Director

Rome, Italy

Reports to: President & CEO

Supervises: Andrew W. Mellon Humanities Professor; Andrew Heiskell Arts Director; Drue Heinz Librarian and Head of Collections; and Deputy Director for Fellowships and Programs

Term: Three-year appointment, renewable. Start date August 2027

Founded in 1894, the American Academy in Rome is a leading American overseas center for independent study and advanced research in the arts and humanities. Each year, the Academy awards the Rome Prize to approximately 30 artists and scholars who join a dynamic, transdisciplinary residential community on the Academy’s eleven-acre campus on the Janiculum Hill—enriched further by invited Residents and Affiliated and Visiting Artists and Scholars, reaching a community of approximately 100 at any given time.

The Academy is led by the President & CEO, who sets its direction and serves as its chief fundraiser and public representative. A Chief Operating Officer manages the Academy’s business and administrative functions across Rome and New York. The Director is responsible for the daily intellectual and communal life of the residential community. The Andrew Heiskell Arts Director and Andrew W. Mellon Humanities Professor report to the Director and, together with the Director, constitute the Academy’s intellectual leadership team in Rome—the primary intellectual resources for the Rome Prize Fellows and the animating force behind the Academy’s scholarly and creative life.

Role

The Director is the on-campus figure responsible for managing the day-to-day intellectual and community life of the American Academy in Rome. This is a role for an artist or scholar of genuine distinction who is also, by inclination and experience, a community builder. The Director leads an intellectual team consisting of the Mellon Humanities Professor, Heiskell Arts Director, and Drue Heinz Librarian and Head of Collections.

The Director gives shape and texture to the residential community through programming and also through attention to the work of those in the community. The Director must be someone who understands that the conditions in which creative and scholarly work unfolds are themselves a form of institutional authorship. The Director works closely with the Deputy Director for Fellowships and Programs on implementation and budget.

As head of the community, the Director is also a connector, sounding board, and promotor of all the fellows’ work. These functions are two sides of the same coin because community creates trust; trust encourages risk-taking; and risk-taking produces the breakthroughs the Academy exists to generate.

The Director is the Academy’s public face in Rome: an intellectual and cultural diplomat who represents the institution in the city’s artistic, academic, and civic life.

Key Responsibilities

Intellectual Leadership and Support of the Fellows

• Serve as the primary intellectual resource for Rome Prize Fellows across the full range of the Academy’s fellowship disciplines in the humanities (Ancient, Medieval, Renaissance, Early Modern and, Modern Italian Studies, as well as Conservation and Historic Preservation) and in the arts (Architecture, Design, Landscape Architecture, Literature, Musical Composition, and Visual Art), offering substantive engagement with Fellows’ work and the intellectual generosity that makes the Academy’s residential experience distinctive.
• Work in close partnership with the Humanities Professor and Arts Director to ensure that the scholarly and creative life of the community reflects the Academy’s commitment to transdisciplinary excellence; stimulate dialogue and exchange among Fellows, Residents, and guests across disciplines.
• Enrich Fellows’ experience of Rome through introductions to the city’s artistic and scholarly communities and maintain an active intellectual or creative practice within the constraints of the role.
• Set an example to the community of what the life of the mind looks

Programming and Institutional Vision

• In consultation with the President, shape and execute the Academy’s intellectual programming in Rome, ensuring events reflect the Academy’s transdisciplinary identity and the creative energy of each year’s residential community.
• Serve as a member of the Board of Trustees in an ex officio capacity, contributing to governance discussions on matters of intellectual life, fellowship programming, and campus community.

Community Stewardship

• Sustain the quality of communal life as a core institutional responsibility: attend meals with the residential community whenever possible; be present at evening and weekend programs; and be available to Fellows and Residents in the informal ways that matter most in a residential community.
• Foster an environment of intellectual generosity, mutual respect, and creative risk-taking, upholding the Academy’s values of excellence without elitism, collaboration across disciplines, and responsibility to the broader public.
• Entertain frequently and graciously, hosting Fellows, scholars, artists, Trustees, donors, institutional partners, and dignitaries, while also sharing on-call duties with staff, responding to emergencies as needed.

