Employment

Associate Director of Development

The American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) is an independent, nonprofit organization committed to academic freedom, academic excellence, and accountability at America’s colleges and universities. Launched in 1995, we are the only organization that works with alumni, donors, trustees, policymakers, and education leaders across the United States to support liberal arts education, uphold high academic standards, safeguard the free exchange of ideas on campus, and ensure that the next generation receives a philosophically rich, high-quality college education at an affordable price.

The Associate Director of Development provides support for all facets of ACTA’s development effort, effectively applying fundraising theories, techniques, and best practices to achieve annual giving campaign goals. He/she must have strong communications skills with a focus on writing (especially grant proposals, reports to donors, and fundraising letters) and must understand and support ACTA’s mission to improve higher education by working with multiple constituencies. The Associate Director reports to the Vice President of Development and provides development support and counsel to the President and Senior Vice President as needed.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Assist the Vice President to develop and implement an annual fundraising plan that meets the organization’s financial requirements.
• Manage multiple written communications projects—grant proposals, reports to donors, Letters of Inquiry, donor email blasts.
• Maintain and keep up to date donor tracking tools to ensure consistent and timely communications to current donors.
• Develop and write grant proposals for restricted and unrestricted gifts.
• Collaborate with the leaders of ACTA’s business units to identify funding opportunities for new projects.
• Manage the direct mail program.
• Assist the Vice President in identifying and cultivating potential new donors.
• Manage the sponsorship program for ACTA’s annual ATHENA Roundtable and Merrill Award Gala.
• Manage group donor events.
• Assist the Vice President in reviewing and analyzing development results for ACTA’s board of directors.

The Associate Director should approach these tasks as an entrepreneurial enterprise, requiring an understanding of and proactive approach to ACTA’s program activities. He or she must be personable, innovative, independent, and highly motivated, as well as exhibit the highest degree of personal responsibility, accountability, and honesty. He or she must be committed to ACTA’s mission as a leader in higher education reform.

A bachelor’s degree in liberal arts is required, as well as 5+ years of experience in annual giving campaigns. Candidates must possess exemplary writing and verbal communication skills.

To apply, please send cover letter and resume to Jordan Thomas at info@goacta.org with the subject line “Application – Associate Director of Development”.

Program Manager/Associate Director for Curricular Improvement

The American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) is an independent, nonprofit organization committed to academic freedom, academic excellence, and accountability at America’s colleges and universities. Launched in 1995, we are the only organization that works with alumni, donors, trustees, policymakers, and education leaders across the United States to support liberal arts education, uphold high academic standards, safeguard the free exchange of ideas on campus, and ensure that the next generation receives a philosophically rich, high-quality college education at an affordable price.

The Program Manager/Associate Director for Curricular Improvement advances ACTA’s mission of higher education reform by managing the production of high-quality research that is consistent with ACTA’s mission, strategy, beliefs, and tone. The Program Manager/Associate Director focuses primarily, but not exclusively, on educating students, parents, high school educators, and campus faculty and administrators through ACTA’s college-guide website, WhatWillTheyLearn.com.

Specifically, the Program Manager/Associate Director is responsible for the following tasks and initiatives, working closely with the Vice President of Academic Affairs.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Managing the What Will They Learn?^® project, an assessment of general education requirements at America’s colleges and universities. 
• Hiring a 7-10 person summer intern team, planning and implementing training for What Will They Learn?^® interns, monitoring intern productivity during the WWTL project, and evaluating the internship program at the conclusion of the summer.
• Ensuring, at all times, the accuracy of What Will They Learn?^® data, and providing regular reports to senior management and other departments.
• Formulating, in collaboration with senior management, a strategic plan and direction for the What Will They Learn?^® project, including updating the website and accompanying printed materials, and supervising its execution by fellow staff, interns, and/or Fellows.
• Working with the Communications and Trustee departments to expand the reach and impact of the What Will They Learn?^® project.
• Working with the Vice President of Academic Affairs to increase the prominence and impact of the What Will They Learn? report by identifying institutions that are likely to welcome cooperation with ACTA to improve their general education programs.
• Working with Vice President of Academic Affairs to ensure timely response to all questions and/or concerns relating to curricular evaluations in What Will They Learn?^® including drafting correspondence and personal outreach.
• Working with the Vice President of Academic Affairs to conceptualize and advance new curricular improvement initiatives, including the development of best practices guides/reports for WWTL courses.
• Working with the Vice President of Academic Affairs to manage WhatWillTheyLearn.com, monitor and drive web traffic, and aggressively work to improve/enhance the site.
• Monitoring the latest trends in general education requirements, the liberal arts, and academic majors.
• Working with the Program Manager for Educator Outreach to manage the High School counselor database and contributing to the development of new resources for counselors.
• Communicating ACTA’s mission of higher education reform through op-eds, blogs, and articles.
• Contributing to other research projects as appropriate.

The Program Manager/Associate Director receives day-to-day supervision and periodic performance reviews from the Vice President of Academic Affairs.  He or she also works closely with the Senior Vice President of Operations, especially on publication of What Will They Learn?.

The Program Manager/Associate Director must approach these tasks as an entrepreneurial enterprise, requiring an understanding of and proactive approach to ACTA’s program activities. He or she is expected to be personable, dynamic, well organized, highly motivated, and principled. The highest degree of personal responsibility, accountability, and honesty is expected.  A Bachelor’s degree in a liberal arts discipline is required. A Master’s degree and 2-3 years of experience in higher education policy (or closely related field) is preferred. Proficiency with Microsoft Office (including Excel), knowledge of Google ads and Google Analytics, a record of opinion editorial writing, a working knowledge of website design/development, and/or a basic understanding of Salesforce are preferred qualifications for this position.

