Executive Director of the Center for International Stabilization and Recovery

Position description

We are a community committed to preparing students to be educated and enlightened citizens who lead productive and meaningful lives.

 

Vision

To be the national model for the engaged university: engaged with ideas and the world.

 

Who We Are

Located in the heart of Virginia’s beautiful Shenandoah Valley, the city of Harrisonburg is approximately 120 miles from Washington, D.C. and Richmond, VA. With a population of just over 53,000, Harrisonburg is one of the most diverse communities in the Commonwealth of Virginia. JMU is a selective, public institution with a growing national reputation for offering experiences that lead to an outstanding education and inclusive environment for students, faculty and staff. The student body includes approximately 20,000 undergraduate and 1,900 graduate students, with over 1,000 full-time instructional faculty.

 

JMU offers thriving programs in the liberal arts, science and technology, and professional disciplines at the undergraduate, master’s and doctoral levels. The university is committed to expanding diversity, fostering equity and inclusion, and supporting superlative teaching and scholarship. JMU has achieved national recognition for the high quality of its academic programs, focus on maintaining strong student/faculty interaction, and innovative faculty research.

 

General Information:

 

Since our founding in 1996, the Center for International Stabilization and Recovery (CISR), a center of excellence at James Madison University (JMU), has been dedicated to understanding and overcoming global conflict. In fulfilling its mission, CISR produces the industry leading publication, The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction, a professional trade publication for the humanitarian mine action and ERW community of practice, and the US Department of State’s annual report on conventional weapons destruction, To Walk the Earth in Safety. CISR has also hosted conferences, conducted research studies, provided management training for organizations that clear land contaminated with explosive remnants of war, designed and implemented peer support training for survivors of conflict, conducted capacity-building training for disability rights organizations, and conducted explosive ordnance risk education for communities living with explosive hazard contamination, among other projects. More recently CISR’s work has expanded beyond post-conflict humanitarian mine action and conventional weapons destruction to include international development and capacity building projects such as mentoring the American University of Kurdistan in Iraq to achieve US accreditation, capacity development with the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) based out of University of South Africa, and helping to support the Regional Explosive Hazards Training Centre in Tajikistan.

 

CISR is seeking an Executive Director to lead the organization’s strategic mission by providing visionary leadership, ensuring CISR’s financial success, and raising the international profile of the organization. The Executive Director position reports directly to the JMU Associate Vice President of Research and Scholarship and is a key leadership position responsible for overseeing all aspects of CISR’s administration.

 

For additional information about CISR, please visit: https://www.jmu.edu/cisr/index.shtml

 

Duties and Responsibilities:

 

Oversee dedicated staff of the Center consisting of a combination of full-time and part-time employees, graduate assistants, and undergraduate student employees and interns; oversee CISR team strategic planning efforts; provide overall leadership to the Center’s operations, financial planning and personnel to ensure its sustainability as a Center.

 

Provide vision and overall leadership in furtherance of the Center’s mission and operations to ensure its sustainability as a Center

 

Determine the objectives, short- and long-range planning, and implementation of programs to meet strategies that align with the Division of Research, Economic Development and Innovation (REDI) and university priorities

 

Envision and lead a robust and productive external funding agenda and strategy to ensure success and sustainability of the center

 

Oversee the budget and management of center resources

 

Provide visionary leadership and mentorship that will support opportunities to expand programs departments, resources, strategic functions, and facilities for CISR

 

Project management – supervise implementation of grants, contracts and other CISR project tasks to ensure success and future sustainability of CISR’s programming. Provide direct management support to certain specific projects as needed and most advantageous for the Center.

 

Maintain and strengthen long-standing relationships while fostering new partnerships for continued growth and collaborations

 

Oversee effective and efficient implementation of grants, contracts and other CISR projects

 

Serve as a senior advisor on projects, to provide subject-matter expertise and strategic guidance

 

Define and lead a research agenda for the center

 

Develop proposals for grants, cooperative agreements and contracts in response to solicitations from the Department of State, other U.S. government (USG) agencies, international organizations, non-governmental organizations, private foundations, universities and other operators working in the conventional weapons destruction (CWD) field, in countries operating in a post-conflict context, or with institutions of higher education outside the US seeking to strengthen their capacity and expand their programs to better serve the needs of their country.

 

Oversee center agreements, international delegations, extramural activities, and the fiscal and personnel management of CISR

 

Integrate and coordinate CISR with JMU efforts in REDI, including in the area of Inclusive Excellence, and expand and strengthen its partnerships with other colleges, departments, and academic institutes and centers (grant and non-grant funded).

 

Establish an Advisory Board. Once the Advisory Board has been created, the Executive Director will collaborate with the board to identify, create and implement strategic plans to actualize center objectives

 

Engage in collaborative leadership with CISR staff while interfacing with students, scholars, faculty and administrative staff to lead and enhance campus-wide understanding of CISR

 

Conduct global outreach initiatives – Cultivate professional relationships with USG agencies, government authorities in other countries, international organizations, non-governmental organizations, foundations, donors, academia, and other stakeholders working in the CWD, post-conflict recovery, and international development fields of practice, serving as an ambassador of the center.

 

Create and develop networks relating to areas of concern to the Center and keep others apprised of CISR capabilities and accomplishments.

 

Regularly coordinate with State Department and other partners and sponsors.

 

Give presentations, write for publications, and host visits to CISR.

 

Advocate for CISR within the JMU context regarding administrative and financial support required for the Center’s effective operation. Keep JMU leadership and partners apprised of CISR capabilities and accomplishments. Represent CISR at JMU through engagement with faculty, attendance at campus events, and participation in meetings and committee activities as most directly related to the work of the Center.

 

Provide oversight of policies, programs and activities of the center and manage external and internal governance for the center

 

Identify potential sources of funding and lead fundraising efforts and advocate for CISR within the JMU context and externally regarding resources

 

Oversee center operations and ensure staff, activities and initiatives meet all compliance requirements

 

Oversee evaluation for quality assurance, monitoring, reporting, timeliness, objectives, and budget efficiency

 

Performs other job-related duties as assigned

 

Qualifications:

 

Qualifications:

 

A terminal academic degree

 

Proven track record of leadership, with demonstrated success in securing external funding, including writing and managing grants, strategic planning, and budget management

 

Experience building and sustaining collaborative relationships across the university and globally with key stakeholders, including university administration, deans and department heads

 

Experience in organizing and advocating for resources, building a collaborative team environment, managing personnel and establishing priorities that align with department and university strategies

 

Experience leading projects/programs in international development, capacity building, peacebuilding, and/or humanitarian mine action

 

Extensive project management and supervisory experience overseeing initiatives involving diverse partners and stakeholders (e.g. donor representatives, international partners, project beneficiaries, university administration, government officials, technical experts, and university faculty)

 

Proven commitment to community engagement, and cross-cultural competence at both local and global levels

 

Strong record of artistic or scholastic research, publication, and/or academic performance, preferably with an international focus

 

Proven ability to serve as the public representative of an organization and articulate to internal and external constituents the essential value of a center like CISR

 

Demonstrated record of commitment to Intersectional inclusive excellence

 

Strong interpersonal and communication skills

 

Additional Qualifications:

 

Background/Experience in humanitarian mine clearance, victim assistance, mine risk reduction or related fields

 

Understands the trends and dynamic global landscape in CISR’s areas of interest

 

A record of advocacy for the inclusion of all people in our global community

 

Ability to make administrative/procedural decisions and judgments, often quickly, with consideration for both domestic and global impact

Application instructions

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