Associate Dean of CPS Academic Advising

Associate Dean of CPS Academic Advising

About the Opportunity

Northeastern University's (NU) College of Professional Studies (CPS) Associate Dean of Academic Advising directs the Office of Academic Advising's (OAA) efforts to ensure student success, mitigate learner risk, and enhance the student experience for a diverse population of undergraduate and graduate learners.

This position reports directly to the Senior Associate Dean of Student Affairs and is responsible for the overall operational management, development, and coordination of the program-centered portfolio teams advising and supporting undergraduate and graduate learners. They will work in close partnership with all CPS program experts, academic operations, experiential teams, and marketing across the Northeastern University's global campus network to achieve CPS student success and completion across all programs and regions.

The Associate Dean, and their teams, provides expert academic advising throughout the entire student journey for adult and professional leaners pursuing a range of credentials, undergraduate, and graduate studies, aligned closely with Northeastern University's signature experiential pathways They will lead the design and delivery of student success practices that are data-informed and evidence-based for professional, returning and international learners. They will ideate, innovate, and optimize current business processes that support academic advising, streamline the CPS student journey, and build affinity for a diverse learner population across NU's global network.

The Associate Dean will be the day-to-day leader of the Academic Advising teams for all campuses that serve CPS undergraduate and graduate learners. Under the guidance of the Senior Associate Dean, they will work directly with management and staff to coach the team, develop strategic plans, manage performance metrics, and implement timely actions to continually advance and achieve success for CPS students.

Job Duties:

25% Strategic Leadership

• In collaboration with the Senior Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and other college leadership, the Associate Dean employs strategic approaches and management to optimize and continuously advance the CPS learner experience. They collaborate and coordinate with NU's central offices and services including cooperative and experiential education, enrollment management, the Registrar's office, ITS, learner financial services, learner affairs, and alumni relations, as well as other college units, to ensure a seamless student experience for all CPS learners.
• They work with enrollment management, CPS faculty and staff, and their own service units to increase new learner enrollments, promote persistence for continuing learners, streamline the student journey, and demonstrate year-over-year improvement in graduation rates while always improving student experience scores.
• The Associate Dean is responsible for identifying potential performance improvements and the successful evaluation, deployment, implementation, and optimal use of technology platforms and applications (Salesforce, Tableau, Banner, etc.) to streamline the student journey.
• Working with CPS faculty and staff and other campus learner communities, they develop and execute new initiatives and programming designed to fully engage the diverse spectrum of CPS learners and alumni for lifelong learning, in all modalities and campus locations.

25% Operational Management

• Provide day-to-day oversight and management of the college's advising teams for all graduate and undergraduate program domains.
• Working with leadership, measure, evaluate, and optimize the domestic and international learner experience in close collaboration with the Office of General Counsel, Global Learner Services, and CPS resources to foster a student success culture for learners around academic programs, experiential pathways, and other opportunities.
• They will work with unit management and the Office of Global Student Services to safeguard the student experience for all international learners and ensure success.
• Working with units' management teams, monitor and manage resources to ensure comprehensive and responsive service and support for all learners in all programs.
• They will lead engagement with the college's academic program operations and program faculty to ensure satisfactory course scheduling for all learners, minimize number of learners “at-risk” for academic probation, encourage continuous enrollment to improve persistence and graduation rates, and ultimately enhance the student experience.

20% Monitoring and Reporting

• Establish a data-driven culture for monitoring managing volume and advising quality and capacity to ensure student success. Respond to emergent needs and trends for student engagement.
• They develop and implement standardized reporting for daily, weekly, and monthly management of the department's performance to establish data-informed strategy for continuous improvement.
• They will be responsible for adopting leaner touchpoint processes and advancing systems integration to more easily aggregate meaningful and actionable data for efficient and optimal business process improvements that positively demonstrate student success.
• Promote and monitor CPS' brand throughout the development, implementation, coordination, and evaluation of major communications, events and college-initiated programs.
• In collaboration with enrollment management, capture, monitor and manage data analytics for the entire CPS learner journey in Salesforce and other software systems.
• Provide insights and recommended actions, evidence-based and data-informed, that can enhance learner experience to optimize CPS efficiencies and maximize outcomes.

