Position Description - Executive Director, Collegium
Draft revision March 2025
For Review by Collegium Board
The Executive Director of Collegium serves as the primary steward of Collegium’s mission, “to help faculty at Catholic colleges and universities better understand the mission of Catholic higher education, and to invite and help prepare them to become leaders in advancing that mission in creative ways.” The Executive Director bears the responsibility, in consultation with the board, to keep the organization strategically focused on educating future generations of mission-committed faculty leaders, and is responsible at the executive level for implementing Collegium programs, particularly Collegium’s signature program, the summer colloquy on faith and intellectual life. It is the Executive Directo’s responsibility to ensure in an expanding market of mission-related programs, that Collegium is regarded as the most effective and in-depth faculty development program in Catholic higher education.
The Executive Director, in their scholarship, teaching, and faith commitments, should exemplify the values of Collegium and be able to communicate them clearly and credibly to member institutions, potential member institutions, participants, and the broader public.
As the key person responsible for the intellectual direction of Collegium, and the shaper of the framework for the colloquy and related efforts, the Executive Director must understand and work to enhance scholarship around the history and future of Catholic intellectual life. They should keep abreast of developments and scholarship that impact Collegium’s work, and employ these as needed to revise a colloquy curriculum so that it continues to fulfill the organization’s mission. The Executive Director must be able to articulate the program and colloquy’s rationale for mentors and participants, keeping up to date about potential new readings and frameworks, choosing readings for the colloquy, preparing and mentoring mentors, and providing intellectual leadership to frame the broader arc, and the specifics, of the summer colloquy curriculum. Over time the Executive Director must be able to enhance the scholarship on Catholic intellectual life and mission in higher education, whether through articles or new works in the footsteps of As Leaven in the World (Sheed & Ward/Bloomsbury, 2001), Becoming Beholders (Liturgical Press, 2014), and Beneath the Roar and Tumult ). The new ED’s understanding of the Catholic intellectual tradition should be cognizant of its deep roots and history, but not be only inwardly focused. It should be expounded in such a way as to be compelling to faculty of other or no faith traditions, and to encourage creativity and vision as we adapt to future challenges.
The Executive Director should understand the range and scope of Catholic higher education, both in terms of its many charisms and the diversity of institutional types and understand and have a grounding in the array of Catholic spiritual traditions that shape the colloquy, which is both an intellectual and a spiritual experience. The Executive Director should be able to understand and navigate the politics of Catholic life in the US as they impact Collegium’s mission, and to show a clear path forward without tripping on those politics. In keeping with the strategic priority of the board, the Executive Director should demonstrate a commitment to foster diverse leadership for Catholic higher education.
The Executive Director’s role requires an excellent sense of how to direct the larger colloquy and the small groups from an affective, interpersonal perspective, to be able to work with experienced mentors to strategize and move conversations forward in a purposeful fashion that is attentive to the particular needs of the group at any time. The colloquies thrive in an environment that fosters friendship as well as seriousness of inquiry, and the Executive Director should be adept at fostering that environment. The Executive Director should establish an environment that is welcoming to people of all or no faith traditions and see to it that the work of the many disciplines is represented there.
Year-round, the Executive Director chooses the venues for summer colloquies and negotiates pricing and other arrangements at those campuses; selects readings, speakers, mentors, and spiritual directors, and revises the schedule as appropriate; reviews faculty applicants and assigns small groups; mentors and empowers the colloquy mentors; develops assessment tools for the summer colloquy; with the Board Chair, organizes fall board meetings and spring follow-ups; stewards relationships with presidents, mission officers, and other leaders in Catholic higher education; engages alumni and member school liaisons; develops and supervises budgets; delivers an annual assessment and other reports to the board; manages the content of Collegium News and the Collegium website, serves ex-officio on the ACCU finance committee, which stewards Collegium’s endowment; advances strategic initiatives determined by the Collegium Board. Since 2020, Board meetings have been held via Zoom.
Collegium benefits from an endowment of ~$1.25 million, built largely through a series of foundation grants since 1992 totaling about $1.1 million. While grant writing has been limited in recent years, the Executive Director may, in furtherance of strategic initiatives, need to develop further sources of grant funding.
The Executive Director is accountable to the Collegium Board and also works collegially with its members on projects they choose to undertake.
The Executive Director serves in a part-time capacity, normally about 5-8 hours per week, plus more extended time during the Colloquy and in the lead up to it, and on trips for occasional talks, recruitment, and to award the Visionary Award. Their work is enabled by the help of a part-time Administrative Assistant who provides day-to-day support in areas such as conference planning, fellows recruitment, scheduling, website maintenance, alumni/ae relations, database upkeep, publication of Collegium News, Collegium small grants program, alumni/ae awards, annual board meeting planning, and special initiatives designated by the Collegium Board.
The Executive Director’s salary is paid through ACCU, with the Executive Director functioning as an independent contractor, who therefore pays Estimated Taxes 4x/year. The Administrative Assistant is currently an employee of the school who hosts the Executive Director; their salary and any benefits are paid by the school, using funds accrued by Collegium. This person is currently a non-exempt hourly employee. Specific arrangements will be spelled out in the contract between Collegium and the Executive Director.