Background and Context

The Duke Lemur Center (DLC) in Durham, N.C., is a unique institution dedicated to the study and care of the world’s most endangered and biologically diverse primates:  the lemurs of Madagascar. The DLC is the product of a distinguished history founded on the principle that the study of lemurs and their close evolutionary cousins, the galagos and lorises, can inform larger questions in primate biology such as the genetic and biological underpinnings of the human condition. Investigators and students from around the world come to Duke to study the living and fossil collections of the DLC. The DLC houses the largest collection of Malagasy primates in the world outside of Madagascar.

Established in 1966, initially as the Duke University Primate Center, the DLC’s three-fold mission is to engage in research, education, and conservation efforts that advance the scientific understanding and preservation of Malagasy primates. By hosting researchers based both at Duke and at other institutions, the DLC has built an impressive research portfolio spanning a wide range of research topics, including lemur genetics, physiology, brain function, and behavior, as well as the potential implications of those areas for broader understandings of primate and human health. The DLC contributes to the conservation of Malagasy primates both through its highly successful breeding programs at the DLC and through an active conservation program based in the SAVA region of Madagascar.

The DLC facility comprises 100 acres of Duke Forest land, much of which is made accessible to the lemurs, and includes veterinary, research, outreach, and caretaking staff. Educational activities include Duke classes held at the DLC, student research projects at educational levels from high school to Ph.D., training opportunities for student interns from around the world — including those from other area universities, such as the N.C. State Veterinary School — and outreach-oriented tours and events.

The first Academic Director of the Duke Lemur Center will partner with the DLC’s Executive Director and excellent staff to build on the DLC’s impressive foundations and will expand and enhance its academic activities and reputation.

Opportunities and Expectations

  • Provide intellectual vision for the DLC’s research program. This will include working closely with the DLC’s Director of Research to expand the center’s research activities by capitalizing on existing areas of strength and strategically developing new areas of focus and inquiry.
  • Work closely with the Executive Director of the DLC to help guide and balance the three-pronged mission of the center.
  • Foster new collaborations and facilitate major grant proposals that support research at the DLC, especially those that incorporate student engagement.
  • Develop and engage with a strong external advisory community to ensure the continuation of a long tradition of consultation with and guidance from expert external scientists.
  • Effectively partner with key faculty, academic leaders, and other stakeholders across Duke, including the multiple units that engage with overlapping areas of research.
  • Actively engage with the Madagascar-based conservation program to enhance its programs in Madagascar and its cooperation and coordination with Duke researchers in Madagascar.
  • Provide vision for enhancing the DLC teaching mission across the university, making full use of signature Duke educational programs such as Bass Connections and Data+, to embed DLC research more fully into the educational experience of Duke graduate students and undergraduates.
  • Effectively partner with Duke Development and Foundation Relations to foster development efforts focused on sustaining the long-term financial health of the DLC.

Key Relationships

Reports to

Vice Provost for Interdisciplinary Studies, with a dotted line to the DLC Executive Director. At the conclusion of the term as Academic Director, the reporting relationship is anticipated to shift to the head of the appointing academic unit.

Direct Reports

Director of Research

Curator of Behavior Management and Animal Welfare

Conservation Coordinator of Madagascar Programs

Fossil Primate Curator

Other Key Relationships

Provost, Academic Deans of key schools, Directors of university-wide interdisciplinary units, Chairs of key departments, and other relevant senior university leaders

For more information on the Duke Lemur Center, visit lemur.duke.edu.

Candidate Profile

As its next Academic Director, the Duke Lemur Center seeks a broadly accomplished and influential scholar who recognizes the importance of the Malagasy primates for comparative studies across a breadth of scientific disciplines, particularly in light of their unique evolutionary relationship to humans and other primates. The Academic Director will have a deep commitment to supporting research that leverages the DLC’s unique biological resources, excellent physical infrastructure, and strong global scientific networks. While the Academic Director’s own intellectual engagement could be in any area of biological, biomedical, ecological, or conservation research, candidates whose work has previously focused on Malagasy primates, Malagasy ecology, or Malagasy conservation will be of particular interest.  

IDEAL EXPERIENCE

Ideal candidates will have many of the following experiences and qualities:

  • Breadth as an interdisciplinary researcher with a level of scholarly achievement commensurate with a senior tenured faculty appointment at Duke; candidates with a record of impact in conservation research and policy development outside of academia are encouraged to apply if they have a strong research program alongside their conservation activities.
  • Appreciation for the remarkable breadth of scientific and social science disciplines that converge in studies of Malagasy primates, including but not limited to biomedical research, neuroscience, community-based conservation, ecological and climate change research, evolutionary behavioral ecology, and evolutionary genetics and phylogenetics.
  • A record of collaborating and engaging across disciplinary perspectives.
  • The ability to collaborate, convene, and connect across the breadth of Duke and beyond.
  • An entrepreneurial spirit, with the ability to lead through influence and navigate complex organizational structures.
  • The capacity to effectively communicate DLC’s academic mission and focus to a broad range of stakeholder constituencies.
  • Prior success in an administrative leadership role, ideally within a research-intensive context, with attention to the challenges and opportunities associated with project-based interdisciplinary education, and a track record of expanding scholarly opportunities for others.
  • Ability and willingness to engage with the animal care community at both the institutional (e.g., IACUC) and national (e.g., AAALAC) levels.
  • Ability to communicate the importance of the DLC mission to a general audience and to engage external partners in supporting the DLC mission.

CRITICAL LEADERSHIP CAPABILITIES

Collaborating and Influencing

In a research university that values shared governance and community, the Academic Director will build consensus and support for the DLC’s strategic priorities and initiatives by:

  • Serving as an intellectual leader among the DLC’s staff and affiliated researchers, displaying the highest aspirations of developing and fulfilling DLC’s missions.
  • Supporting equity, diversity, inclusion, and community initiatives and goals through visible, vocal, and proactive leadership.
  • Setting clear goals and creating a culture celebrating positive change and experimentation, engaging people in reasoned dialogue.
  • Demonstrating a focus on mentoring and otherwise supporting both researchers and staff to build intellectual community and ambitious collaborations.
  • Appreciation for and ability to navigate a complex, multidimensional set of goals while supporting a forward-looking research agenda and maintaining the highest standards of animal care and welfare.

Institutional Representation

As one of the DLC’s key spokespersons and advocates, the Academic Director must build relationships with a range of university and external constituencies by:

  • Serving as a committed university citizen and willing collaborator with fellow faculty, Deans, Directors of interdisciplinary units, department chairs, the Vice Provost for Interdisciplinary Studies, the Vice President for Research and Innovation, the Provost, and others to promote the University’s educational and research missions.
  • Energetically representing the DLC to internal and external constituencies in support of development activities in partnership with the development team, faculty, and Duke University leaders.
  • Creatively and enthusiastically exploring traditional, emerging, and alternative funding sources.

OTHER PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS

  • Intellectual breadth and curiosity
  • Strong personal connection to the missions of the DLC
  • Unimpeachable integrity
  • Excellent communication skills, strong listener; a facilitator and advocate
  • Focus on action, even in the face of ambiguity and complexity
  • Flexible learning with respect for and acknowledgement of alternative perspectives
  • Compassion for animal welfare
See job ad