Assistant Vice President for Educational Excellence and Retention

General Statement of Duties

The Assistant Vice President will focus their efforts on working with various offices to improve retention at Westfield State University, with a particular focus on implementing and assessing institutional plans related to the SUCCESS pilot program, and supporting at-risk students.

Duties and Responsibilities

Essential:

• Align and coordinate efforts of all offices involved with student retention.
• Provide leadership for the development of data analytics to serve in implementing strategies to attract and retain students in conjunction with partners in Academic Affairs and Enrollment Management and Student Affairs.
• Working with Institutional Research, lead efforts within Academic Affairs to increase student retention and graduation rates, including working with other offices to develop effective strategies and methodologies to assess the effectiveness of those strategies.
• Oversee or support initiatives across all divisions related to the SUCCESS pilot program as determined by the Cabinet and President. This involves administering the SUCCESS grant from the state.
• Supervise student support offices in Academic Affairs.
• Serve as a University expert and thought leader on promoting the success of underserved students (e.g., lower income, students of color, first-generation).
• Develop assessment plans to measure outcomes of the initiatives related to the SUCCESS pilot program and other student success initiatives, as well as conduct analysis of data related to those outcomes.
• Serve as the liaison between Westfield State and the Commonwealth, Department of Higher Education, and other involved parties, in implementing and assessing the SUCCESS grant.
• Prepare, as requested, reports for the Cabinet, the President, appropriate individual Vice Presidents, and other internal stakeholders, as well as external stakeholders including the Board of Trustees and the Commonwealth. Communicate new initiatives and solicit input from the faculty.
• Understand and operationalize best practices in student success, outcomes assessment, and cognate literatures as they relate to student success initiatives.
• Utilize current institutional resources to develop models of student success at Westfield State, in particular the WSU 360 (Starfish) platform, and develop and execute plans to increase usage of these platforms across campus.
• Serve on University committees as assigned by the President and/or Provost.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

Job Requirements

Required Qualifications:

• Masters Degree.
• Significant and successful experience in higher education administration, including budgetary and personnel responsibilities.
• Ability to collect, analyze, and report data. Ability to develop and implement assessment plans.
• Experience working within a state system of higher education.
• Demonstrated commitment to student success in educational programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels.
• Strong interpersonal, communication, problem-solving, and decision-making skills.
• Working knowledge of Microsoft Office programs, especially Excel.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Excellent organizational skills.
• Experience working both independently and within a team environment.
• Ability to manage multiple projects concurrently.

Preferred Qualifications:

• An earned Doctorate or other terminal degree from an accredited institution.