The Leadership Opportunity

BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT

For over 20 years, Duke’s Social Science Research Institute (SSRI) has brought together researchers with interests in problems that span the social and behavioral sciences, and often connect with the humanities and natural sciences. SSRI promotes multidisciplinary collaboration among such scholars as they work on pressing social issues that are challenging to address fully from within any given discipline. Over the course of SSRI’s history at Duke, it has played an important role in facilitating broad engagement with methods of quantitative research, overseen a collection of important centers and institutes, and has become increasingly focused on issues related to equity. Under its next Director, SSRI will build on this impressive foundation, with a thematic focus on social equity.

OPPORTUNITIES AND EXPECTATIONS

  • Provide intellectual vision for the future of SSRI, prioritizing the Institute’s ongoing efforts and initiatives while also strategically developing new areas of focus and inquiry to capitalize on existing areas of strength across Duke’s research enterprise and the teaching missions of its ten schools.
  • Further hone and effectively communicate SSRI’s mission, balancing the need to broadly engage faculty across a range of disciplines and areas of inquiry with the Institute’s thematic focus on social equity.
  • Foster new collaborations and facilitate major interdisciplinary grant proposals, incorporating student engagement.
  • Effectively partner with key leaders and stakeholders across Duke and, in particular, with the Office of Research and Innovation and the many other interdisciplinary units that engage with issues related to social equity.

KEY RELATIONSHIPS

Reports to

Vice Provost for Interdisciplinary Studies

Direct reports and units

Administrative staff (Administrative Coordinator; Staff Assistants (2); Director, Communications) 19 Duke faculty, for whom SSRI serves as their appointment home

Master in Interdisciplinary Data Science (MIDS) – co-located with the Rhodes Information Initiative

Duke University Population Research Institute (DuPRI) Biodemography of Aging Research Unit (BARU) Interdisciplinary Behavioral Research Center (IBRC) Applied Research, Evaluation, and Engagement (AREE) Behavior Science & Policy Center (BSPC)

Center on Health & Society (CHS)

Center on Genomics, Race, Identity & Difference (GRID) Center for Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation (TRHT) Duke Initiative on Survey Methodology (DISM)

American South

Other key relationships

Provost, Academic Deans, Interdisciplinary Unit Directors, Department Chairs, and other relevant senior University leaders

For more information on SSRI, visit SSRI.Duke.edu.

Candidate Profile

As its next Director, Duke’s Social Science Research Institute (SSRI) seeks a broadly accomplished and impactful scholar with a fundamental interest in supporting research that describes the contours of social inequities; explores the processes through which social inequities come to be, persist, grow, and shrink; and dispassionately assesses the efficacy of policies that seek to address social inequities. While the Director’s own intellectual engagement could be in the areas of race and ethnicity, social class, gender and sexuality, and/or geographic disparities, candidates whose work focuses on domains ranging from housing, consumer protection, and education to business, government, the environment, criminal justice, and healthcare will also be considered; the goal of this newly articulated thematic focus is to ensure substantive engagement between SSRI and the breadth of social science inquiry across Duke.

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 and/or an intellectual profile and record of impact in policy development outside of academia.
  • Demonstrated appreciation for the quantitative and interpretive social sciences, with a record of collaborating and engaging across disciplinary perspectives.
  • The ability to collaborate, convene, and connect across the breadth of Duke.
  • An entrepreneurial spirit, with the ability to lead through influence, navigate ambiguity, and exercise operational and financial acumen.
  • The capacity to effectively communicate SSRI’s 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.

CRITICAL LEADERSHIP CAPABILITIES

Collaborating and Influencing

  • In an institution that values shared governance and community, the Director will build consensus and support for SSRI’s strategic priorities and initiatives by:
  • Serving as an intellectual leader among SSRI’s affiliated faculty and staff, displaying the highest aspirations of developing and fulfilling SSRI’s interdisciplinary educational and research 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 a reasoned way.
  • Demonstrating a focus on mentoring and otherwise supporting faculty to build intellectual community and ambitious collaborations

Institutional Representation

As SSRI’s key spokesperson and chief advocate, the 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 other interdisciplinary units, department chairs, the Vice Provost for Interdisciplinary Studies, the Provost, and others to promote the University’s educational and research missions.
  • Energetically representing SSRI to internal and external constituencies in support of development activities in partnership with the development team, faculty, and Duke University leaders.
  • Creatively and energetically exploring traditional, emerging, and alternative funding sources.

Strategic Vision

Continue to lead committed and diverse constituencies to ever-higher levels of achievement and contribute to SSRI’s overall excellence by:

  • Serving as a strong advocate for SSRI’s interdisciplinary educational and research missions, strengthening the Institute’s capacity to address challenges and provide a transformative educational and research experience for affiliated faculty and students across the breadth of the University.
  • Translating broad strategies into clear, specific objectives and plans, gaining the buy-in of key institutional stakeholders.
  • Understanding the challenges and opportunities facing each unit, program, and initiative that comprise SSRI, appropriately balancing resources and attention across the Institute.

OTHER PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS

  • Intellectual breadth and curiosity
  • Strong personal connection to the interdisciplinary educational and research missions of SSRI
  • Unimpeachable integrity
  • Excellent communication skills, strong listener; a facilitator and advocate
  • Focus on action, even in the face of ambiguity and complexity

THE SEARCH PROCESS

The Duke SSRI Search Committee is eager to receive input that will help it build a diverse pool of talented individuals. To that end, the Search Committee welcomes your comments, inquiries, applications, and nominations, which may be submitted via e-mail with supporting materials to: DukeSSRI@SpencerStuart.com.

