Director of Online and Continuing Education - School of Public Health (Academic Affairs)

The West Virginia University School of Public Health invites individuals to apply for the position of Director of Online and Continuing Education to support rapidly growing online and continuing education offerings.

About the Opportunity

The new Director will work with the school’s academic leadership to develop and implement an innovative and responsive vision of online and continuing education that will facilitate continued expansion of our capacity to engage new communities of non-residential students online and to deliver high-quality online programming. The new Director is expected to be enthusiastic and self-motivated and to provide expertise, strategic direction, and operational management for current and future programming.

Under the leadership of the new Director, we seek to conduct market research, leverage existing content, and create new learning content/opportunities for learners from across West Virginia, the nation and the world through various online learning opportunities that will complement the school’s existing residential and online programs, including potential certificates, summer institutes, and other continuing education offerings. The Director will be especially tasked with elevating the quality and consistency of current online programming, working with faculty, staff, and academic leadership to assure excellence in this space.

The ideal candidate will have an excellent understanding of the competitive online learning and professional education landscape and will apply best practices to developing and evaluating new, preeminent offerings. In addition to working with our WV Public Health Training Center, the candidate must be able to collaborate with administrators, faculty, students, alumni and staff within the School of Public Health and across different WVU academic and operational units. They will actively embrace challenges and change, thrive on solving tough problems, demonstrate strong interpersonal skills, be passionate about innovative online and continuing education and will enjoy working within a dynamic, team-based setting to develop proposals for online programs, potentially including blended learning experiences, to develop multiple, interlinked sustainability learning communities that span undergraduate, graduate and continuing education or workforce development.

The Director is a full-time staff position in the School of Public Health (SPH). The Director will work with an advisory committee of SPH faculty and staff, and will report to the Senior Associate Dean for Academic and Student Affairs. The Director will support full-time and adjunct faculty teaching online courses. As online and continuing education programming develops, the Director may be asked to supervise staff. The candidate is expected to have a primary presence on WVU’s Morgantown/Health Sciences Center campus. Limited remote work and travel may be involved.

West Virginia University is a comprehensive, land-grant, Carnegie-designated R1 University, with 32,000 undergraduate, graduate, and professional students. The Health Sciences Center includes the Schools of Public Health, Medicine, Pharmacy, Dentistry and Nursing, each of which offers professional and graduate training programs. Founded in 20212, the School of Public Health is CEPH-accredited at the bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral levels. The concepts of social justice, inclusivity, collegiality and collaboration have intrinsic value in the School of Public Health. Morgantown is consistently rated as one of the best small towns in the U.S., with affordable housing, excellent schools, a picturesque countryside, bountiful outdoor recreational activities, and close proximity to major cities including Pittsburgh and Washington, DC.

Learn more about the School/Department at: https://publichealth.wvu.edu/ and http://publichealth.hsc.wvu.edu/hpml/

We strongly believe in work-life balance and keeping time for things we love outside our work. WVU offers generous benefits, including:

• 37.5-hour work week
• 13 paid holidays ( staff holiday calendar )
• 24 annual leave (vacation) days per year
• 18 sick days per year (for when you’re ill, for when you need time to care for sick family, for your own, or your family’s, regularly scheduled medical appointments. Who is family for the purpose of this leave? A lot of people in your life including immediate relatives and in-laws as well as others considered to be members of your household living under the same roof)
• WVU offers a range of health insurance and other benefits
• 401(a) retirement savings with 6% employee contribution match, eligibility to continue health insurance, and other retiree perks. Looking for more retirement benefits information ? Check out retirement health insurance benefits, retirement income, and FAQ’s.
• Wellness programs

What you'll do:

