Position Summary
Southeastern Oklahoma State University (SE) invites applications and nominations for the position of Vice President for Student Development (VPSD). Reporting directly to the President and serving as a member of the President's Executive Team, the VPSD is the University's senior student development officer and provides executive leadership and strategic integration for student life, student success, enrollment and recruitment strategy, career readiness initiatives, and other student-facing…
services.
The VPSD plays a critical role in advancing SE's mission as a regional public university committed to access, student achievement, workforce preparation, and service to rural, first-generation, and Native American students. This position requires a collaborative, student-centered leader with experience integrating student development, undergraduate admissions and recruitment, compliance, grants, and institutional risk management within a complex public higher education environment.
Reporting Structure & Division Overview
The Vice President for Student Development provides leadership and oversight for a comprehensive Student Development division that includes:
- Student Engagement and Student Organizations
- Student Conduct, Behavioral Intervention, and Threat Assessment
- Oversight of institutional risk management, campus safety, and federal compliance processes related to student development (including Clery Act requirements)
- Health, Wellness, and Counseling Services
- Housing and Residential Life
- Disability Services
- Student Career Services
- Undergraduate Admissions and Recruitment
- Federally funded and student-facing grant programs, including pre-collegiate programs such as Upward Bound and Talent Search
Essential Duties & Responsibilities
Executive Leadership & Strategy
- Serve as the University's chief student development officer, providing strategic vision, leadership, and operational oversight for all areas within the Student Development division.
- Advise the President and Executive Team on student success, campus climate, enrollment trends, student well-being, and institutional risk.
- Contribute to institutional strategic planning, accreditation efforts, policy development, and shared governance processes.
- Promote a student-centered culture that supports persistence, degree completion, and post-graduate success.
Undergraduate admissions and recruitment
- Provide executive oversight and strategic direction for undergraduate admissions and recruitment in collaboration with enrollment leadership, ensuring alignment with student success and access priorities.
- Collaborate with Academic Affairs, Marketing, Institutional Research, and Student Development partners to develop data-informed enrollment and retention strategies.
- Align enrollment management practices with student success, access priorities, and regional workforce needs.
- Provide executive oversight of institutional scholarship and tuition waiver programs, ensuring alignment with enrollment strategy, access goals, and student success outcomes.
Student Success, Engagement & Support
- Ensure delivery of high-quality student programs and services that foster belonging, leadership development, and engagement.
- Oversee student conduct systems, due process procedures, and restorative practices.
- Support institutional efforts to serve diverse and underserved student populations.
- Foster strong partnerships with student leadership and governance organizations.
- Promote alignment between Academic Affairs and Student Development initiatives to enhance persistence, retention, and completion outcomes.
Student Career Services & Workforce Alignment
- Provide strategic leadership for career readiness and workforce alignment initiatives, including partnerships with regional employers, experiential learning opportunities, and integration of career competencies into the academic experience.
- Ensure alignment between career readiness strategies, enrollment priorities, academic programs, and regional workforce development needs.
- Collaborate with campus leaders and community partners to strengthen internship pathways, experiential learning opportunities, and workforce pipelines.
- Support institutional efforts to assess post-graduate success and use data to inform career readiness initiatives.
Risk Management, Student Safety & Compliance
- Provide executive oversight of Behavioral Intervention and Threat Assessment processes in collaboration with campus safety, legal counsel, and student development professionals.
- Support campus crisis response, emergency preparedness, and post-incident review processes.
- Work directly with the University's Title IX Coordinator and other Equity and EEO professionals on civil rights matters involving student complainants or respondents.
Grants & Sponsored Student Programs
- Provide executive leadership for student-facing, grant-funded initiatives that advance access and student success outcomes.
- Ensure compliance with federal, state, and grant-specific regulations and reporting requirements.
- Support the development, implementation, assessment, and sustainability of grant-funded student success initiatives.
- Collaborate with Academic Affairs and Sponsored Programs to pursue new funding opportunities that enhance access and student outcomes.
Budget, Personnel & Operations
- Provide fiscal leadership for Student Development, including budgeting, student fee coordination, grants management, and resource allocation.
- Recruit, supervise, mentor, and evaluate senior administrators and staff.
- Promote assessment, data-informed decision-making, accountability, and continuous improvement.