External Engagement and Institutional Representation

• Represent the Academy in Rome’s cultural, academic, and civic life, building relationships with Italian scholars, artists, institutions, and government officials that deepen the Academy’s presence in the city.
• Host visiting Trustees, donors, and prospects in coordination with the Development, Communications, Programs, and Executive Office teams; represent the Academy externally with leaders in the arts, academia, philanthropy, and government in Rome and beyond.

Qualifications

Required

• A graduate degree and a record of outstanding professional achievement in one or more of the Academy’s Rome Prize Fellowship disciplines, with a body of published or exhibited work commensurate with high standing.
• Demonstrated experience leading an educational, cultural, or arts institution—or a comparably complex organization—with a proven ability to build community, manage relationships across constituencies, and represent an institution with authority and grace.
• Fluency in spoken and written Italian; the ability to operate effectively in Italian professional, cultural, and civic contexts is essential.
• Exceptional intellectual generosity: the ability to engage substantively with creative and scholarly work across a wide range of disciplines and to support the work of others with genuine investment.
• Superior interpersonal skills, with experience mentoring talented individuals, building trust across diverse communities, and navigating complex institutional relationships with tact, discretion, and judgment.
• The social fluency and stamina to sustain a demanding public and communal role: comfort entertaining frequently and being present in community life.
• Willingness to travel within Italy and between Rome and New York, and flexibility to work outside standard hours given the Academy’s evening and weekend programming, as well as its operation across time zones.

Preferred

• Existing established relationships with Italian scholars, artists, and cultural and academic institutions in Rome; familiarity with the artistic and cultural landscape of Rome and Italy.
• Experience living and working in Italy or another international context, with demonstrated cross-cultural fluency.
• Experience interacting with institutional leaders, public officials, and board members, including those of foreign governments or international

Leadership Profile

The ideal candidate will be recognized by Fellows, colleagues, and peers in Rome for the following qualities:

• Intellectual A scholar or artist of real distinction who commands respect across disciplines not because of institutional authority, but because they possess a mind worth engaging.
• Disciplinary The capacity and genuine desire to engage with work far outside one’s own field, to ask a good question of a composer, to follow the argument of a historian, to understand the task of a conservator.
• Community An intuitive understanding that the quality of communal life—the table, the conversation, the informal encounter—is not peripheral to the Academy’s mission but constitutive of it.
• Executive clarity. The ability to translate the President’s vision for the Academy into a coherent, living program and exercising independent judgment within a shared institutional framework and working effectively alongside a leadership team whose domains are operations, fundraising, and communications.
• Roman fluency. A genuine connection to Rome—its culture, its institutions, its rhythms—that allows the Director to move through the city as a participant rather than a visitor.
• Mission An authentic belief in what the Academy does, why it matters, in the value of sustained individual creative and scholarly work, in Rome as an irreplaceable context for that work, and in the Academy’s unique role in American cultural life.

Compensation & Location

This position is based in Rome, Italy. The Director is provided with on-campus housing as a condition of employment, reflecting the residential nature of the role. Secondment appointments will be compensated in accordance with the terms of the secondment.

Salary range for direct employment is $130,000–$200,000, based on experience and qualifications. The Academy offers a comprehensive benefits package.

To Apply

Nominations and expressions of interest are welcome and will be held in strict confidence.

Candidates should submit a letter of interest of no more than two pages outlining their interest in the Academy and the contributions they expect to make to its mission, along with a current CV, and three references. Applications should be submitted to careers@aarome.org with the subject line “DIRECTOR” and will be reviewed on a rolling basis. Submission deadline is October 15, 2026.

The American Academy in Rome is an Equal Opportunity Employer. AAR believes that a diverse community makes for a stronger institution, and actively encourages applications from candidates of all backgrounds, identities, and lived experiences. We are committed to a hiring process that is equitable, inclusive, and free from bias.

Andrew W. Mellon Humanities Professor

Rome, Italy Reports to: Director

Term: Three-year appointment, renewable for up to two additional years. Start date August 2027

Founded in 1894, the American Academy in Rome is a leading American overseas center for independent study and advanced research in the arts and humanities. Each year, the Academy awards the Rome Prize to approximately 30 artists and scholars who join a dynamic, transdisciplinary residential community on the Academy’s eleven-acre campus on the Janiculum Hill—enriched further by invited Residents and Affiliated and Visiting Artists and Scholars, reaching a community of approximately 100 at any given time.

