Director of the Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life and Open Discipline Faculty Position

Description

Boston College invites applications for a senior scholar to serve as the Director of the Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life.  This is an open-discipline search, and the scholar appointed as the Boisi Center Director will hold the rank of full Professor with tenure in an appropriate tenure-home department, with a preferred start in advance of the Fall 2026 semester. 

The Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life was created at Boston College in 1999 to connect a community of scholars, policy makers, media, and religious leaders in conversation and scholarly reflection around issues at the intersection of religion and American public life.  From its outset, the Center’s hope has been that such conversations can clarify the moral consequences of public policies in ways that help to maintain the common good while respecting America’s increasing religious diversity.  The Center’s current director, Professor of Theology Mark S. Massa, S.J., succeeded the Center’s founding director, Professor Emeritus of Political Science Alan Wolfe, in 2017. 

The Center organizes lectures, seminars, and conferences on various topics relevant to the intersection of religion, politics, and public life in today’s society.  It also offers an annual graduate student symposium, an interdisciplinary undergraduate minor in Religion and Public Life, as well as annual symposia that allow students, faculty, staff and alumni to read and discuss primary texts related to religion and politics.  The Center is committed to fostering rigorous, civil, and constructive conversations about religion in public life.  It brings exceptional scholarship into dialogue with engaged citizenship and the creative arts, in order to produce meaningful exchanges that inform, challenge, and inspire.  In doing so, the Center supports Boston College’s Jesuit and Catholic commitment to education that shapes minds and souls alike for service to others.

Qualifications

Candidates must have a Ph.D., scholarly expertise in an area related to the study of religion and public life (which could include, but not be limited to, the disciplines of political science, sociology, history, and theology), a distinguished record of publication and teaching experience commensurate with appointment at the rank of full Professor, and an established record of administrative experience. 

Applicants may learn more about the program and about Boston College at https://www.bc.edu/bc-web/centers/boisi-center.html

Application Instructions

Applicants should upload their curriculum vitae and a cover letter, stating their research and teaching interests and describing their experience and expectations for the position of Boisi Center Director to Interfolio at https://apply.interfolio.com/173598

Applications should be submitted for review by the search committee no later than October 27, 2025.

Nominations and inquiries can be sent via email to Gregory Kalscheur, S.J., Search Committee Chair and Dean of the Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences, Boston College, gregory.kalscheur.1@bc.edu.

No email applications or U.S.P.S. applications will be accepted.

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement

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

Boston College is a Jesuit, Catholic university that strives to integrate research excellence with a foundational commitment to formative liberal arts education. The university is an equal opportunity employer. In concert with our Jesuit, Catholic mission, Boston College is dedicated to the goal of building a culturally diverse and pluralistic faculty and staff committed to teaching and working in a multicultural environment and strongly encourages applications from women, minorities, individuals with disabilities, and covered veterans.