To apply, please send cover letter and resume to Jordan Thomas at info@goacta.org with the subject line “Application – Program Manager/Associate Director for Curricular Improvement”.

Program Officer for Social Media and Digital Strategy

The American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) is an independent, nonprofit organization committed to academic freedom, academic excellence, and accountability at America’s colleges and universities. Launched in 1995, we are the only organization that works with alumni, donors, trustees, policymakers, and education leaders across the United States to support liberal arts education, uphold high academic standards, safeguard the free exchange of ideas on campus, and ensure that the next generation receives a philosophically rich, high-quality college education at an affordable price.

The American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) seeks accomplished, high-energy undergraduate, graduate, or professional student with excellent research, writing, and communication abilities. The digital communications intern will primarily assist the communications team in identifying social media opportunities for ACTA, both external and internal, creating appropriate digital content, and disseminating that content.

ACTA’s national network includes alumni and trustees from nearly 1,300 colleges and universities, including over 22,000 current board members. Our quarterly newsletter, Inside Academe, reaches more than 13,000 readers.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Grow ACTA’s presence and content across all social media platforms daily.
• Write, edit, and publish social media content based on ACTA’s core mission.
• Monitor social media for coverage of issues affecting ACTA’s sphere of interest and create content that inserts ACTA into that stream of conversation.
• Monitor and present emerging trends in higher education that can be utilized to target desired audiences and impact organization reputation.
• Identify opportunities to engage with likeminded organizations and higher education influencers to boost social media presence.
• Use video tools to create videos for use on social media and web channels.
• Segment podcasts into clips for use on social media and web channels.
• Generate regular reports on social media traffic and engagement.
• Conduct regular audits of ACTA’s social media strategy to better strategic planning and identify short and long-term goals.
• Perform all other work-related duties as assigned.

Qualifications & Skills

• A bachelor’s degree relevant to social media, digital strategy, or marketing and 1-2 years of experience in the field.
• Identifies and aligns with ACTA’s core mission: promoting academic excellence, academic freedom, and accountability at America’s colleges and universities.
• Strong written and verbal communications skills.
• Ability to work independently as needed, problem solve, and exercise sound decision making skills.
• Flexibility to take on projects short notice as priorities shift, even when required to multitask.
• Proven ability to develop creative social media campaigns that effectively reach targeted audiences.
• Experience in managing high profile social media accounts and content creation.
• Experience using website and social media analytics to improve performance and generate reports.
• Experience with social media publishing and engagement platforms such as Sprout Social.
• Experience with graphic design and video editing via Adobe programs, Canva, GIMP, etc.
• Experience with WordPress is not required but considered a strong plus.
• Understanding of Facebook, Google, and Twitter ads.

To apply, please send cover letter and resume to Jordan Thomas at info@goacta.org with the subject line “Application – Program Officer for Social Media and Digital Strategy”.

Program Associate for Curricular Improvement

The American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) is an independent, nonprofit organization committed to academic freedom, academic excellence, and accountability at America’s colleges and universities. Launched in 1995, we are the only organization that works with alumni, donors, trustees, policymakers, and education leaders across the United States to support liberal arts education, uphold high academic standards, safeguard the free exchange of ideas on campus, and ensure that the next generation receives a philosophically rich, high-quality college education at an affordable price.

The Program Associate for Curricular Improvement works closely with the Program Manager for Curricular Improvement and Vice President of Academic Affairs to advance ACTA’s mission of higher education reform by managing the production and dissemination of high-quality research. The Program Associate focuses primarily, but not exclusively, on supporting the day-to-day management of What Will They Learn? (WWTL) and WhatWillTheyLearn.com as well as efforts to disseminate the project to WWTL audiences.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Assist Program Manager with efforts to develop a new college guide (online and in print) spotlighting ACTA Oases of Excellence and Hidden Gem academic programs.
• Assist the Associate Director with the day-to-day management of the What Will They Learn™ project, an assessment of general education requirements at over 1,100 U.S. colleges and universities. 
• Assist with the management of the WWTL internship program.
• Assist in efforts to identify opportunities to support campus efforts to improve general education programs.
• Work with the Communications departments to expand outreach efforts to counselors and educators, and to raise awareness of the What Will They Learn? project and Oases of Excellence initiatives.
• Help the Academic Affairs team to monitor trends in general education requirements, the liberal arts, and academic majors.
• Advance ACTA’s mission of higher education reform through op-eds, blogs, and feature pieces.
• Work closely with the Associate Director aggressively to build on outreach efforts to high school guidance counselors.
• Works with Educator Outreach Officers/Associates to coordinate dissemination of WWTL, including communication efforts to ACTA’s constituencies.
• Contribute to the development of new resources for counselors.
• Contribute to other research projects as appropriate.

The Program Associate receives day-to-day supervision and periodic performance reviews from the Vice President of Academic Affairs. 

The Program Associate must approach these tasks as an entrepreneurial enterprise, requiring an understanding of and proactive approach to ACTA’s program activities. He or she is expected to be personable, dynamic, well organized, highly motivated, and principled. The highest degree of personal responsibility, accountability, and honesty is expected.  A bachelor’s degree in a liberal arts discipline is preferred.

To apply, please send cover letter and resume to Jonathan Pidluzny at wwtl@goacta.org with the subject line “Application – Program Associate for Curricular Improvement”.