Senior Director of Student Success & Engagement

Search:	#1293
Date Posted:	08/21/2024
Type/Department:	Administrator in JEA
Search Status:	Position Filled
Apply Now:	Currently we are not accepting resumes for this position.

Hampshire College

Department:  Student Success and Engagement Office – Division of Justice, Equity, and Antiracism

Job Title: Senior Director of Student Success & Engagement (SSE)

Position Type: Full Time

Schedule: 35 Hours a week

Pay Range/ Status: $88,020 / Exempt

Location: Hampshire College Campus in Amherst, MA

Reports to: Senior Vice President for Justice, Equity, and Antiracism

Anticipated Start Date: Immediately

Located in the beautiful Western Massachusetts, Hampshire College is an independent, innovative, progressive liberal arts college on a rural campus without traditional tests, majors, or grades. A member of the Five College consortium, students may take classes at four other local colleges. Providing residential undergraduate education to nearly 900 students, each department at Hampshire College contributes to the collaborative culture of the organization and plays an important role in the success of the College. The student success and engagement office fosters and supports an optimal educational environment for students, both inside and outside the classroom. With students as our primary focus, we intentionally create and support opportunities and experiences that promote a diverse community steeped in respect, intellectual and emotional growth, integrity, justice, and safety for all members of the Hampshire community. As part of the student affairs team, you will be instrumental in the College achieving its mission and goals.

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONSIBILITIES:

Reporting to the senior vice president for justice, equity, and antiracism (JEA), the senior director of SSE is a full-time, 12-month, live-on professional staff member in the division of JEA. Adopting a noncarceral approach, the senior director serves as principal community standards officer and has primary responsibility for community standards and conduct. Additionally, the senior director brings strategic and administrative leadership experience to bear on policy development and budgetary operations as related to the coordination of retention initiatives for Division I, II and III students. The senior director will assume the lead on JEA program review and implementation of strategic vision and direction as developed by the division of JEA retention team, the college retention committee, and the BIPOC retention working group to ensure that campus-wide activities and programs support institutional goals related to student success (academic, personal, social/emotional, civic), engagement, sense of belonging, inclusion, thriving, development of students’ affinity to Hampshire College as well as development of graduate/career readiness. The senior director will lead staff members in creating an environment in which students are able to support their community, pursue excellence, be open to new information, and are prepared to go out of their comfort zone to enable learning and growth.

With a keen focus on being student-centered in the delivery of services and resources, the senior director will lead all institutional retention and success initiatives, paying close attention to the varying needs of students from different cultural backgrounds and identities that may require focused support and consideration. The practices and theories of justice, equity, and antiracism are ever evolving; hence, the senior director needs to be adaptable, enjoy acquiring new knowledge, and evolve the division accordingly to successfully support students. The senior director will exemplify collaborative leadership by applying data, theoretical foundations, research, and best practices; employing exceptional interpersonal and communication dynamics in all interactions; demonstrating cognitive flexibility; and displaying a willingness and ability to effectively engage with students, faculty, and staff in various settings and contexts.

The senior director is a leader and critical campus partner in providing a comprehensive student experience, working closely with Academic Affairs and other campus partners to realize institutional goals for student retention and success. In addition to evaluating the relationship between co-curricular engagement and improved student success, the senior director continuously assesses various programs’ co-curricular utilization by using several student success metrics.

The senior director is an effective and emotionally intelligent team-builder and a visionary leader with demonstrated capacity to implement leading-edge programs and systems within a growing college and a progressive JEA division. The senior director supervises and leads professional staff in the areas of JEA project management, New and Transfer Student Orientation and Experience, Student Wellness, Prevention and Education, and Student Engagement.

A member of the Campus C.A.R.E. (Care. Assessment. Response. Evaluation) Team, the senior director supports the College’s mission and values of engagement, equity, inclusiveness, antiracism, and integrity by addressing students’ needs and assisting students in raising and resolving their concerns and conflicts. Additionally, the senior director plays an essential role in helping the College gain insight into the campus climate by providing data-driven observations on, and recommendations to improve, trends and systemic issues.