- Develop and implement a comprehensive leadership development and succession strategy.
- Cultivate high-potential staff through coaching, professional development, and expanded leadership opportunities.
- Foster a collaborative, innovative culture that supports professional growth and aligns with institutional priorities.
External Relations & Community Engagement
- Represent SE in regional, state, and national forums related to student development, enrollment, and higher education leadership.
- Build and sustain partnerships with K-12 districts, tribal nations, community organizations, and state agencies.
- Support SE's role as a regional anchor institution serving southeastern Oklahoma and the Texoma region.
Required Qualifications
- Earned master's degree in higher education, educational leadership, student development, or a related discipline.
- Minimum of five (5) years of progressively responsible leadership experience in student development, academic administration, enrollment strategy, or related senior educational leadership roles.
- Demonstrated leadership or collaborative experience with student conduct and due process systems, behavioral intervention or threat assessment processes, and institutional risk management and campus safety in educational settings.
- Demonstrated ability to manage budgets, supervise senior leaders, and lead complex operations.
- Demonstrated ability to strengthen institutional capacity through intentional leadership development, talent management, and succession planning within complex organizational structures.
- Strong commitment to student-centered leadership.
- Demonstrated knowledge of student development theory.
- An equivalent combination of education, senior leadership experience, and demonstrated institutional impact will be considered.
Preferred Qualifications
- Earned doctorate in education or a related field.
- Experience leading or collaborating on cross-divisional enrollment and student success strategies within public higher education.
- Experience managing federally funded student success or pre-collegiate programs.
- Experience bridging academic and student-facing divisions to improve persistence and completion outcomes.
- Experience leading partnerships between K-12 schools and colleges or universities, especially in rural communities, to strengthen college access and student pipelines.
- Experience leading accreditation compliance efforts (HLC or similar), with a strong understanding of shared governance and public higher education policy.
- Familiarity with Clery Act requirements and experience collaborating with institutional leaders on federal compliance and reporting.
Key Attributes of the Successful Candidate
- A steady, ethical, and collaborative leader with strong judgment.
- Able to bridge student development, academic affairs, admissions and recruitment, and compliance functions.
- Skilled in navigating sensitive student matters and institutional risk.
- Comfortable leading in resource-constrained environments.
- Deeply committed to student success, community engagement, and regional impact.
- Provides clear and effective organizational leadership, aligning people and resources to achieve institutional goals.
Work Environment and Expectations
This position is based on campus in Durant, Oklahoma, and requires significant engagement both on and off campus. The role requires availability to work evenings and weekends as needed to support student events, campus programs, and institutional priorities. The Vice President will represent the University regionally and statewide and must be available for travel as needed.
Southeastern Oklahoma State University, founded in 1909 as a teacher college, continues the strong tradition of producing outstanding educators for southeast Oklahoma and north Texas. Student enrollment on the campus(s) is approximately 6,000 and the campus is situated in rural Oklahoma. The main campus is located in Durant, Oklahoma, which is 80 miles north of Dallas, Texas, and 150 miles southeast of Oklahoma City. The community is close to Lake Texoma and the Choctaw Casino Resort. Southeastern Oklahoma State University continues to be among the nation's most affordable universities according to the U. S. News & World Report's America's Best colleges.
Salary will be commensurate with qualifications and experience. The preferred start date is July 1, 2026. Review of applications will begin immediately and continue until the position is filled.
Southeastern offers a comprehensive benefits package including university paid health, vision, life insurance, long term disability, retirement contributions to Oklahoma Teachers Retirement System, as well as a tuition waiver for employees and spouse/dependents who wish to enroll at Southeastern. In addition to the SE paid benefits, there are many voluntary products available to employees such as 403(b), Health Savings Account, Flexible Spending Account, dental, short-term disability, dependent life insurance and a variety of ancillary benefits.
Employment is contingent upon the results of a national criminal and sex offender background check. Candidates must be eligible to work in the United States.
SE is an AA/EEO employer committed to multicultural diversity.
Notice to applicants:
If selected, official transcripts from each degree-granting institution will be required upon date of hire.
It is Southeastern Oklahoma State University's policy that all newly hired employees must provide an original social security card during the hiring process. Failure to provide an original social security card will delay the hiring process and ability to begin employment.