Associate Director, Student Learning Outcomes Assessment and Accreditation

Posting Number: SF02052

Position Type: Professional Staff

Union: Non-Union Non-Classified Staff

Pay Grade Level: Grade Level: 14

Pay Grade Range: Anticipated Hiring Salary Range: $85,000 - $98,500

Department: ATL Office

Campus Location:

Job Description Summary

About URI: The University of Rhode Island enrolls approximately 17,000 students across its graduate and undergraduate programs and is the State's flagship public research university, as well as the land grant and sea grant university, for the state of Rhode Island. The main campus is located in the historic village of Kingston, and the Bay Campus is located in Narragansett. Both campuses are near major beaches in a beautiful coastal community. URI is just 30 minutes from Providence, RI and within easy reach of Newport, Boston, and New York City.

The search will remain open until the position has been filled. First consideration will be given to applications received by September 8, 2025. Applications received after September 8, 2025, may be reviewed depending on search progress and needs, but are not guaranteed full consideration.

Basic Function

The Associate Director leads the design, development, coordination, and implementation of URI's initiatives to assess student learning outcomes by partnering with college leaders, academic departments, and individual faculty to support their teaching and learning assessment plans for both in-person and online courses. The Associate Director supports the Office of the Provost with engaging and successfully completing NECHE (New England Commission on Higher Education) accreditation planning, writing, and submissions. The Associate Director serves as a member of the URI Faculty Senate's Joint Committee on Academic Program Review and Outcomes Assessment and supports the Academic Program Review process from a teaching and learning perspective. Lastly, the Associate Director partners with various URI campus offices, centers, and units on behalf of the Office for the Advancement of Teaching & Learning (ATL) to support the development of assessment plans that produce evidence of measurable student learning.

Duties and Responsibilities

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Collaborate with college leaders and academic departments to design and refine student learning outcomes assessment plans for both in-person and online courses.
• Provide ongoing support and training to faculty members on best practices for assessing student learning and using assessment data to enhance teaching methods.
• Analyze data from assessment activities to identify trends and formulate recommendations for improvements in educational programs.
• Assist the Office of the Provost in developing comprehensive NECHE accreditation plans, including timelines, objectives, and resource needs.
• Coordinate and prepare high-quality accreditation reports and submissions, ensuring compliance with NECHE standards.
• Facilitate accreditation-related meetings and workshops to engage key stakeholders in the accreditation process.
• Coordinate and organize summary assessment reporting and updates for stakeholder groups inclusive of URI colleges, the Faculty Senate, and the Office of the Provost, as needed for improvement, planning, support, and accreditation.
• Serve as a member of the URI Faculty Senate's Joint Committee on Academic Program Review and Outcomes Assessment and specifically contributing insights from an academic assessment perspective.
• Develop and manage timelines and processes for periodic academic program reviews, ensuring their alignment with institutional goals.
• Provide feedback and recommendations to academic departments based on program review outcomes to foster continuous improvement.
• Maintain an electronic database of program assessment reports for all levels of reporting to ensure compliance with essential reporting criteria.
• Build and maintain collaborative relationships with various campus offices, centers, and units such as the Office of Institutional Research, Teaching & Learning Services, URI Online, Institutional Research, General Education, the Honors Program, the General Education program, and URI 101 to support a culture of assessment and data-driven decision-making.
• Develop and implement assessment plans that effectively measure and provide evidence of student learning in diverse educational contexts.
• Coordinate campus-wide and department specific workshops and seminars, as well as small group and individual faculty consultations, to disseminate assessment findings and promote best practices in student learning assessment.
• Collaborate with all staff and teams within ATL to develop and deliver professional development experiences for individual faculty, departments, and colleges that support planning, student learning outcomes assessment, and academic program improvement.
• Oversee professional and graduate student staff supporting institutional student learning outcomes assessment, and professional development initiatives for individual faculty, academic departments, and URI colleges.
• Represent ATL on university-wide assessment committees focused on student learning outcomes assessment and related accreditation matters as well as collaborate with external entities where needed, to ensure the success of student learning outcomes assessment and accreditation efforts.
• Engage in ongoing personal and professional development to remain current with best practices in assessment and accreditation.

Other Duties and Responsibilities: Perform other duties as required.

Licenses, Tools, and Equipment: Personal computer and printers; word processing, database management, spreadsheet and presentation software, learning management systems and classroom technology.