Director for Center of Academic Excellence

Apply now Job no: 525176
Work type: Staff Full Time
Campus: UMass Boston
Department: Academic Support Programs
Pay Grade: 35
Categories: Academic Affairs

General Summary: 

Reporting to the Associate Vice-Provost for Inclusive Excellence, the Director of the Center for Academic Excellence oversees, manages and assesses all aspects of the Center for Academic Excellence/Academic Support Programs and serves as a member of the Inclusive Excellence Leadership Team. The Director is responsible for ensuring that the Center for Academic Excellence develop, deliver and evaluate student-centered, holistic, and equitable courses, programs, services, and practices that encourage, promote, and sustain inclusive academic excellence and equitable outcomes for our diverse undergraduate and graduate student body.

Examples of Duties: 

  • Lead the Center for Academic Excellence (CAE) team. Responsibilities include oversight of SEAS courses, peer mentoring, embedded support models, the student referral program (SRP), academic coaching, and peer tutoring;
  • Lead the development, implementation and assessment of the Center’s strategic plan in alignment with the University’s and SEAS Division’s strategic planning goals and other strategic initiatives;
  • Oversee formative and summative assessment of all CAE programs, including mining of quantitative and qualitative data on the effectiveness of the Center’s academic support programs, with a focus on review of disaggregated data to evaluate equity outcomes and the impact of CAE Programs on student sub-populations;
  • Lead the Center’s work in developing, implementing, and assessing academic courses and programs that increase student retention and credit accrual, improve graduation rates, and close equity gaps for undergraduate and graduate students;
  • Recruit, onboard, support, and evaluate faculty and staff in the Center. Lead the Center’s work to develop and provide course-specific and embedded support programs for courses at all levels across the disciplines;
  • Provide managerial direction, including development, planning, goal setting, implementation, evaluation and accountability for the Center’s academic support services programming;
  • Work with Assistant Directors to engage departments across the university to identify and address areas of need, promote the benefits of the Center’s programs and services, and recruit peer educators;
  • Develop and implement a tracking and assessment system for student use of the Center’s support services and oversee the collection, analysis, dissemination, and use of the department’s assessment data internally and externally;
  • Collaborate with data management constituencies at the university, such as the Office of Institutional Research, Assessment and Planning, to collect and evaluate student usage data needed for student success tracking and correlation;
  • Schedule and staff up to 40 sections of department courses per semester, with a focus on providing a diverse range of student-centered, culturally-sustaining course offerings aligned with equity outcomes and first year experience (FYE) high impact practices;
  • Provide training and development for peer educators, including working with Assistant Directors to develop and deliver credit-bearing courses such as ASP 301: Seminar for Peer Educators and ASP 120: Tutor Training;
  • Organize professional learning activities for Center faculty and staff, with a focus on using data to improve practices and fostering high impact, culturally-sustaining curricula, practices and support services;
  • Attend trainings, seminars, and workshops to ensure personal professional growth and sharing of high impact student success and equity practices with Center faculty and staff;
  • Maintain a student-centered, equity-minded, and service-oriented Center environment that fosters students’ sense of belonging;
  • Meet regularly with all members of the Center staff—including faculty, tutors, and administrative support--to promote teamwork and to ensure that the Center’s mission to promote academic excellence and equitable outcomes is on track;
  • Collaborate with other SEAS directors to integrate academic support services as part of the onboarding process for new students and continuing students to facilitate the successful transition of first-year students into the University;
  • Prepare and oversee the Center’s budget in alignment with strategic planning goals, maintain accurate records, and submit regular reports;
  • Perform other duties as needed.

Qualifications: 

  • Master's Degree and seven to ten (7-10) years of administrative and/or program management experience in an accredited post-secondary institution, including a minimum of five (5) years of personnel and budget management, is required;   
  • Minimum of 5 years of teaching experience at the post-secondary level is required; professional training and/or a minimum of at least five (5) years of experience in the pedagogy of English language development, critical thinking, and/or subject tutoring preferred; 
  • Demonstrated experience in equity-minded, asset-based strategic planning and assessment;
  • Familiarity with First Year Experience (FYE) high impact practices;
  • Demonstrated experience in faculty recruitment, training and supervision;
  • Teaching and administrative experience with non-traditional, culturally and linguistically diverse students;  
  • Demonstrated experience in holistic student support and retention strategies;
  • Excellent oral and written communication and interpersonal skills; 
  • Demonstrated organizational ability;
  • Proficiency with office and database software, student information systems, learning management systems (LMS), video conferencing platforms, and social media;
  • Demonstrated ability to work independently, as well as collaboratively with faculty, student services professionals, and other key constituents

Application Instructions: 

Please apply online with your resume, cover letter and list of three professional references.

Review of candidates will begin following the application closing date. 

Only Internal candidates in the Professional Staff Bargaining Unit will be considered during the first 10 business days of the posting.  All other candidates will be considered after that period. 

Salary Ranges for the appropriate Pay Grade can be found at the following link: 

Grade: 35             

Salary Ranges

This is an exempt union position.

All official salary offers must be approved by Human Resources.

UMass Boston is committed to the full inclusion of all qualified individuals. As part of this commitment, we will ensure that persons with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodations for the hiring process. If reasonable accommodation is needed, please contact HRDirect@umb.edu or 617-287-5150.

Advertised: Eastern Daylight Time
Applications close: Eastern Daylight Time

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The University of Massachusetts is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action, Title IX employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, sex, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, age over 40, protected veteran status, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, marital status, or other protected class.