Director

Director, Folger Institute

Folger Shakespeare Library

Washington, DC

Folger vision: Human experience comes alive through history, performance, and scholarship in ways that deepen shared insight and connection.

The Folger Shakespeare Library (the Folger) seeks a dynamic and inventive scholar-leader to serve as the next Director of the Folger Institute (the Institute). The Institute is committed to a vision of scholarship, specifically the study of early modern humanities, as an engine for intellectual and social impact in the twenty-first century. This leader will connect in-person and virtual visitors with compelling insights and resources that stir both heart and mind as the Folger welcomes a growing and diverse set of audiences. As a leader, the Institute Director will help shape this powerful institutional vision while deepening the Institute’s fellowship and academic programming, all in support of new and established forms of scholarship, public engagement, and interdisciplinary collaboration. Reporting to the Director of the Folger Shakespeare Library, the Director of the Institute will define and lead scholarly programs and fellowships while collaborating across the enterprise to strengthen internal partnerships and make new connections with working scholars and the general public.

The Director of the Institute will be an inspiring and creative steward of a robust advanced research program with a half century of history. The new Director will stimulate and support new directions in early modern humanities research, and dramatically expand access to both the sources and products of that research. The Director will bring vision and drive to the delivery of substantive intellectual experiences in collaboration with other Folger programs, attracting and engaging diverse audiences, and building the Institute’s legacy of scholarly distinction.

The Institute is one of the largest direct funders of early modern scholarly work and gives researchers access to the world’s greatest collection of Shakespeare and related materials, providing peerless support to scholars of all ranks who pursue important questions about the early modern period. In a process of change already underway, the Institute and the Folger as a whole are connecting in new cross-disciplinary ways, both on-site and online. The Folger is a place of personal, scholarly, and artistic inquiry that places Shakespeare and the period in which he lived in dialogue with a changing world. The Institute’s signal contribution and opportunity is to help conceive and support research directions and scholars that extend its traditional remit, understanding that the case for studying Shakespeare and the early modern period requires institutions such as the Folger to translate the value of this research in the service of a more diverse, democratic society.

A search committee composed of senior leaders and staff from across the Folger has been formed to spearhead the search for the Institute’s next Director. The Folger Shakespeare Library has retained Isaacson, Miller, a national executive search firm, to support this consequential recruitment. All inquiries, nominations, and applications (including curriculum vitae and one- to three-page letters of interest responding to the objectives outlined above) should be directed in strict confidence to:

Lisa Savereid, Partner

Claire Hennessey, Managing Associate

Debbie Scheibler, Senior Associate

Isaacson Miller, Inc.

www.imsearch.com/8516

The Folger Shakespeare Library is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer and
actively works to enhance its diversity.

Please see the Folger Institute's Values for more information.

 

 

 

 


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