Executive Director [National Council on Public History]

The National Council on Public History seeks an executive director who will provide vision, leadership, and management for a nonprofit professional and scholarly association. The Executive Director represents, and advocates for, the interests of public history and public historians in international, national, state, and local settings; coordinates the work of staff and committees to create programs, services, and publications for the public history community; stays abreast of current developments in public history and related fields and disciplines. He or she also seeks to strengthen the membership, the organization, and the field through effective communication; business, financial, and staff management; nonprofit administration; relationship building; collaborative initiatives; and, intellectual curiosity. NCPH is headquartered at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), and the director will be employed by the university. He or she may therefore be asked to serve on committees and otherwise actively participate in the History Department, the School of Liberal Arts, and the university.

We seek a committed, experienced public historian and administrator for this position and encourage applications from individuals with many professional backgrounds. Candidates should have at least a master’s degree in history or a strongly related field. Candidates holding the PhD may have the opportunity to be considered for a non-tenure-track faculty appointment in the History Department. Successful candidates will demonstrate excellent leadership, managerial, planning, and administrative skills, as well as strong interpersonal, communication, negotiation, and problem solving skills. Proven leadership and experience in board relations, management, and fundraising are preferred. The applicant should possess: a strong record of scholarly pursuits and other achievements in the field of public history; a record of success in building professional collaborations; and the ability to be an articulate advocate for NCPH, its membership, and public history at the international, federal, state, and regional levels and across the profession.

A detailed job description and applications instructions are available at http://ncph.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/NCPH-Exec-Director-Position-Description-13Feb2015.pdf

Reporting to the NCPH Board of Directors and Executive Committee, the executive director provides vision, leadership, and management for a nonprofit professional and scholarly association. The Executive Director represents, and advocates for, the interests of public history and public historians in international, national, state, and local settings; coordinates the work of staff and committees to create programs, services, and publications for the public history community; and stays abreast of current developments in public history and related fields and disciplines. He or she also seeks to strengthen the membership, the organization, and the field through effective communication; business, financial, and staff management; nonprofit administration; relationship building; collaborative initiatives; and intellectual curiosity. For the past 25 years, NCPH has been headquartered at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). The executive director is an employee of IUPUI and, therefore, may serve on committees and otherwise actively participate in the History Department, the School of Liberal Arts, and the university, promoting the interests of the IUPUI History Department and Public History Program, in Indianapolis and nationally.

We seek a committed, experienced public historian and administrator for this position and encourage applications from individuals with many professional backgrounds. Candidates should have at least a master’s degree in history or a strongly related field. Candidates holding the PhD may have the opportunity to be considered for a non-tenure-track faculty appointment in the History Department.

Principal Responsibilities

Administration

– Assist the NCPH officers, board and committee members in effectively planning and performing the operations of the organization with regard to the NCPH Long Range Plan (http://bit.ly/NCPH-lrp) and bylaws (http://bit.ly/NCPH-bylaws).

– Supervise a staff of three: a full-time associate director, a three-quarter-time membership coordinator, and a half-time (ten-month) graduate assistant intern.

– Adhere to university policies and maintain and nurture the NCPH-IUPUI relationship

– Collaborate with the publisher of The Public Historian (currently the University of California Press), and with the TPH editorial team (the Editorial Board of The Public Historian; the Co-Editor at Rutgers University Camden; the Managing Editor at UCSB; the Review Editor at California State University Sacramento; two International Consulting Editors at the University of Amsterdam; and a graduate student assistant review editor and a graduate student editorial intern at UCSB) on production and promotion of the journal

– Collaborate with the Public History Commons, History@Work (http://publichistorycommons.org/) editorial team, and Digital Media Group to advance digital publications, discussions, and integration

– Manage the committees and task forces of the organization and assist the vice president and president in making committee appointments and providing committee charges

– Ensure that NCPH programs, primarily the annual meeting, achieve the goals of the organization each year

Communications, Outreach, and Advocacy (External Audiences):

– Advocate for the value of history and public history, and position the NCPH as a leader in such efforts

– Ensure that the NCPH mission, programs, and services are presented positively and consistently to nonmembers and the public

– Develop and manage a strong communication program that includes print and digital publications, website, social media, and other vehicles

– Establish working relationships and cooperative arrangements with organizations, institutions, offices, and individuals across the public history community and outside it around issues of mutual concern

Member Communication and Membership Development:

– Ensure that the NCPH’s mission, programs, and services are presented positively and consistently to NCPH individual, partner, and patron members, as well as lapsed members

– Ensure that membership recruitment, retention, and renewal processes are in place and continually improved

– Ensure that staff, committees, and the board have open lines of communication with each other and with members and potential members

Budget and Financial Management:

– Fulfill fiduciary duties by ensuring the development and maintenance of sound financial practices

– Oversee budgeting, finance, and operations in order to meet established goals of the board of directors – Facilitate tax preparation, periodic audits, and related reports to the university

– Ensure that the board is kept fully informed of the condition of the organization and all important factors affecting it

– Work with the secretary-treasurer, Finance Committee, and the Executive Committee to prepare an annual budget for consideration by the board

– Work with the board to develop a culture of philanthropy within the NCPH and create and implement fundraising plans to attract and retain contributors

NCPH Mission Statement

NCPH inspires public engagement with the past and serves the needs of practitioners in putting history to work in the world by building community among historians, expanding professional skills and tools, fostering critical reflection on historical practice, and publicly advocating for history and historians.