Director, Kravis Leadership Institute / Full or advanced Associate Professor
- Employer
- Claremont McKenna College
- Location
- Claremont, CA
View more categoriesView less categories
- Employment Type
- Full Time
- Institution Type
- Four-Year Institution
Job Details
KLI is an established, interdisciplinary research center dedicated to advancing scholarship on leadership across a broad range of fields while supporting undergraduate leadership development. KLI’s mission is “to be a premier academic center for the promotion and understanding of responsible, innovative leadership and to provide unique opportunities for CMC students to develop as outstanding real-world leaders in the public, private and social sectors.” KLI is one of the most recognized undergraduate leadership centers in the nation and is at the very heart of the CMC educational experience. The resources of KLI include its students, full-time staff, faculty affiliates, alumni and parent network, distinguished Advisory Board, and a dedicated endowment.
The Institute emphasizes methodological diversity and welcomes candidates from a broad range of disciplines whose research contributes to advancing the understanding of leadership, including (but not limited to) economics, political science, psychology, organizational behavior and management, education, law, history, philosophy, ethics, public policy, and international relations. Candidates from other fields with strong leadership research or programmatic potential are encouraged to apply. The Institute particularly values research that connects the study of leadership and organizations to real-world challenges in business, government, and civil society.
The Director will provide intellectual and strategic leadership for the Institute, overseeing KLI’s research initiatives, curricular innovation, and co-curricular leadership programs central to the CMC student experience. Working closely with KLI’s Advisory Board, full-time staff, and faculty affiliates, the Director will shape the Institute’s academic and programmatic vision, steward its resources, strengthen student engagement, and foster interdisciplinary collaboration across the College and beyond. The Director will promote faculty and student research collaborations, mentor students, and oversee signature leadership and experiential opportunities. Additionally, the Director will support externally engaged programming, conferences, and partnerships; assist with fundraising; and represent KLI nationally and internationally. The Director will play a central role in ensuring that KLI continues to provide innovative, high-impact opportunities that prepare students to become effective and responsible leaders across public, private, and social sectors.
The successful applicant will teach three courses related to leadership per academic year. The candidate must have demonstrated the ability to maintain an active, high-quality research program and a strong commitment to excellence in teaching and mentorship.
As part of its commitment to The Open Academy, the College values freedom of expression, viewpoint diversity, and constructive dialogue. Moreover, given the College’s commitment to cultivating an inclusive educational environment, we seek candidates who can demonstrate a commitment to teaching, mentoring, and inspiring students representing a broad range of socioeconomic backgrounds, political opinions, genders, races, ethnicities, nationalities, sexual orientations, and religions.
Anticipated Annual Salary Range:
$180,000 - $300,000 depending on discipline, rank, and experience, as well as a $25,000 Institute Director Stipend
Claremont McKenna College offers employee benefits that include health, dental, and vision plans; flexible spending accounts; health savings accounts; retirement benefits; basic and voluntary life insurance; dependent tuition remission; ride-share incentives; and more.Procedures
and Timetable:Applications should include a cover letter addressing their vision for the Kravis Leadership Institute, including potential initiatives or ideas for using the resources of the Institute to promote responsible leadership within the CMC community and, where appropriate, beyond it; curriculum vitae; research statement; teaching statement that addresses the candidate’s ability to teach, mentor, and inspire students representing a broad range of backgrounds; evidence of teaching effectiveness; and a writing sample. Applicants must also upload the names and e-mail addresses of three references as a separate document in the Supplemental Documents field. References will be contacted during advanced stages of application review after confirmation with the candidate.
Complete applications will be reviewed beginning September 11, 2026. Review of complete applications will continue until the position is filled. Preliminary interviews will be conducted via Zoom.
Claremont McKenna College is a highly selective undergraduate institution ranked among the top liberal arts colleges nationally. In 2024, CMC was named one of 25 inaugural recipients of the Carnegie Foundation Elective Classification for Leadership for Public Purpose, recognizing CMC’s campus-wide commitment to promoting responsible leadership. CMC is part of The Claremont Colleges, which also includes Pomona College, Harvey Mudd College, Scripps College, Pitzer College, Claremont Graduate University, and Keck Graduate Institute. The Claremont Colleges consortium constitutes an academic community of more than 9,000 students. Claremont is located 35 miles east of downtown Los Angeles.
Claremont McKenna College is an equal opportunity employer. In a continuing effort to enrich its academic environment and provide equal educational and employment opportunities, the College actively encourages applications from members of historically under-represented groups in higher education.
Organization
As one of the nation's most selective private liberal arts colleges, CMC sits among the intellectually-stimulating, socially-fulfilling, seven-college community known as The Claremont Colleges, a system modeled after England's Oxford University. Founded in 1946, CMC is the youngest of the nation's top colleges and enrolls approximately 1,200 students.
Claremont McKenna College (CMC) educates its students for thoughtful and productive lives and responsible leadership in economics, government and public affairs. CMC's strong grounding in the liberal arts, together with its emphasis on economics, government, and international relations, attracts students who approach education pragmatically and who intend to make a difference in the world. With this broad-based foundation graduates leave CMC well prepared for the challenges of the 21st century. Many go on to pursue careers in law, business, government, foreign service, international relations, public policy, museum administration, science and education, or to pursue graduate study.
The College's cutting-edge research institutes provide students unprecedented opportunities to work alongside their professors and discover how what they learn in the classroom links to life in the world behond. The world comes to Claremont McKenna through a vibrant and renowned speakers series in which world leaders, thinkers, artists and visionaries visit campus through the Marian Miner Cook Athenaeum and other public programming.
In September 2007, Robert A. Day, the Founder and Chairman of The TCW Group, Inc., pledged a $200 million personal gift to establish the Robert Day School of Economics and Finance and its unique programs. This was the largest recorded gift to a liberal arts institution, the largest gift in the field of finance and economics, and among the top 20 largest gifts ever given to a college or university. Through his generosity, the Robert Day School of Economics and Finance now offers multiple programs, including a Master of Arts in Finance degree.
While many other colleges champion either a traditional liberal arts education with emphasis on intellectual breadth, or training that stresses acquisition of technical skills, Claremont McKenna College offers a clear alternative. Instead of dividing the liberal arts and the working world into separate realms, education at Claremont McKenna is rooted in the interplay between the world of ideas and the world of events. By combining the intellectual breadth of the liberal arts with the more pragmatic concerns of public affairs, CMC helps students to gain the vision, skills, and values necessary for leadership in all sectors of society.
In addition to its dedication to teaching and learning, the College is a center for scholars who are engaged in research that can enlighten a society intent on finding solutions to its economic, political, social, and environmental problems. Ongoing research at CMC is contributing to the body of knowledge in areas such as the effects of government regulations upon the economy, toxic waste, juvenile justice, changes of enzyme systems in humans, and the ecology of desert regions.
The Research Institutes are perhaps our clearest example of the linkages forged at CMC between research, teaching and learning. Here, students serve as assistants to, and collaborators with, their teachers, co-authoring scholarly articles and presenting papers to academic bodies, corporations, political organizations and government agencies. They test theories in the public marketplace and actively seek answers to questions of broad social importance.
In recent years CMC has gained national recognition as one of the top liberal arts colleges in America. This recognition can be attributed, in part, to CMC's mission which acknowledges its obligation for service to the larger scholarly community through faculty contact with business and with government, a process that enriches both the outside world and the campus itself. Also contributing to CMC's national reputation are the accomplishments of its almost 8,000 alumni. Today, about seventy percent of CMC's graduates go on to advanced degrees at prestigious institutions, and one in eight graduates holds a position in top management.
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