Executive Director, David Evans Shaw Institute for Public and Planetary Health

Executive Director, David Evans Shaw Institute for Public and Planetary Health

The University of New England invites nominations and applications for the inaugural Executive Director of the David Evans Shaw Institute of Public and Planetary Health, a groundbreaking university-wide institute created to advance interdisciplinary education, research, workforce development, community engagement, and applied innovation at the intersection of human health, environmental sustainability, and societal well-being.

We believe that many of the defining challenges of our time—including climate change, aging populations, access to mental and behavioral health care, workforce shortages, disease burden fueled by environmental degradation, and community resilience—cannot be solved within a single discipline or sector. They require collaboration across health care, public health, science, policy, education, business, government, and communities themselves.

Established through a transformational gift from entrepreneur, activist, and impact investor David Evans Shaw, the Institute brings those worlds together and reflects UNE’s commitment to preparing graduates and partnering with communities to advance shared, actionable, and practical solutions to address these complex and interconnected so-called “wicked problems.”

The Executive Director will provide strategic, academic, operational, and external relations leadership for the Institute during a formative period of growth. The successful candidate will be an accomplished, collaborative, entrepreneurial, and visionary leader who can unite faculty, students, professional staff, community partners, government agencies, industry, philanthropic partners, and other stakeholders around a compelling vision for public and planetary health.

Position Summary

The Executive Director will be responsible for leading the Institute, overseeing its Centers and resources, establishing its strategic direction, and ensuring that its academic, research, and external engagement activities advance UNE’s priorities. This role is ideal for someone who enjoys creating rather than maintaining and sees institutions as vehicles for meaningful social change.

Reporting to the Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, the Executive Director will develop and implement the Institute’s strategic direction and vision, cultivate interdisciplinary collaboration, strengthen student and faculty engagement, strengthen and expand external partnerships, secure additional external funding, support research and scholarship, and establish UNE as a recognized leader in public and planetary health. Initial reporting units include the Center for Public Health Practice, Center for Healthy Aging, and Center for North Atlantic Studies. The Executive Director will also work closely with academic deans, other center directors affiliated with the Institute, faculty leaders, research administrators, institutional advancement, marketing and communications, government and community relations, and external partners to build a distinctive, high-impact institute that reflects UNE’s mission and strategic priorities.

Application and Nomination Process

Applications should include a curriculum vitae or resume and a letter of interest describing the candidate’s qualifications, leadership experience, and vision for advancing public and planetary health through an interdisciplinary, university-based institute.

Review of applications will begin immediately and will continue until the position is filled. The anticipated start date is negotiable.

About the University of New England

With roots dating to 1831, the University of New England has evolved to become the largest independent university in Maine. UNE has established itself as a leading comprehensive university with particular strengths in the health sciences and marine sciences and a wide range of academic programs offered both on-site and online to nearly 6,500 undergraduate, graduate, and professional students.

UNE is guided by the core values of student-centeredness, community belonging, relentless inquiry through a marketplace of ideas, interdisciplinary collaboration, learning everywhere, progressive change, and stewardship of our planet. UNE’s more than 70 undergraduate, graduate, professional, and online degree programs are offered through six colleges — the College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Dental Medicine, the Westbrook College of Health Professions, the College of Osteopathic Medicine, the College of Professional Studies, and the College of Business. UNE is home to Maine’s only medical school, pharmacy program, and physician assistant program, and Northern New England’s only dental college. UNE’s robust research agenda garners more NIH funding in biomedical research than any other college or university in Maine. UNE is located on two beautiful campuses in Maine — the coastal Biddeford Campus and Portland Campus for the Health Sciences — and also has a unique study-abroad campus in Tangier, Morocco. UNE is accredited by the New England Commission on Higher Education.

During a tumultuous time for higher education, UNE has bucked the trends, emerging from a global pandemic with robust enrollment numbers, a bold plan to move its medical college from Biddeford to Portland in order to create a unique, interprofessional health sciences campus there, and a host of new academic programs and student support initiatives designed to meet the workplace needs of an ever-changing economy. While many other institutions were content to merely keep their doors open during the pandemic, UNE’s dedicated faculty and professional staff were determined to seize every opportunity during a time of much change and realignment for the industry. And, guided by the recently refreshed Our World, Our Future strategic plan, UNE has done just that. As a result, Fitch Ratings has recently upgraded UNE’s credit rating to “AA-,” while Moody’s Investors Service affirmed the University’s “A2” rating with a stable financial outlook.

UNE emphasizes community belonging and meeting the needs of first-generation students while consciously immersing students in an environment that prioritizes viewpoint diversity. Indeed, one of UNE’s distinguishing characteristics is its commitment to fostering a robust marketplace of ideas so that students may develop the respect for opposing viewpoints and intellectual curiosity needed to be productive participants in our increasingly polarized society. The University invites guest speakers to campus whose ideas span various ideological spectra and, through an array of interrelated programs, expose students to multiple views on important topics, both inside and outside the classroom.

Perennially included on “best colleges” lists by U.S. News & World Report, The Princeton Review, Forbes, and others, UNE prides itself on its excellent student outcomes. It has recently been ranked first in Maine for value added by Brookings and first in Maine for job placement by Zippia. UNE’s clinical programs also boast exceptional board pass rates, while the aspiring doctors in UNE’s College of Osteopathic Medicine earn a residency choice match rate that is among the 10 best in the country. For more information about these and other accolades, visit the website here.

About the David Evans Shaw Institute of Public and Planetary Health

The Institute will serve as a catalyst for interdisciplinary academic programs, applied research, sponsored projects, student learning, workforce development, advocacy, policy translation, and public engagement bringing together expertise in public health, health professions and sciences, marine and environmental sciences, business, policy, sustainability, aging, behavioral health, and rural and coastal communities across the Arctic, North Atlantic, and related fields. Intentionally designed as a hub for interdisciplinary collaboration across UNE’s colleges, schools, centers, and community partnerships, the Institute is aligned with UNE’s mission to improve the health of people, communities, and the natural world.

The Institute is expected to strengthen UNE’s visibility and impact in Maine, nationally, and globally while advancing partnerships that translate knowledge into action. This is an opportunity to help define not only a new institute, but a new model for how universities can address the interconnected challenges facing people and the planet.

Life in Maine

The University of New England is located on two beautiful campuses