Duke University prohibits discrimination and harassment and provides equal employment opportunity without regard to an individual’s age, color, disability, gender, gender expression, gender identity, genetic information, national origin, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or veteran status. Duke is committed to recruiting, hiring, and promoting qualified women, minorities, individuals with disabilities, and veterans.

Pursuant to Title IX of the Education Amendment of 1972, Duke prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in any of its educational programs or activities. For more information, please visit https://hr.duke.edu/policies/diversity.

About the Institution

THE UNIVERSITY

A member of the Association of American Universities, Duke University was created in 1924 with a gift from James Buchanan Duke to Trinity College. Since then, Duke has grown to include 10 schools (Trinity College of Arts & Sciences, Fuqua School of Business, Divinity School, Pratt School of Engineering, Nicholas School of the Environment, Graduate School, School of Law, Sanford School of Public Policy, and the Schools of Medicine and Nursing). The University has over 6,400 undergraduate students, 10,400 graduate and professional students, 4,100 faculty, 47,000 employees, and 196,100 active alumni. Duke had total operating expenditures of $8.2 billion in fiscal year 2023 and an endowment of $11.6 billion.

Duke has a culture of innovation and collaboration rooted in an environment that promotes interdisciplinary research and education. In addition to its schools and departmental programs, 11 university institutes and centers (UICs) focus on multidisciplinary research and education. In addition to SSRI, these units engage with global health, the social sciences, ethics, brain sciences, health policy, humanities, data science, science & society, documentary studies, and innovation & entrepreneurship. Other key interdisciplinary units with a focus on social equity are organized within a college or school, including the Samuel DuBois Cook Center on Social Equity (Trinity College), the Wilson Center for Science and Justice (Duke Law), and the Clinical and Translational Science Institute (School of Medicine). SSRI makes robust contributions to this vibrant interdisciplinary ecosystem. Faculty are encouraged to explore deeply basic issues in disciplinary research areas, to examine complex interdisciplinary research questions, and to address enduring and emerging intellectual and policy problems from multiple perspectives. They also enjoy excellent support in developing innovative, interdisciplinary modes of education, including avenues for project-based collaboration and experiential learning. The UICs and school-based interdisciplinary units are guided by priorities that promote good stewardship of University resources, emphasize the provision of public goods undersupplied by schools and departments, seek out partnerships with other units to extend impact and avoid duplication, and nurture a community that is accessible, diverse, and committed to a culture of engagement.

Duke’s shared values—respect, trust, inclusion, discovery, and excellence—are the foundation of the University’s culture. They also guide and inform the institution’s strategic direction as Duke seeks to adapt to and shape the course of a changing world.

Since its founding, Duke University has been dedicated to a liberal and broad-based education at the undergraduate, graduate, and professional levels and the ethical pursuit of knowledge that advances humankind. Duke offers a distinctive educational identity that integrates undergraduate teaching with a collaborative research culture, with 15 associated Nobel Laureates and 50 Rhodes Scholars; it fosters a diverse, inclusive, and exceptionally talented campus community, boasting excellent professional schools, a vibrant arts community, and an internationally renowned athletics program. It is also home to a health system that serves as a vital hub for the region and is a leading center of innovation in research and healthcare delivery. The University is universally regarded as one of the leading American and global research universities and academic medical centers.

INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES AT DUKE

The Institute is housed in the Office of Interdisciplinary Studies (OIS) led by the Vice Provost for Interdisciplinary Studies, Ed Balleisen. OIS serves as a vibrant hub of coordination and management for Duke’s interdisciplinary units. The office is a critical partner to senior and faculty leadership in crafting and implementing policies and procedures that meet interdisciplinary groups’ distinctive administrative, research, educational, and practice needs. The office also manages the University’s Bass Connections program, which brings faculty and students together through 60 to 70 year-long interdisciplinary project teams and a growing set of interdisciplinary, project-based courses.

Interdisciplinarity has been deeply ingrained in the fabric of Duke’s schools and departments for well over two decades. This is demonstrated, in part, through the projects and initiatives that take place across its 11 university-wide institutes and centers. The UICs collectively manage approximately $39 million annually in faculty grants, engage deeply with decision-makers beyond the university, run certificate programs and working groups for graduate and professional students, offer three master’s degree programs, and provide undergraduates with one co-major and a diverse set of certificate programs and co-curricular student organizations. Through funding, methodological training, administrative support, and space for collaboration, the UICs also support numerous faculty-driven interdisciplinary projects and initiatives.

BASS CONNECTIONS

The Bass Connections program unites and supports scholars and students across Duke in developing solutions to the world’s complex and multi-faceted societal issues. Through a spectrum of year-long, semester-long, and immersive summer programs, undergraduate and graduate students alike collaborate with faculty and scholars in innovative and cross-cutting research endeavors that connect them to opportunities for collaboration with community organizations, NGOs, government agencies, school systems, healthcare providers, and industry. The SSRI Director will ensure that SSRI serves as a vibrant, supportive home for the Bass Connections Race & Society theme, one of its six thematic areas, and will maintain the Institute’s responsible stewardship of Bass Connections and its associated resources, in part through alignment with UIC priorities.

To learn more about the Office of Interdisciplinary Studies and the Bass Connections program, please visit https://interdisciplinary.duke.edu.

COMMITMENT TO DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION

Duke aspires to create a community built on collaboration, innovation, creativity, and belonging. Our collective success depends on the robust exchange of ideas—an exchange that is best when the rich diversity of our perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences flourishes. To achieve this exchange, it is essential that all members of the community feel secure and welcome, that the contributions of all individuals are respected, and that all voices are heard. All members of our community have a responsibility to uphold these values.

For additional information on Duke University, please visit https://duke.edu.