The senior director will contribute to initiatives that aid in creating a campus culture that is more actively antiracist, inclusive and equitable. Additionally, the senior director will model how to cultivate and support students’ campus involvement that creates an environment in which students assume responsibility for creating a community that is socially and civically engaged and that values and contributes to their own and other's safety, health and wellness.

The senior director is a student development practitioner who cares deeply about forming strong relationships and engaging in meaningful experiences with students, open to new and challenging experiences directed towards professional growth. This position needs to be highly visible, maintain strong connections and work successfully with students, faculty, staff, families and external constituents. The senior director must have experience in program design and management and feel comfortable working in an evolving, fast-paced, organizational framework with shifting responsibilities. As a leader in the JEA division, the senior director contributes to campus-wide educational initiatives—for instance, the Community Days of Learning, Learning Collaboratives Symposia and other activities, and New and Transfer Student Orientation—that advance the College’s commitment to justice, equity, and antiracism. The senior director also participates in the emergency response “on call” duty rotation and is available to work evenings and weekends.

REQUIRED SKILLS:

• Directly related educational background and relevant work experience.
• Passionate about working in an organization that values and promotes the pedagogies and principles of justice, equity, and antiracism as well as student development theory.
• Experience working directly with, displaying understanding of, and advocating for people from diverse racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills and ability to flex communication styles in presenting to diverse audiences, specifically racially, ethnically, and socioeconomically diverse communities.
• Ability to cultivate and develop inclusive and equitable working relationships with students, faculty, staff and community members.
• Experience in supporting and enhancing a sense of belonging and success for students from traditionally marginalized populations in terms of sexual identification, gender identity and expression, race, national background, citizenship status, ethnicity, etc.
• Knowledge of high-impact strategies that promote persistence and degree completion and reduce time to completion, particularly for underrepresented students.
• Deploy excellent program/project design, execution, data analysis, interpretation, and assessment skills.
• Ability to function independently and complete projects with limited supervision.
• Excellent interpersonal, supervisory, collaborative, and team-building skills.
• Agile, highly organized, and able to prioritize in a fast-paced, team-oriented environment.
• Ability to pay close attention to detail for budget tracking.
• Familiarity with Microsoft Office Suite, Google Workplace, Adobe Creative Suite, information management system (Colleague), social media applications, student conduct (e.g., Guardian) and student activities platforms, etc.

REQUIRED CERTIFICATION, EDUCATION, AND EXPERIENCE:

• Advanced degree (e.g., MA, MS, JD, PhD) in higher education administration, education, student affairs, business management, or counseling
• Minimum five years’ of job-related experience

Alternatives to formal education and paid work experience may be considered as equivalent qualifications to include military service/training, volunteering, activism, and other non-traditional programs and experiences related to the position.

BENEFITS:

Hampshire College offers an excellent benefits program for eligible employees such as medical, dental, vision, life insurance, retirement plan, flexible leave plans, and many other fringe benefits. For information on Hampshire College, including more information on employee benefits and our company culture, visit our website at www.hampshire.edu.

WHO SHOULD APPLY:

Hampshire College is an equal opportunity employer and deeply committed to a community of excellence, equity, diversity, and inclusion. We are particularly committed to revealing and combating the social and institutional structures that support racism and white supremacy in all phases of employment and college life. We believe that the educational and employment environment is enhanced when diverse groups of people with diverse ideas come together to work and grow. We encourage applications from women, underrepresented minorities, persons with disabilities, sexual minority groups, veterans, and other candidates who will contribute to the diversification and enrichment of ideas and perspectives. Hampshire College is committed to removing barriers to employment faced by equity-seeking groups and encourages (but does not require) members of these groups to self-identify in their application materials. Applicants whose work incorporates a global perspective and a demonstrated commitment to issues of diversity in the work environment are particularly encouraged to apply.

HOW TO APPLY:

Please submit your cover letter, resume and names/phone numbers of three professional references via our website at https://jobs.hampshire.edu/

Review of applications will begin immediately and will continue until the position is filled. 

Hampshire College is an equal opportunity institution, committed to diversity and inclusion in education and employment.