The Academy is led by the President & CEO who sets its direction and serves as its chief fundraiser and public representative. A Chief Operating Officer manages the Academy’s business and administrative functions across Rome and New York. The Director is responsible for the daily intellectual and communal life of the residential community. The Andrew W. Mellon Humanities Professor and the Andrew Heiskell Arts Director report to the Director and, together with the Director, constitute the Academy’s intellectual leadership team in Rome—the primary intellectual resources for the Rome Prize Fellows and the animating force behind the Academy’s scholarly and creative life.

Role

The Humanities Professor is a member of the Academy’s intellectual leadership team. This is a role for a humanist of genuine distinction—someone with a record of rigorous, imaginative scholarship, the range to engage with work across disciplines, and the commitment to place their intellectual life in service of a community.

The Humanities Professor works alongside the Director and the Arts Director to shape the Academy’s intellectual vision in Rome. Their primary institutional responsibility is to the Rome Prize Fellows: offering scholarly guidance, facilitating engagement with Rome’s academic and cultural communities, and helping Fellows make the most of their time at the Academy. The Humanities Professor also carries a distinctive set of institutional responsibilities—overseeing the Academy’s Classical Summer School, its archaeology initiatives, and its learned journal—that root the role in the Academy’s long scholarly traditions. For the Humanities Professor to fully embody the role the Academy needs them to be an active scholar working at the highest level. Both the Arts Director and the Mellon Professor are expected to engage generously with Fellows across the full breadth of the residential community.

Key Responsibilities

Intellectual Leadership and Support of the Fellows (60%)

• Serve as a primary intellectual resource for Rome Prize Fellows across the Academy’s humanities disciplines—Ancient Studies, Medieval Studies, Renaissance and Early Modern Studies, Modern Italian Studies, and Historic Preservation and Conservation—offering scholarly guidance, substantive engagement with Fellows’ work, and mentorship calibrated to each Fellow’s stage of career and project.
• Work in close partnership with the Director and the Arts Director to foster intellectual exchange across disciplines; encourage and facilitate dialogue among Fellows, Residents, Italian Fellows, and Affiliated and Visiting Artists and Scholars.
• Facilitate introductions and sustained relationships between Fellows and their counterparts in Roman and Italian academic, cultural, and institutional life—in universities, foreign academies, and the wider scholarly community.
• Design, organize, and lead site visits and longer trips in and around Rome, Italy, and the Mediterranean that deepen Fellows’ engagement with the material, historical, and cultural dimensions of their work.
• May participate in the selection of Rome Prize and Italian Fellows, and assist as needed in the selection of Residents, Affiliated and Visiting Artists and
• Conduct their own research and set an example for the Fellows of what a life of the mind could look like.

Programming and Institutional Vision (30%)

• As a member of the Academy’s intellectual leadership team, contribute to the design and execution of programming that serves the institutional mission in close collaboration with the Director, the Arts Director, and Programs staff.
• Serve as staff liaison to the Humanities Committee and Publications Committee of the Board of Trustees, and as primary point of contact for the Managing Editor of the Academy’s learned journal, Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome.
• Oversee the Academy’s Classical Summer School, working closely with the Classical Summer School Director on program direction, pedagogy, itinerary development, participant selection, and alignment with the Academy’s
• Oversee the Academy’s archaeology initiatives, including the Norton Van Buren Study Collection, affiliated archaeology projects, and the relationship with the Intercollegiate Center for Classical Studies.
• Attend meetings of organizations where the Academy holds a board seat or institutional partnership, as necessary.

Community Stewardship and External Engagement (10%)

• Maintain a visible and engaged presence in the life of the residential community—at meals, at internal and public events, in communal spaces—as an active participant in the community the Academy exists to sustain.
• Represent the Academy in Rome’s scholarly and cultural communities; build and expand relationships with Italian universities, foreign academies, and other institutions that constitute the Academy’s network of advisors and partners.
• Support fundraising efforts as

