Director And Open Rank Professor Of 1St Year Academic Experience

Overview

Job Summary:

The Director and Open Rank Professor of First Year Academic Experience will provide vision and strategic direction for the academic experience of all first time, first year students in the Undergraduate College at NLU. Serving over 500 students every year, the position will oversee all academic onboarding experiences, college success coursework, and individualized student plans in order to ensure that the student experience is meaningful, supports students with a sense of belonging and leads to students persisting through their college career. This position will report to the Senior Associate Dean, will be 12-month administrative faculty with a teaching load of 10 QH, and will collaborate extensively with other departments across the university in order to ensure that all units are working together to support first year student success.

You are: Driven to Succeed

You are energetic and passionate about a diverse student body that includes many first-generation students. To be successful teaching in this program, you must be committed to excellence in teaching and learning in Higher Education. The position requires you to be agile, creative, and engaging while offering an unparalleled experience to undergraduate students. Enthusiastic candidates have the belief that all students can be successful students. As an active team member, you believe in a supportive environment and a student-driven and data-informed culture.

You are ready to: Make an Impact

Each and every day, our Undergraduate College changes lives. You want to be a part of that meaningful innovation. You are someone that will always look for creative ways for students to earn success. We know this work is challenging, but we are in it together.

You are: an experienced classroom educator with content knowledge of career development best practices, who is passionate about building students' career skills and confidence. You have made equity and inclusion a priority in your work and believe that all students, when given the opportunity, can achieve success. You also have 3-5 years of applied career development experience through professional leadership roles and can apply current industry trends to classroom instructional practices.

To be successful in this program, you must be committed to excellence in teaching and learning in higher education. The position requires you to be agile, creative, and engaging while offering an innovative, practice based curriculum and an unparalleled experience to undergraduate students. You believe in a supportive environment, a strengths-based approach to learning, and a student-driven culture. As an active team member, working closely with both internal and external partners, you are open to continued learning and self-reflection.

NLU UGC CORE COMPETENCIES

• Student-Focused: Make decisions based on what is best for students with the belief that when all students have access, resources and support, they are empowered to achieve success.

• Expect Excellence: Hold high expectations for our students and for the adults to serve them and hold ourselves accountable for achieving excellence.

• Personalized Support: Take a holistic approach to providing individualized support that encourages students to realize their full potential in college and beyond.

• Data-Driven, Collaborative Environment: Work together as a unified team, utilizing real-time data and technology to adapt to student needs.

• Continuous Improvement and Innovation: Remain agile and open to changes and new ideas-incorporating data as well as student, faculty and administration voice-to ensure that we are continuously learning, improving, and innovating in all aspects of the student experience.

Essential Responsibilities

Academic Programming:

• Lead the design, implementation and evaluation of the Student Success Summit, which is an academic onboarding experience that takes place before the start of the term for first year students.

• Research and implement an assessment tool for first year students to better understand their strengths, interests, and needs as they begin their college career.

• Oversee the GEN 103: Student Success Seminar curriculum in order to ensure that all content is relevant, meets the needs of first year students, and make revisions as needed.

• Staff, supervise and support all instructors that teach the course GEN 103: Student Success Seminar.

• Collaborate with various stakeholders, including enrollment, admissions, advising and coaching, the UGC Career Department, the UGC Developmental Education Department, all UGC departments that have first-year courses, and other stakeholders in order to ensure that the academic programming aligns with all other departmental work.

• Develop and implement a strategic, strengths-based approach for 1st year students to create individualized plans that will support them with achieving the goals they set for themselves.

• Represent the UGC on university-wide teams and committees in an effort to support first year student success.

• Review and make a determination on all first-year student academic appeals.

• Ensure that career exploration and preparation is built into the academic experience of first year students at multiple points.

• Develop and maintain the 1st Year Academic Experience website, which will house materials, resources, and information for all first-year students.

• Resolve student conflicts and complaints based upon current college level and university level policies and procedures.

Data Organization And Analysis

• Manage and oversee key data points related to first year students on a weekly, monthly, and term by term basis to support strong academic performance and student persistence and retention.

