Manager, Member Society Relations

ACLS Mission and Overview

Formed a century ago, the American Council of Learned Societies
(ACLS) is a nonprofit federation of 80 scholarly
organizations.  As the leading representative of American
scholarship in the humanities and related social sciences, ACLS
holds a core belief that knowledge is a public good. As such, ACLS
strives to promote the circulation of humanistic knowledge
throughout society. In addition to stewarding and representing its
member organizations, ACLS employs its endowment and $35 million
annual operating budget to support scholarship in the humanities
and social sciences and to advocate for the centrality of the
humanities in the modern world.

ACLS Learned Societies

The 80 learned societies that are members of ACLS
are national or international organizations in the humanities and
interpretive social sciences. Each society is concerned with a
distinct field of study, but all are involved in the promotion of
research, scholarly publication, and education. Learned societies
have been vitally important in setting standards of excellence in
research, writing, and education.

The executive directors of ACLS Member Societies meet as
the Conference of Executive Officers
(CEO). The CEO comes together semi-annually to address concerns
common to all in the community of humanistic scholars, particularly
those issues related to maintaining and improving conditions for
research, education, and communication among the scholars.

Job Summary

The Manager of Member Society Relations will support ACLS’s 80
member societies’ active and productive CEO, assist ACLS’s
programming efforts for the membership, and ACLS’s efforts to
recruit and retain additional member societies, whose participation
will keep ACLS on a trajectory towards equitable and inclusive
representation of humanistic fields.

The manager will provide ongoing support for the CEO and the
Societies’ delegates, establish and strengthen linkages between CEO
and ACLS program units, and facilitate the implementation of
selected joint projects involving society collaborations, including
collaborations with ACLS.

Responsibilities include but are not limited
to:

Provide ongoing support for the Conference of Executive Officers
(CEO):

• Work with CEO Executive Committee to plan and document CEO
  convenings and networking activities, including:
  • Spring face-to-face meeting in conjunction with ACLS Annual
    Meeting
  • Fall meeting
  • Regular online informal meet-ups
• Work with ACLS’s events team to organize the annual in-person
  leadership seminar for incoming society board presidents and
  society directors
• Provide support for preparation of agendas and materials for
  meetings and activities; recruitment of expert resource
  participants; preparation of travel arrangements and
  reimbursements
• Provide information and referral resources as needed to
  Executive Officers on matters such as membership, meetings,
  publishing, advocacy and outreach, human resources, and
  fundraising
• Match new Executive Officers with a more established buddy for
  peer mentoring support
• Manage CEO Net (list serv) communications channel and document
  repository
• Maintain updated ACLS website content concerning member
  societies

Provide support, through identifying and convening internal ACLS
staff and/or external consultants, for implementation of special
ACLS projects in support of the societies:

• Identifying innovative business models and planning to secure
  societies’ sustainable financial footing
• Identifying approaches to recruitment, retention, and
  engagement of society membership that may involve market research
  and innovative membership pricing models
• Support diversity / equity / inclusion / justice work in the
  humanities and interpretive social sciences, including work to be
  undertaken by ACLS’s new unit, Intentional Design for an Equitable
  Academy (IDEA)
• Advancing discussions with higher education institutions about
  models for recognition of faculty involvement in member society
  leadership roles
• Developing a plan to build and maintain an ongoing census about
  the member societies
• Supporting society efforts to help advance careers of
  independent scholars and humanities practitioners working in
  government, NGO, and business settings
• Strengthen linkages between CEO and ACLS program units
• Expand use of combined purchasing power to achieve discounted
  professional service rates for legal, financial management,
  accounting, auditing, fundraising charitable registration
  services

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in a humanities, social sciences or related
  field; MA preferred
• 5-7 years of related work experience in higher education or
  non-profit organization; experience working with scholarly
  organizations or associations a plus
• Experience planning face-to-face and online convenings, from
  small groups to groups to involving up to 50-75 participants
• Familiarity with operations of scholarly organizations or
  association, including meetings, publishing, outreach/advocacy, and
  membership management
• Experience with WordPress or comparable content management
  system
• Excellent oral and written communication skills with an ability
  to communicate effectively with diverse internal and external
  audiences
• Ability to juggle multiple priorities while maintaining
  attention to detail
• Commitment to supporting initiatives in work related to
  diversity, inclusion, equity, and justice
• A “can-do” attitude and collaborative working style are
  essential.

Office policy and salary

• ACLS is operating on a hybrid schedule, 2 days per week in the
  office. Staff are expected to be available during ACLS’s normal
  hours of operation, from 9am-5pm ET.
• Travel outside of the NYC area approximately 2-3x a year
• Salary range: $90,000 – $120,000, commensurate with
  experience