Executive Director for Educational Excellence

Executive Director for Educational Excellence & Retention

Campus Title: Executive Director for Educational Excellence and Retention

State Job Title: Executive Director

Department: Academic Affairs

Salary: $110,000 to $115,000 Annually

General Statement of Duties: The Executive Director will focus their efforts on working with various offices to improve retention at WSU, with a particular focus on implementing and assessing institutional plans related to the SUCCESS funding program and supporting at-risk students.

Duties and Responsibilities: Advance the University's values-based culture by fostering academic excellence and integrity. Provide strategic leadership toward the goals of student success, academic quality, and institutional retention. Contribute to the creation and adoption of new and enhancement of existing high-impact academic practices. Oversee and ensure student access to academic support systems, networks, technologies, and campus resources. Provide leadership for the development of data analytics to serve in implementing strategies to attract and retain students. Working with Institutional Research, lead efforts within Academic Affairs to increase student retention and graduation rates. Oversee the development, implementation, assessment, and reporting of initiatives related to the SUCCESS pilot program. Supervise student support offices in Academic Affairs. Serve as a University expert and thought leader on promoting the success of underserved students. Develop assessment plans to measure outcomes of the initiatives. Serve as the liaison between WSU and the Commonwealth, Department of Higher Education. Prepare reports for the Cabinet, the President and external stakeholders. Understand and operationalize best practices in student success. Utilize current institutional resources to develop models of student success at Westfield State. Serve on University committees as assigned by the Provost.

Qualifications: Master's degree required. Significant and successful experience in higher education administration, including budgetary and personnel responsibilities. Ability to collect, analyze, and report data. 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.