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Charles B. Faulhaber Director, Oral History Center - Library

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Position overview

Position title: Academic Administrator
Percent time: 100
Anticipated start: August 1, 2022
Position duration: Indefinite

Position description

The University of California, Berkeley seeks an active scholar and experienced administrator to lend intellectual vision, attract outside funding, and coordinate staff and budget resources to accomplish project goals of the Oral History Center (formerly Regional Oral History Office), a research unit of the Bancroft Library.

The Environment

The UC Berkeley Library is an internationally renowned research and teaching facility at one of the nation's premier public universities. In a highly diverse and intellectually rich environment, Berkeley serves a campus community of 25,500 undergraduate students, 10,300 graduate students, and a faculty of 1,500. The Library comprises 20 campus libraries - including the Doe/Moffitt Libraries, the Bancroft Library, the C. V. Starr East Asian Library and subject specialty libraries. With a collection of more than 11 million volumes and a collections budget of over $15 million, the Library offers extensive collections in all formats and robust services to connect users with those collections and build their related research skills.

The Oral History Center (formerly the Regional Oral History Office) is a research program of the University of California, Berkeley, working within The Bancroft Library. OHC conducts, analyzes, and archives oral and video history documents in a broad variety of subject areas critical to the history of California and the United States, including politics and government, law and jurisprudence, arts and letters, business and labor, social and community history, University of California history, natural resources and the environment, and science and technology. Individual interviews have been used as source material for monographs, books, articles, video and film documentaries, and dissertations. OHC provides a forum for students and scholars working with oral sources to deepen the quality of their research and to engage with the theory, methodology, and meaning of individual testimony and social memory. By conducting carefully researched, tape-recorded, and transcribed interviews, OHC creates archival oral histories intended for the widest possible use. Interviews are transcribed, lightly edited for accuracy and clarity, and reviewed by the interviewees, who are encouraged to augment or correct their spoken words.

Responsibilities

The Director provides leadership and intellectual vision, raises funds, and pursues new projects for the Oral History Center. The Director is the public face of the OHC, and represents OHC at public gatherings and other public relations and educational functions. The director coordinates staff and budget resources to accomplish project goals. Administrative responsibilities include: coordinating hiring of new OHC employees, both academic and staff; completing employee renewal paperwork; supervising and evaluating staff employees; working with OHC interviewers to coordinate transcript, video, and other priorities; overseeing and assigning staff employee work schedules to meet project goals and deadlines; assigning all general office functions; The Director serves on Bancroft Library administrative committees and represents the OHC at meetings of leaders of other Bancroft research divisions. The Director provides the Library Business Office the information it needs to oversee the OHC budget and to ensure that University fiscal policies and requirements for effort compliance are being followed.

The primary responsibility of the Director is to seek funding for interview projects and to manage the OHC. Of highest importance are the following:
Vision for the future of the Center: rethinking how projects are chosen, how work is prioritized, and how to build relationships with partners across the Library, campus, and externally to support that vision.
Development of a comprehensive fundraising and pricing strategy for interview projects.
Implementation of a multiyear business strategy: creating the tools and processes needed to achieve the OHC's goals by collaborating with and providing leadership to staff
Management of staff: mentoring; managing equitable workloads; ensuring accountability, reliability, and equity; setting a cultural tone for the department; prioritizing work that benefits the OHC and the campus within the constraints of limited resources; developing policies and procedures to ensure the quality of work coming out of the OHC.
Liaison between OHC and the University community, as well as with the off-campus community, e.g., requests for information about OHC activities and collections.

The Director conducts interviews as needed, faciliates workshops and institutes offered by the OHC; presents papers at conferences, and publishes books and articles.
NOTE: The Director is not a member of the UC Berkeley faculty, and in order to teach courses at the University must receive prior approval from the department or school under which the desired course may be listed.

The Director contributes to the work of integrating OHC and its scholars into the mission of the university. He or she will foster an esprit de corps among OHC's specialists, production staff, graduate student employees, and interns/volunteers.

The Director will report to the Director of the Bancroft Library.

Qualifications

Basic qualifications (required at time of application)

Advanced degree or enrollment in an advanced degree program.

Additional qualifications (required at time of start)

-Advanced degree.
-A record of publication and presentations at conferences.

Preferred qualifications

-Demonstrated experience organizing multi-interview oral history projects, interviewing, and preparing completed interviews for public access in print, audio, and video formats.
-Demonstrated knowledge of oral history and ability to provide intellectual leadership to OHC staff.
-Demonstrated experience in fundraising from individual donors, philanthropic foundations, and government agencies.
-Demonstrated experience in working with both project and staff-based budgets.
-Demonstrated supervisory experience in personnel administration and staff operations in a productive and collegial manner.
-Familiarity with University of California policies and procedures regarding budgets, personnel, fundĀ­ raising, grants, and overall reporting requirements, or equivalent experience at a comparable institution or a non-profit organization.
-Experience as a mentor with an ability to assist undergraduate and graduate students working at OHC to develop the appropriate scholarly framework for their interview projects.

Application Requirements

Document requirements
  • Curriculum Vitae - Your most recently updated C.V.

  • Cover Letter

  • Statement of Research (Optional)

  • Statement of Teaching (Optional)

  • Statement on Contributions to Advancing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion - Statement on your contributions to diversity, equity, and inclusion, including information about your understanding of these topics, your record of activities to date, and your specific plans and goals for advancing equity and inclusion if hired at Berkeley (for additional information go to https://ofew.berkeley.edu/recruitment/contributions-diversity).

Reference requirements
  • 3 required (contact information only)
Apply link: https://aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF03463

Help contact: hrd-library@berkeley.edu

About UC Berkeley

UC Berkeley is committed to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. The excellence of the institution requires an environment in which the diverse community of faculty, students, and staff are welcome and included. Successful candidates will demonstrate knowledge and skill related to ensuring equity and inclusion in the activities of their academic position (e.g., teaching, research, and service, as applicable).

The University of California, Berkeley is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age, or protected veteran status. For the complete University of California nondiscrimination and affirmative action policy see: http://policy.ucop.edu/doc/4000376/NondiscrimAffirmAct

In searches when letters of reference are required all letters will be treated as confidential per University of California policy and California state law. Please refer potential referees, including when letters are provided via a third party (i.e., dossier service or career center), to the UC Berkeley statement of confidentiality prior to submitting their letter.

As a University employee, you will be required to comply with all applicable University policies and/or collective bargaining agreements, as may be amended from time to time. Federal, state, or local government directives may impose additional requirements.

Job location

Berkeley, CA