• Provide real-time data-driven leadership for GEN 103: Student Success Seminar in addition to quarterly course performance analysis.

• Assure the effective collection, analysis, and use of data to inform and document programs and initiate (drive) performance improvement efforts across first year student academic experiences.

Qualifications

• Master's Degree in Education, Curriculum and Instruction, Higher Education, Administration or any filed related to the 1st year academic experience.

• Five to seven (5-7) years teaching experience; passionate about, and experience with, teaching a highly diverse student body.

• Three to five (3-5) years leadership experience and management in education, including experience leading teams to drive educational outcomes for diverse learners.

• One to three (1-3) years experience in strategic and innovative academic program design, and delivery of instruction.

• Three to five (3-5) years skilled in the utilization of technology and data to drive instructional and operational improvements.

• Three to five (3-5) years skilled in data collection and analysis in order to drive student outcomes.

• Assessing Student Progress: Uses varied and appropriate measures of student progress and achievement level (e.g., does not rely on a single testing format). Assessment methods (e.g., quizzes, tests and other progress indicators) provide fair, accurate and meaningful criteria for measuring academic achievement levels. Assesses student growth beyond the realm of academic knowledge or problem-solving (e.g., assesses character development, ability to work on teams, etc.

• Building Student Confidence and Engagement: Expresses genuine confidence that students can (and will) be successful as learners. Is fully engaged as a teacher, and demonstrates enthusiasm about the subject at hand. Encourages active participation, including questions from students, making it clear that everyone is in a safe place to give an incorrect answer, or to ask a question that may reveal a lack of current mastery of facts or concepts. Varies teaching methods, adjusts the pace, frequently asks questions and incorporates energizing activities to maximize engagement.

• Innovative Thinking: Looks out for new and innovative approaches that will improve efficiency. Embraces and champions new ideas and encourages others to do likewise. Recognizes and rewards people and teams who are creative and innovative.

• Knowing Students as Individuals: Spends time learning about each student, assessing current interest level for learning in general and for the subject matter in particular. Notices which learning activities tend to engage each individual the most. Assesses each student's general learning capabilities, performance level and apparent level of confidence. Looks for evidence of unmet special needs and other obstacles to learning. Learns about each student's life outside the classroom (e.g., personal interests, cultural background, level of family support, potential sources of distraction, etc.)

• Leadership Direction and Vision: Takes the lead in developing a shared vision that challenges and inspires individuals across various stakeholder groups (e.g. with staff, students, parents). Articulates, discusses and models the vision in a manner that maximizes personal credibility as well as the understanding and buy-in of others. Empowers and oversees the creation and accomplishment of specific, challenging and attainable staff and student goals that are directly connected to the shared vision.

• Showing Commitment to Student Well being: Plans and shapes instructional strategies with the clear intention of successfully connecting with the maximum number of students. Adapts and modifies assessment processes to accommodate special needs. Shows empathy and compassion for students who struggle to keep pace with classmates, particularly when effort level may not be the issue. Takes steps to address low effort levels from students who have previously demonstrated the capacity to perform better (e.g., with "at risk" students). Seeks timely help from other professionals when own efforts to reach or support a student have been unsuccessful.

NLU Inclusion Statement:

National Louis University is deeply committed to serving its community, advancing access and equity, and ensuring that all individuals are welcomed and valued. We are dedicated to fostering a culture where diversity, equity, and inclusion remain at the core of who we are. These are more than just words to us: they are truly a way of life for the NLU community. We recognize that differences in abilities, age, ethnicity, gender (identity and expression), race, religion, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, and background bring richness to our work environment. We affirm diverse perspectives, innovative contributions, and authentic presentations of self from every member within the NLU community. We believe inclusion is grounded in the actions we intentionally take each day. Our goal is to inspire and empower NLU employees and community members to cultivate an environment where we collectively focus on uplifting and advancing our institutional culture.

Special Instructions

Required Documents: Curriculum Vitae Cover Letter Teaching Philosophy Transcripts (unofficial) NLU Employees please also submit an Internal Posting Form