Vice President of Academic Affairs

POSITION: Full-Time Vice President of Academic Affairs (Vice President): Academic Affairs; Haverhill and Lawrence Campuses; 37.5 hours per week; Non-Unit Professional Position

SUMMARY: The Vice President of Academic Affairs is the chief academic officer of the college and is responsible for the quality and administration of all certificate and degree instructional programs at all college locations. This position reports to the president and is a member of the president's leadership cabinet.

LEADERSHIP AND COLLABORATION OPPORTUNITIES

In the midst of significant challenges and changes confronting American higher education, NECC's vision, values, and strategic plan remain the foundation for our work, and we have more work to do.

Leadership and collaboration opportunities for the college's next Vice President of Academic Affairs include:

A Focus on Academic Affairs: After celebrating the naming of NECC's former provost to a presidency at another New England college and seeking feedback from faculty and staff about future leadership needs, Northern Essex is concurrently seeking a Vice President of Academic Affairs and a Vice President of Student Affairs to provide focused leadership and advocacy for both critically important areas of student experience and success.

Implementation of MassReconnect and MassEducate: Through MassReconnect, which provides free tuition and additional financial supports for students over 25 without a degree, and MassEducate, which offers similar benefits to nearly every other resident of the state, Massachusetts has joined more than thirty other states in the nation in offering Free Community College. As a result, after more than a decade of steadily declining enrollment, the state's fifteen community colleges have collectively seen a 20% increase over the last two years. While a tremendous benefit for students, Free Community College is also creating challenges and opportunities to improve recruitment and admissions systems, academic advising, financial aid processes, faculty and staff hiring, course scheduling, and a myriad of other important college operations.

The Equity Imperative: NECC's strategic plan is named "Success for All," because each and every one of our students deserves our full attention. And, like most community colleges across the country, NECC serves a large proportion of low-income, first generation, students of color. We were New England's first federally designated Hispanic Serving Institution in 2001, and half of our students are Latino, largely from the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico.

Although we narrowed equity gaps between our Latino and white students through our work with Achieving the Dream, Title V grants to improve Hispanic student success and other initiatives over the years, we never eliminated them. The COVID-19 pandemic widened the gaps again, and we are striving to close them.

Improving Degree Attainment in Our Gateway Cities: NECC has two campuses in two Massachusetts "Gateway Cities," Haverhill and Lawrence. While nearly half of adults in the state have a bachelor's degree or more, Making Massachusetts the most educated state in the nation, both cities, particularly Lawrence, lag significantly behind. A key priority in the college strategic plan is working with community partners to improve degree attainment in both Lawrence and Haverhill.

Employee Engagement: Like organizations everywhere, after a few years of significant pandemic-related workforce changes, NECC is focused on creating a strong sense of belonging among employees and across our campuses. As a strengths-based college, for the past two years we have been using the Gallup organization's Q12 Employee Engagement Survey to help assess and guide our work. Leaders across the college have the opportunity and are provided with resources to build strengths-based, engaged teams.

The Integrated Student Experience 2.0: Like many colleges across the country, several years ago NECC committed to implementing strategies from "Redesigning America's Community Colleges: A Clearer Path to Student Success," such as Guided Pathways, Meta Major Centers, reforms to developmental education and advising, and more. Some of these changes have led to important improvements, while others, confronting post-COVID expectations for expanded remote learning and support services and rapidly changing technological innovations, are being reconsidered as part of our "Integrated Student Experience 2.0" initiative.

Cross-College Collaboration: The most effective leaders at Northern Essex Community College are the leaders who are capable collaborators; the ones able to think and work flexibly toward the greater good, to be out in front and on point for a project one day and rolling up their sleeves to support someone else the next.

The opportunities for cross-college collaboration include working closely with NECC Student Affairs leadership and staff on the implementation of Free Community College and Integrated Student Experience 2.0 strategies; partnering effectively with NECC's Center for Corporate and Community Education on emerging new microcredentials and other non-credit offerings that can seamlessly articulate into credit certificate and degree programs; and contributing collegially as part of the college's senior leadership team to budgeting and resource development activities, including fundraising, grant writing, and strategic community partnerships.

Academic Innovations: As a college known for innovations and "firsts," NECC is constantly trying new things to improve the student experience and student success. Just a few of the new academic innovations underway that the next Vice President of Academic Affairs will have the opportunity to help shape include:

• Ensuring work-based learning opportunities in every degree program.
• Continuing the college's conversion from mostly Fall/Spring course scheduling to year-round offerings with more than ten starting times and a growing emphasis on 7.5 week semesters.
• Developing a comprehensive strategy for the college's growing Competency Based Education (CBE) offerings.
• Exploring apprentice degree offerings.
• Launching new certificate and degree programs based on demonstrated workforce needs, such as the emerging Surgical Technology Program.
• Solidifying non-credit to credit pathways.

VICE PRESIDENT OF ACADEMIC AFFAIRS PROFESSIONAL AND PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS

The characteristics listed below describe the ideal next Vice President of Academic Affairs at Northern Essex Community College. They are based on the Leadership and Collaboration Opportunities expressed above, as well as feedback from college faculty and staff:

The next Vice President of Academic Affairs will possess the following strengths:

• Be an experienced student-centered educator who recognizes the primary role of the teaching-learning process at a community college.
• Understand and embrace the comprehensive community college mission, including the importance of the Liberal Arts and transfer purpose, as well as professional credentialing, Early College opportunities, adult basic education, and more.
• Have a record of accomplishment as a teacher and a leader in higher education.
• A commitment to ensuring all students succeed.
• A commitment to the mission and needs of a Hispanic Serving Institution.
• Understand the "bigger picture" including how instruction and academic support relate to student services, finance, facilities, human resources, and other parts of the college.
• Demonstrate a positive leadership style and be a team builder who recognizes the multiple strengths and work styles in others and appreciates faculty and staff for their contributions.
• Ability to recruit and select an outstanding faculty and staff and foster ethical styles of leadership by demonstrating integrity, honesty, directness, humility and flexibility.
• Strong planning and budgeting skills.
• Highly collaborative.
• Action-oriented, data-driven, change agent.
• Experience with developing and effectively using learning outcomes at the course, program, and institutional level.
• Understanding of current classroom, online, and other forms of instructional technology needs and best practices.
• Demonstrated commitment to community involvement, including activities that maintain and strengthen NECC's image. Show success in maintaining existing relationships and strengthening new partnerships with businesses and community leaders.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:

• An advanced degree from an accredited college or university.
• Teaching experience in a higher education setting.
• At least seven years of progressively responsible leadership experience in a higher education setting.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Experience managing in a Collective bargaining environment.
• Bilingual (Spanish and English)

BACKGROUND CHECK: Candidates will be required to pass a CORI and SORI check as a condition of employment.

**Please note: This is a full-time, in-person position, with offices on Northern Essex Community College's Haverhill and Lawrence campuses. While the college offers some limited remote work opportunity, regular campus presence is expected for this visible, vital leadership role.

SALARY: Anticipated starting salary commensurate with experience with complete fringe benefit package including competitive health insurance, dental insurance, basic life insurance, long-term disability insurance, paid sick, vacation and personal leave, educational benefits for employee/spouse/dependents, and excellent retirement benefits.

ANTICIPATED START DATE: ASAP