Program Chair (Licensure Educator Programs)

Job Description

This role helps disrupt higher education by providing relevant, high quality, innovative programs. This role is a dynamic and future-thinking leader who provides input on the vision, strategy, and roadmap to achieve this exciting and transformative mission. Ensures the integrity, academic excellence, student success, national reputation, and continuous improvement of assigned educational programs through leadership, influence, innovation, partnerships, and the advancement of the discipline. This position exhibits the highest level of expertise and knowledge in assigned program(s) and field area(s). They help ensure our programs are of the highest quality by providing the most relevant and current content, experiences, and skills, blending industry-based, durable knowledge and academics. Provides domain-level leadership to cross-functional faculty teams, design stakeholders, assessment managers, academic analysts, etc., and must have in-depth knowledge of the organization's goals. Responsible for student success and course performance outcomes, both academic and business. Skillfully plans curriculum and analysis, faculty development, data gathering and reporting, and developing internal and external relationships. This position is responsible for communicating relevant information to stakeholders while "owning" the courses, success measures, and student outcomes across the entirety of the program. Works with college level leadership to help establish operational objectives and to positively impact student outcomes and program quality, potentially leading to growth opportunities in or adjacent to the programs they oversee.

Essential Functions and Responsibilities:

• Provides weekly, monthly, quarterly, yearly, and ad hoc reporting related to student success metrics that speak to quality, continuous improvement process review, and program analysis
• Participates as an interdepartmental influencer, effective change leader, accountability partner, and curriculum manager within the various meetings and functions of the position
• Works in concert with faculty and leadership to ensure multiple items are reviewed and addressed entirety of the programs while ensuring curricular matrices are also enabled
• Identifies and enlists employers and industry representatives to serve on program advisory committees
• Creates, measures, and communicates outcomes assessments
• Ensures courses of study clearly outline student learning objectives, outcomes, competencies, and assessments
• Responsible for course playbooks, faculty readiness, learning guides, and implementation.
• Responsible for accreditory and (potentially) approval matters in data gathering, reporting, and other work with Accreditation and Compliance stakeholders to ensure program quality
• Monitors and updates all course information including syllabus descriptions, etc., to ensure clearly defined expectations
• Develops and refines a shared, comprehensive, instructional course delivery method to include defined and designed cohort sessions to provide consistent expert support for complex, challenging competencies
• Sets requirements for faculty quality and sufficiency
• Provides feedback for performance evaluations
• Solicits faculty perspective and insights through regular meetings, as well as provide updates to faculty on program, department and college concerns
• Participates through ongoing involvement in external professional, regulatory and/or accreditation organizations and professional certifications
• Provides subject matter expertise to program, course and assessment design and development; supporting new and revised curriculum proposals. Participates in ongoing curriculum assessment plan for department and continuously monitors program and course success and executive level reporting.
• Leads matrixed cross functional teams across multiple departments to achieve expected outcomes
• Works with cross functional teams to ensure program and course content is relevant to workforce needs, rigorous, responsive, and aligns to defined student competencies
• Integrates the curricula and operations of the department with those of the program
• Coordinates outreach and research on the development of additional degree programs and certificates
• Represents WGU at the domain level, helping to cultivate positive public perception while maintaining working relationships with colleagues at area transfer institutions to identify and communicate opportunities for expanding articulation opportunities and potential gaps
• Reviews and monitors student and course feedback to ensure the student voice is represented and provides recommendations for content improvement
• Partners with design and development to plan regular and substantive faculty-student interactions and community of care support at program and course level.
• Communicates with stakeholders across multiple teams and departments, providing a bridging function across all program management and support teams.
• Performs other job-related duties as assigned.