The Field Museum seeks a dynamic leader and researcher with museum experience to serve as Director of its Integrative Research Center and Full Curator. The Field Museum is one of the world’s leading natural history museums with globally important research in Natural History, including Anthropology, Botany, Geology, and Zoology.
The Museum’s Integrative Research Center (IRC) is comprised of the curatorial staff, and the Museum’s interdisciplinary laboratory facilities including the Pritzker Laboratory for Molecular Systematics and Evolution, an Elemental Analysis Facility, a Scanning Electron Microscopy Lab, and Fossil Preparation Facilities and associated staff. The Director of the Integrative Research Center will report to the Vice President of Science and Education
The new director will (1) demonstrate a strong commitment to the Museum’s mission of research, scholarship, training, and provide sound leadership, management, and fiscal direction to support and develop diverse programs within the IRC; (2) work collaboratively with the IRC section heads and other IRCstaff to promote research in each of the museum’s science foci; (3) advance interdisciplinary investigations and training both within and outside the museum; (4) work with the IRC Committee of the Board of Trustees to carry out the museum’s collections-based research mission, (5) work in collaboration with the Vice President, Science and Education, and the IRC section heads to help secure grants and cultivate the donor community, and (6) collaborate with broader museum leadership and leverage IRC expertise to support other mission-based areas of the museum, including collections, environmental and cultural heritage conservation, educational outreach, and exhibitions.
The Integrative Research Center is comprised of 21 curators, and approximately 40 full and part-time administrative, research, and support staff. We maintain academic ties including cross-appointments with the University of Chicago, University of Illinois at Chicago, Northwestern University, and other universities. Numerous graduate and postdoctoral students are supervised by or work with curators, and visiting national and international researchers and collaborators are often in residence in the IRC for various periods.
The ideal candidate will possess:
- an innovative vision for research at a free-standing natural history museum that serves multiple constituencies
- an active collections-based research program
- a doctoral degree in a discipline related to collections-based natural or cultural history
- a significant record of scholarship and research sufficient to be tenured at The Field Museum
- management experience, preferably in a museum setting
- a significant record of extramural funding success and experience with donor development
- a strong record of collaboration with diverse institutional constituencies.
For inquiries and additional information, contact the chair of the search committee, Thorsten Lumbsch (tlumbsch@fieldmuseum.org).
Review of applications will begin on August 29, 2018. To apply, please provide a cover letter stating interests and qualifications, a full curriculum vitae, contact information for three references, and five representative scholarly publications to the search committee chair at IRCDirectorSearch@fieldmuseum.org.
All application materials must come through IRCDirectorSearch@fieldmuseum.org, applications received through the online application site or through any other email will not be reviewed.