20% Learner Risk Mitigation

• The Associate Dean is responsible for mitigating learner risk proactively and advocating on behalf of any CPS learners experiencing challenges with personnel, conduct-related, career, or academic issues.
• They manage college-wide academic integrity efforts and provides collaborative leadership for the college-level academic appeals process as well as the College's interface with OSCCR (Office of Learner Conduct and Conflict Resolution).
• They participate in committees and working groups to mitigate and mediate risk and ensuring that follow-up with learners, faculty, and staff is timely, effective, and transparent.
• They collaborate as needed with academic programs, faculty affairs, Human Resources, Office of General Counsel (OGC), Global Learner Services (OGS), risk management offices including We Care, and other university services to ensure learners can access resources and receive due process in support of their academic and career aspirations in a timely and transparent.
• They will lead the operational engagement for advising with the Faculty Academic Council of CPS and its committees, as appropriate, to maintain academic integrity.

10% Ensure Continuous Improvement

• The Associate Dean works across programs and units within the college to strategize and optimize operations and achieve outcomes in support of student success and learner satisfaction.
• They collaborate with business development teams, marcom, academic programs, and enrollment management to achieve semester/quarter enrollment goals and meet key leading indicators and performance metrics that align with the College's yearly goals and objectives.
• They also collaborate with the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, CPS Human Resources, and other stakeholders, as required, to lead and participate in initiatives to increase the diversity, inclusivity, and sense of belonging for all CPS learners to support persistence and retention to ensure learner success.

Qualifications:

• Terminal degree required, with significant career experience in learner support services, academic advising, student engagement, and/or career services in higher education.
• A minimum of five-to-seven years of academic advising management experience in higher education, including deep experience working with underserved student groups, as well as returning, professional, and international learners.
• Demonstrated experience developing and managing data-tracking systems and student journey workflow mapping including proactive analytics, KPIs, reports and data-informed performance management of persistence, graduation, and student success rates.
• Proven experience using technology platforms and applications to scale and optimize advising support, services and communications to ensure best practices for learner success (i.e., Banner, Salesforce, Marketo, HubSpot, Tableau).
• Demonstrated ability to lead a large and diverse organization of academic advising professionals in support of equally diverse student populations in an adult and continuing education and professional studies space.
• Evidence of administrative responsibility and a record of successful implementation of business processes, organizational structures, and programs to improve persistence, retention, and graduation rates in an adult and continuing education environment.
• Demonstrated experience in resolving student issues and implementing best practices in student risk mitigation and conflict resolution to ensure success for all leaners.
• A demonstrated belief in ensuring the success of all students in adult and continuing education and professional studies programs where access matters.
• Demonstrated commitment to fostering diverse and inclusive learning and work environments. DEI education/certification is preferred.
• Demonstrated ability to manage a large and diverse team across multiple global locations and the ability to work with an array of university constituencies.
• Excellent communication skills, both written and oral.
• Project management experience is a plus.

Position Type

Academic Administration

Additional Information

Northeastern University is an equal opportunity employer, seeking to recruit and support a broadly diverse community of faculty and staff. Northeastern values and celebrates diversity in all its forms and strives to foster an inclusive culture built on respect that affirms inter-group relations and builds cohesion.

All qualified applicants are encouraged to apply and will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, age, sex, sexual orientation, disability status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

To learn more about Northeastern University's commitment and support of diversity and inclusion, please see www.northeastern.edu/diversity.


To apply, visit https://northeastern.wd1.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/careers/job/Boston-MA-Main-Campus/Associate-Dean-of-CPS-Academic-Advising_R110590



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