• Define and implement the strategic vision, goals, and short- and long-term plans for online and professional education in collaboration with other key stakeholders.
• Identify gaps in online environment and sustainability learning opportunities that SPH is uniquely positioned to address via market research, competitive analysis, and needs assessments.
• Consult with SPH faculty, staff and academic leaders to develop online programs that are interdisciplinary, competitive, innovative, scalable and meet global standards.
• Collaborate with Health Sciences Center and other WVU partners on online learning and course delivery, and represent and promote SPH as a place of innovative learning and teaching.
• With the academic leadership team, create, disseminate and maintain resources, policies and procedures for faculty. Provide guidance and aid in the creation and revision of online and digital course materials.
• Apply project management, communication and consultative skills to collaborate with faculty, course production teams, instructional designers, and media specialists to deliver preeminent/high quality digital and blended learning experiences for a global and residential community.
• Develop project plans and timelines for course production and delivery, academic programs, etc., and work with the Academic Dean and Academic Program Directors on the future integration of course scheduling and student support services for online faculty, current and prospective students, ensuring the entire online learning experience is seamless, effective, and student-friendly.
• Provide regular project status updates for the launch of online programs and manage program goals and timelines for revisions after the launch.
• Drive significant expansion of WVU SPH’s online and professional education catalog, anticipating and meeting the needs of a wide range of learners in West Virginia, regionally, nationally, and globally.
• Assure quality and consistency in all facets of online and continuing education delivery at WVU SPH.
• Create evaluation and assessment methods for professional education programs to determine quality and the effectiveness of transferring knowledge and skills for practical application in the workplace.
• Uphold quality standards for teaching and learning in online and professional education.
• Provide appropriate training and support to WVU SPH faculty and staff.
• Coordinate with partners on campus who are developing and providing continuing education and lifelong learning opportunities.
• Depending on expertise and need, the Director may be asked to develop and/or deliver online and continuing education courses.

Qualifications :

• Master’s degree required.
• A minimum of three (3) years of related experience building successful education and training programs, certifications, products, or initiatives.
• Successful track record of managing online learning and professional education programs; working systematically with multiple constituencies.
• Excellent interpersonal, oral and written communication and presentation skills; comfort with ambiguity; ability to thrive in a fast-paced and dynamic environment and to relate well with diverse constituents.
• Ability to work effectively with individuals and groups at multiple levels of leadership and manage collaborative partnerships; with diplomacy and a service-oriented attitude.
• Ability to work independently and collaboratively, self-motivated, with the capacity to exercise initiative and independent judgment.
• Advanced administrative skills including, planning, organizing, problem solving, utilizing innovation, communication and responsiveness, navigation of complex environments, building buy-in, and attention to detail.
• Experience in curriculum design, applying learner-centered approaches, assessing project outcomes and making recommendations for improvement and iteration.
• In depth knowledge of current trends and tools in online learning and familiarity with new technologies.
• Expertise with project management (tools and software) to manage timelines and deliverables.
• Excellent analytical and problem solving skills, data analysis, and interpretation abilities.
• Focus on equity, and skill in promoting diversity and inclusion.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience with platforms through which online offerings can be made available as well as technologies for creating and disseminating online content.
• Experience working with or in higher education research universities, or comparable.
• Experience promoting college access for diverse populations, including low-income, first-generation, non-traditional, and those traditionally underrepresented in higher education.
• Budgetary and supervisory experience.
• Demonstrated passion for the environment and sustainability as well as familiarity with associated topics.
• Ability to evaluate the effectiveness of operations and implement changes.
• Working knowledge of WVU and its policies and procedures, especially pertaining to online and continuing education.

• Resume or Curriculum Vitae
• Letter of Interest - must address the candidate’s specific interest in the position and outlining experiences, qualifications, and skills pertaining to this position. The cover letter should also contain the candidate’s vision for building a broad portfolio of high-quality online and continuing education programs in the School of Public Health.
• Valid US driver's license

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

Why WVU?

At West Virginia University, we pride ourselves on a tireless endeavor for achievement. We are home to some of the most passionate, innovative minds in the country who push their limits for the sake of progress, constantly moving the world forward. Our students, faculty and staff make this institution one of the best out there, and we are proud to stand as one voice, one university, one WVU. Find out more about your opportunities as a Mountaineer at https://talentandculture.wvu.edu/ .

West Virginia University is proud to be an Equal Opportunity employer and is the recipient of an NSF ADVANCE award for gender equity. The University values diversity among its faculty, staff, and students, and invites applications from all qualified applicants regardless of race, ethnicity, color, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, nationality, genetics, disability, or Veteran status.