Executive Director, Harris Social Impact Fellowship

Department

Harris School Social Impact Fellowship

About the Department

Policy with real impact doesn’t evolve from ideology or intuition, or even experience. At the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy, developing effective public policy is a science, based on data and measurable impact .Addressing today’s interconnected, global challenges requires rigorous inquiry. It also requires innovative people who will face the facts, gather data, and understand why current policies exist to improve them. For more than 30 years, the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy has been steadfastly committed to serving society by advancing analysis- and evidence-informed policy. Guided by this exacting mission, our community of faculty, students, and alumni from the public, private, and nonprofit sectors are taking on the world’s most important problems by using the latest tools of social science. Harris Public Policy offers a full range of degree and executive education programs and is the academic home to research centers, institutes, and labs that study and engage the public on areas such as conflict, democracy and effective government, economic and political development, education, energy and environment, health, municipal finance, public safety, social policy, and urban policy.

Job Summary

The Executive Director provides strategic, programmatic, financial, and operational leadership for the Harris Social Impact Fellowship (HSIF), a flagship initiative of the University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy. Reporting to the Associate Dean of Executive Education and Partnerships and partnering closely with the Faculty Director, the Executive Director leads the Fellowship’s programmatic direction, growth strategy, partnership portfolio, and operations.

The Executive Director sets the multi-year growth trajectory of HSIF, including cohort scaling, geographic expansion of host placements, and new institutional partnerships. The role holds decision rights on selection, partnership scope, budget allocation, and staff hiring within the program team, and partners with the Alumni Relations and Development team on program-substance contributions to donor-facing work. The Executive Director represents the Fellowship to senior University leadership and external audiences, safeguarding its reputation while advancing Harris’ mission to develop evidence-based leaders committed to social impact.

Responsibilities

• Serves as strategic co-architect of the Fellowship curriculum and experience with the Faculty Director, leading annual design cycles, faculty engagement, integration of research centers across UChicago, and the strategic evolution of the Fellowship in alignment with School priorities, the multi-year growth strategy, and the academic and experiential standards that define the HSIF model.
• Owns the multi-year growth strategy: cohort size, geographic and sectoral scope of host placements, and sequencing of expansion moves, in alignment with School priorities.
• Leads external host site expansion, including sourcing strategy, the rigor floor and selection criteria for new sites, cost-share model design, and negotiation of foundational partnership terms.
• Explores sector-level platform infrastructure positioning HSIF as a bridge between STEM talent and social impact pathways, including peer-program relationships and applicant-pool engagement mechanisms.
• Owns senior-level relationships across Harris and the broader University, including the Dean and Associate Deans, faculty principals, research center directors (Urban Labs, BIP Lab, Mansueto Institute, and others), and counterparts in University advancement, finance, and academic affairs.
• Sources and manages individual and organizational contacts and partnerships that unlock program growth and enhance program quality, including identifying and managing engagement scope, timeline, and deliverables.
• Serves as the program-substance partner to ARD and Harris leadership on HSIF-related donor cultivation and reporting, including co-producing the program-substance materials to be used in donor conversations with ARD, such as impact reports, cohort narratives, programmatic updates, and briefing packets tailored to specific audiences.
• Sets the national recruitment strategy, including brand positioning, target applicant profile, priority feeder institutions, and yield targets, and reviews pipeline performance against the multi-year growth strategy.
• Sets the selection architecture, including the assessment framework, interview design, and evaluation rubrics, and holds final cohort formation decisions in partnership with the Faculty Director.
• Designs the alumni engagement platform as a strategic asset compounding across cohorts, including the convening model, leadership pathways, and