Qualifications

Required

• A PhD in a humanities discipline, with a record of published scholarship commensurate with national or international standing in the field, and a minimum of five years of experience in one or more of the Academy’s humanities fellowship
• Demonstrated intellectual generosity and disciplinary range: the ability and genuine desire to engage with scholarly and creative work across fields, and to design and lead programs that extend beyond one’s own area of expertise.
• Fluency in spoken and written Italian; the ability to operate effectively in Italian academic, cultural, and civic contexts is essential.
• Strong working knowledge of the artistic, archaeological, and cultural sites and institutions of Rome and Italy.
• Proven ability to mentor scholars and artists at varying stages of career, with superior interpersonal skills and the ability to build trust across a diverse and talented community.
• Demonstrated ability to represent an institution professionally—interacting diplomatically with Fellows, staff, board members, donors, institutional partners, and government officials.
• Strategic thinking and organizational capability, with experience managing programs and working collaboratively across teams.
• Flexibility to work outside standard hours given the Academy’s evening and

weekend programming, and willingness to travel between Rome and New York.

Preferred

• Established relationships with scholars, institutions, and cultural organizations in Rome and Italy.
• Experience with publication oversight, journal editing, or scholarly program
• Familiarity with archaeological fieldwork, study collections, or related

Leadership Profile

The ideal candidate will be recognized by Fellows, colleagues, and peers in Rome for the following qualities:

• Scholarly distinction. A humanist whose work commands genuine respect—whose presence at the Academy lends intellectual authority to the community and whose engagement with Fellows’ projects carries real weight.
• Disciplinary range. The curiosity and capacity to engage substantively with work far outside one’s own specialty—to follow the argument of an architect, to ask a good question of a composer, to understand what a conservator is working
• Institutional commitment. A genuine orientation toward community and collaboration—someone who finds meaning in supporting the work of others and understands that their role is as much about creating conditions for excellence as producing it themselves.
• Roman fluency. A real connection to Rome—its scholarly landscape, its institutions, its rhythms—and the ability to move through the city’s academic and cultural communities as a trusted participant.

• Mission conviction. An authentic belief in what the Academy does and why it matters—in the value of sustained individual scholarly and creative work, in Rome as an irreplaceable context for that work, and in the Academy’s unique role in American cultural life.

Compensation

Secondment appointments will be compensated in accordance with the terms of the secondment. Salary range for direct employment is $100,000–$200,000, based on experience and qualifications.

To Apply

Nominations and expressions of interest are welcome and will be held in strict confidence.

Candidates should submit a letter of interest of no more than two pages outlining their interest in the Academy and the contributions they expect to make to its mission, along with a current CV, and three references. Applications should be submitted to careers@aarome.org with the subject line “MELLON” and will be reviewed on a rolling basis. Submission deadline is October 15, 2026.

The American Academy in Rome is an Equal Opportunity Employer. AAR believes that a diverse community makes for a stronger institution, and actively encourages applications from candidates of all backgrounds, identities, and lived experiences. We are committed to a hiring process that is equitable, inclusive, and free from bias, and to building a leadership community that reflects the breadth of the artistic and scholarly traditions we support.

Marketing Specialist

Medieval Institute Publications (MIP), based in Kalamazoo, MI, is looking for a part time Marketing Specialist who will develop and implement marketing, promotion, and communication strategies for the department under general supervision. Oversees marketing for all Medieval Institute Publications titles; coordinates editorial and administrative tasks, including peer review processes, metadata management, rights and permission records, and paperwork for freelancers. Maintains three websites and an active social media presence for Medieval Institute Publications, the Medieval Institute, and the International Congress on Medieval Studies.

Major Duties

– Develops or assists with development of promotional materials and designs for marketing projects utilizing a variety of tools.
– Coordinates development of marketing and communication material and develops copy.
– Writes and proofs promotional material, reports and publications, press releases, web and social media content.
– Translates message points into clear communication and meets well-defined communication objectives.
– Gathers information and data for various marketing and communication initiatives.
– Coordinates marketing communication activities.
– Assists with planning and execution of various events.
– May approve advertising within budget parameters.
– May be responsible for special projects or operational services.
– May supervise student employees.

Qualifications

Minimum

– Bachelor’s degree in related field from an accredited institution.
– One year’s relevant experience.

Desired

– Master’s degree in Medieval Studies or related field from an accredited institution.
– Two years relevant experience.
– Exposure with Microsoft Office, Adobe Creative Suite, and Canva.

For more information, and to apply before deadline of July 31, 2026, please see https://www.wmujobs.org/postings/5624