Director

Cornell University seeks a visionary and collaborative leader to serve as the next Francis J. DiSalvo Director of the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability (Cornell Atkinson). Leveraging the intellectual strength of Cornell’s dual Ivy League Land-Grant mission, Cornell Atkinson is the hub for collaborative sustainability research at Cornell University, forging vital connections among experts in climate, environment, energy, food, and health to connect Cornell’s world-class research with real-world action. The Center has awarded over $45 million to sustainability research and has engaged more than 700 faculty members across the University in interdisciplinary research, scholarship, and collaboration. The Center is the university’s home to bold ideas and powerful new models that ensure people and the planet not only survive, but thrive. Success in Cornell Atkinson’s core knowledge-to-impact mission depends on building collaborations across colleges inside the university, as well as outside the university with NGOs, civil society organizations, corporations, and government agencies.

In 2010, David and Patricia Atkinson endowed the Center with an $80 million gift, making it the single largest gift to the Ithaca campus from an individual at the time. Today, the center remains financially strong (see 2024-15 Years of Impact Report), allowing the Director and other center leaders to be nimble, entrepreneurial, and risk-taking; this is commensurate with the urgent need for conceptual and technical innovation in response to climate change, biodiversity conservation, and other global sustainability challenges. The next director will lead an organization with rapidly growing programs supported by philanthropy. The director will also accelerate success of the center in moving knowledge and faculty-led innovations to impacts on technology, corporate practices, government policy, and public opinion.

As described in Cornell Atkinson’s strategic plan, the center is a boundary-spanning, mission-driven organization within the University. Cornell Atkinson channels university intellectual and infrastructure assets into creative collisions that provoke large-scale, long-term, real-world change. It brings together passionate experts and innovators, theorists and practitioners, business leaders, and community members to deliver effective solutions to reduce climate risks, accelerate energy transitions, increase food security, and advance One Health. 

Reporting to the Vice Provost for Research, the successful candidate will be an enthusiastic, collaborative, and strategic leader who will bring a strong commitment to advancing innovative research, technology innovations, and policy solutions to address the climate challenge and energy transition. A true relationship builder, the Director will bring a track record of academic and intellectual achievement, superb administrative leadership, a demonstrated commitment to inclusion, and success in attracting resources from a variety of sources. 

This role is located in Ithaca, New York, and the salary range is $325,000-375,000. Confidential inquiries, nominations, and applications should be directed electronically below.

Kate Barry is leading this search with Karen McPhedran, Alexandra Lolavar, and Kaitlin Cruz.

Cornell is an equal opportunity employer. For more information, visit hr.cornell.edu/eeo.