Amherst College

Amherst, Massachusetts

Lewis-Sebring Executive Director of the Loeb Center for Career Exploration and Planning

Amherst College seeks a field-leading authority on liberal arts career development and the “world of work” to serve as the new Lewis-Sebring Executive Director of the Loeb Center for Career Exploration and Planning. Endowed with a naming gift in 2016 and the beneficiary of additional restricted endowments since, The Loeb Center orients Amherst students and recent alumni to the future while drawing deeply on a traditional liberal arts curricular model that emphasizes persistent questioning, critical thinking, clear communication and openness to change. The new Executive Director will cultivate the potential of a highly gifted, diverse and ambitious student body that is among the most promising anywhere and will collaborate with faculty members who are unusually dedicated to, and involved with, holistic student development.

Supported by Amherst’s financial resources and a notably accomplished and devoted alumni network, the new Executive Director will have the opportunity to sustain and evolve the Loeb Center as a benchmark undergraduate career-services operation. Leadership of the Loeb will also provide a rare platform for engaging in national conversations about the continuing relevance of the arts-and-sciences curriculum to career success, by ensuring that Amherst graduates are exceptionally well-prepared to contribute meaningfully and confidently from their first day in the most rigorous and consequential professional roles.

Founded in 1821, Amherst is a pre-eminent national liberal arts college that offers what many regard as an unsurpassed undergraduate education. Underwritten by an endowment of more than 3.5 billion, it enrolls 1,914 undergraduates who are taught by more than 300 faculty members. Amherst confers the Bachelor of Arts degree in 43 fields of arts-and- sciences study, with a student-faculty ratio of 7:1. Teaching at Amherst occurs in classrooms and other deliberative settings, including the Loeb Center, that emphasize close personal engagement. Amidst intense academic rigor, Amherst’s open curriculum allows each student—with the help of a faculty adviser—to construct a meaningful education from the more than 800 courses offered at the College (and the more than 6,000 offered through the Five College Consortium); there are no general education or distribution requirements outside of the major. Amherst encourages honors work: typically, half of the graduating class pursue honors, completing a senior thesis under faculty direction. Eighty-eight percent of courses enroll fewer than 30 students; the average class size is 17. Amherst gains from its membership in the Five Colleges, a consortium with nearby Smith, Mount Holyoke and Hampshire Colleges and the University of Massachusetts. Students may take courses at any of these institutions, and Amherst faculty members and administrators find a larger professional community of interest within the Pioneer Valley.

Amherst students hail from all 50 states, DC, Puerto Rico and 70 countries. Twenty-five percent of the first-year class matriculating in September 2025 identify as first-generation college students. With an acceptance rate of 7%, Amherst admits students without regard to their financial circumstances, and all admitted students are guaranteed financial aid equal to their financial need. Amherst was a pioneer in eliminating loans from financial aid packages and is one of nine US institutions that are need-blind for both domestic and international students.

Over the course of Amherst’s history, its career development practices have responded and evolved alongside the College’s own transformation and larger societal shifts. https://careers.amherst.edu/timeline-career-development-at-amherst-college/ Currently, the Loeb Center emphasizes self-assessment and in-depth career exploration through internships, while helping students expand and enhance their social capital with robust programming. In recent years, the Loeb’s core strength has been an industry-specialist advising model (Career Communities) that generates pathways into a broad range of work and professions. The Meiklejohn Fellows Program provides career-planning infrastructure for first-generation and/or low-income Amherst students through coordinated financial, academic, career planning and social support. The Charles Hamilton Houston Internship Program supports an innovative and equitable structure for students to explore and plan for meaningful careers through paid off-campus summer experiences. The Career Trek program, conducted over Interterm or Spring Break, takes groups of students on immersive career exploration treks to various cities to explore professional ecosystems and observe alumni at work. The Sophomore Summit, inaugurated in 2024, is a three-day career-building conference tailored to the needs of second-year students.

Reporting directly to the Provost and Dean of the Faculty and in close collaboration with colleagues in institutional advancement and student affairs, the Executive Director manages all services provided by the Loeb Center, supervising a professional staff of 18 educators; overseeing an Alumni-in-Residence program that brings six alumni mentors to campus each year; and stewarding an alumni Advisory Council. The Executive Director manages a $1.6 million operating budget.

Given Amherst’s financial wherewithal, pedagogical model and intimate scale, personal one-on-one counseling will always be a hallmark of the Loeb Center. That being stipulated, the new Executive Director will be called upon to assess the effectiveness of the Loeb Center’s current services and organizational structure in the light of emerging career dynamics and trends, including AI. Working with the Provost, the new Executive Director will have the authority and resources to redirect and refocus the Loeb’s offerings to meet the near and long-term needs of current and future Amherst students.

As a critical direct report to the Provost, the new Executive Director will also be called upon to share expertise on the evolving world of work to Amherst’s faculty members and to engage their interest in supporting students’ effective use of the Loeb Center.

Qualifications: A baccalaureate degree and a minimum of five years of responsible leadership or management experience, preferably in college or university career center administration, human resources, professional development or workforce development, are required. An advanced degree is preferred. The ideal candidate will demonstrate a clear understanding of the role of a highly selective national liberal arts college within the landscape of US higher education and the sophistication to engage Amherst faculty credibly while stewarding the College’s relationships with alumni, parents and employers. Candidates should demonstrate an informed perspective on the essentials of career readiness and the ability to engage and support Amherst’s remarkable student body. The ability to assess and implement new technology used in career services and facility with emerging best practices related to artificial intelligence would be advantageous. Candidates should possess strong communication, interpersonal and motivational skills; the ability to manage multiple projects concurrently; an entrepreneurial disposition and the initiative and imagination for innovation.

Amherst College Human Resources has established a salary range for this position of $160,000 to $190,000. Amherst offers a comprehensive benefits package, including generous retirement contributions, tuition assistance, relocations support and access to professional development.

A complete application will include a letter of interest, a current curriculum vitae and contact information for five professional references. Named referees will not be contacted without the candidate’s prior consent. Applications, nominations and inquiries should be sent electronically to Amherst’s search consultant, Mr. Chuck O’Boyle of C.V. O’Boyle, Jr. LLC at chuck@cvoboyle.com.