategic objectives to support Duke University’s community-engaged scholarship endeavors, with a particular focus on the identification of applied research opportunities, and efforts to connect faculty, students, and community organizations to relevant curricular and co-curricular avenues. The role will provide strategic direction for community partnerships, offer guidance to faculty undertaking or interested in community-engaged scholarship, and serve as a champion for community collaboration. This position will also support building the new Center’s infrastructure and will supervise staff as they are hired.

 

Work Performed

· Partner with the AVP of Community-Engaged Scholarship and Center Faculty Director in coordinating with university constituents who undertake engaged scholarship, fostering equitable and inclusive frameworks to support community partnerships, building community capacity, and enhancing Duke capacity to undertake community-engagement on an equitable basis (15%);

 

· Develop and sustain efforts to demonstrate and share best practices across community engagement programs, including consulting for faculty, training for faculty and staff, and other learning opportunities to support engaged scholarship and service; become knowledgeable about and assist in improving University policies and procedures that support institutional and student and faculty/staff community-engaged scholarship (20%);

 

· Supervise Center for Community-Engaged Scholarship personnel as assigned, including, but not limited to, hiring, merit recommendations, promotions, transfers and vacation schedules (20%);

 

· Support AVP in determining the fiscal requirements of the Center for Community-Engaged Scholarship programs; prepare budgetary recommendations; review and prepare grant proposals (15%);

 

· Prepare reports and presentations for various constituents outlining the impact of university-community partnerships; conduct annual assessment measures and reports to advance the field of community engagement and demonstrate Duke’s commitment to its local community (15%);

 

Other Responsibilities as needed (15%):
· With the AVP of Community-Engaged Scholarship and Center Faculty Director, coordinate, support, and sustain advisory councils for the Center for Community Engagement to ensure the community has increased feedback and input in existing and future community engagement efforts; develop consistent institutional and Center policies and mechanisms for working with community partners;

 

· With the AVP of Community-Engaged Scholarship and Center Faculty Director, implement and share the Center’s priorities and programs; share updates on progress with the campus; collaborate with other campus units to develop and facilitate programming or resources aligning with the Strategic Community Impact Plan;

 

· With the AVP of Community-Engaged Scholarship and Center Faculty Director, engage with the Interdisciplinary Studies team to become knowledgeable about existing curricular and co-curricular programs across Duke’s schools and interdisciplinary units; leverage those programs to coordinate opportunities for students to engage in community-based research and enhance the capacity of community partners consistent with DCA best practices;

 

· Provide strategic