Academic Director, Belmont Innovation Labs
The Belmont Innovation Labs (BIL) is seeking an experienced Academic Director for a 12-month, in-person leadership role and faculty position dedicated to advancing our institution's mission in social innovation and entrepreneurship education. Ideal candidates will demonstrate a passion for social impact, possess strong leadership and communication skills, and have a proven track record in academic program development and strategic planning. A faculty role in a relevant college will be arranged with a successful candidate. Join us in driving meaningful change and establishing Belmont University as a beacon of excellence in social innovation education.
BIL
The Innovation Labs embodies Belmont University’s commitment to being a leader in social innovation and entrepreneurship education, grounded in our Christ-centered heritage and values. By cultivating the vital mindsets, skillsets, and soulsets of our students (both undergraduates and life-long learners), we empower them to pursue human flourishing and community thriving in their chosen careers and vocations. By leveraging Belmont's core strengths in social innovation education across all 12 colleges, the Innovation Labs extends Belmont’s impact beyond campus, equipping external partners to tackle complex social challenges with innovative solutions in three critical focus areas: childhoods, livelihoods, and neighborhoods. Together, we strive to lead in fostering positive change and advancing the common good by inviting changemakers both young and veteran to come together, learn together and solve together through our convenings, academic offerings and collaborative innovation initiatives.
General Responsibilities
The Academic Director in the Innovation Labs provides strategic direction and oversight to four primary areas of responsibility:
1. Academic Programming: oversight of student learning pathways and opportunities including (but not limited to) curricular development, student advising, and coordination of supporting faculty to ensure robust integration with the University’s core academic functions.
2. Student Engagement: facilitating meaningful student recruitment and engagement in curricular and co-curricular learning experiences and opportunities within specific Labs and events, and enhancing their educational journey through coordinated internship, externship, and apprenticeship opportunities both locally and around the world.
3. Internal Communications: building awareness and inviting participation from essential internal stakeholders across Belmont by cultivating and sustaining engagement with all relevant colleges, faculty, and administrative units. Successfully communicating the value and relevance of BIL’s mission and programming to key internal constituencies.
4. Strategic Development: overseeing the creation and implementation of a strategic roadmap for how the Labs (and Belmont more broadly) can grow into a globally recognized leader in social innovation and entrepreneurship education and for supporting the University’s commitment to data-informed social innovation so regions can thrive. This includes cultivating strategic partnerships with key partners and practitioners.
Signature Program Portfolio
The Academic Director will have direct oversight of the following signature offerings:
The Academic Director will be responsible for the following:
- Recruiting prospective students to the program.
- Overseeing student learning and mentorship across a four-year curricular sequence.
- Coordinating with faculty, staff, and external partners to ensure student success.
- Teaching two courses a year in support of the Fellows program.
- Managing summer study abroad offerings locally in Nashville.
- Managing spring sophomore semester international internships.
- Overseeing enrichment opportunities for fellows.
- Providing strategic leadership.Hope Labs: The Hope Labs are envisioned to become Belmont’s first truly cross-university education initiative focused on social innovation and entrepreneurship. Inspired by exemplary models like the MIT Poverty Lab, the Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship at Duke, the Harvard I-Lab, and the Skoll Center for Social Entrepreneurship at Oxford, the Hope Lab embodies Belmont's commitment to forming diverse leaders of character, equipping individuals to tackle the world's complex problems, and being radical champions for helping people and communities flourish. More concretely, the Hope Labs function as a hub for coordinating all of Belmont’s social innovation initiatives and resources–including the Social Innovation Fellows mentioned above. It serves as a clearinghouse for interdisciplinary teaching, research, and collaboration across all 12 colleges (e.g., nursing, architecture, music, business, law, etc.), connecting Belmont’s students, faculty, and staff with externally facing, community-building and problem-solving initiatives. The Academic Director will be responsible for providing strategic direction and leadership in the development of the Hope Labs during the planning phase and in determining what ongoing leadership and operational requirements will be needed in order to launch Hope Labs over the next few years.Belmont Accelerator for Innovation Collaboration (BASIC): BASIC grants serve as a catalytic incentive to faculty and community partners to co-design and deploy projects that meet community needs while creating real world student-learning opportunities. The program has just concluded a 3-year pilot phase and is now being evaluated for launching its next phase on campus. The Academic Director will Provide strategic direction and oversight in the development and deployment of BASIC 2.0.Lumos Travel Award Program: The Lumos Travel Award is an incredible post-undergraduate scholarship. As Belmont’s “Fulbright” it is awarded to students who design a compelling overseas project with an international partner and will cover up to two years of that student’s expenses. The Academic Director chairs the meetings of the faculty selection and advisory committee and in that capacity ensures that the objectives of the Award are guiding committee decision-making. In addition, they will provide strategic oversight alongside the current program administrator and seek to promote the Award across campus.
Ideal Candidates
This Academic Director has the responsibility of upholding the highest standards of excellence in all content and ensuring seamless integration across the university and throughout Innovation Labs programs and initiatives. Collaborating closely with the Executive Director and the entire BIL team, the AD ensures the harmonization of academic programming with the overarching aims and goals of the Innovation Labs and Belmont University’s aspirational aim..
The 12-month work of this position is organized according to the academic calendar, and any relevant grant or funding timelines.