Director of Student Success Operations

All full-time university staff are eligible for VCU’s robust benefits package that includes: comprehensive health benefits, paid annual and holiday leave granted up front, generous tuition benefit, retirement planning and savings options, tax-deferred annuity and cash match programs, employee discounts, well-being resources, abundant opportunities for career development and advancement, and more. Learn more about VCU’s benefits here.

Position Summary:

The Division of Strategic Enrollment Management and Student Success is actively searching for a Director of Student Success Operations. This role will serve as a leader under the Assistant Vice President for University Advising and Technologies, within Student Success. This position will manage VCU’s early notification programs, oversee the administration of VCU Major Maps, act as co-program owner for Navigate, and serve on campus committees charged with improving retention and graduation success.  The Director will supervise the Coordinator of Student Success Initiatives and lead innovative opportunities that employ nationally recommended high impact practices resulting in greater student success and positive career outcomes. This position requires the Director to be collaborative, innovative, systematic, inclusive, communicative, adept at data analysis, and motivational.

Core Responsibilities:

Time to Degree Initiatives (50%):

1. Degree Planning

• Identify critical tracking courses for Plans of Study, and integrate into DegreeWorks & Navigate.
• Review Plans of Study for unnecessary pre- and co-requisite courses and commonly substituted or waived courses.  Collaborate with faculty on updates to streamline student progression.
• Develop 2-, 3- and 4-year graduation maps to showcase fast-track routes to degree completion.
• Implement Accelerated Major Maps, and update plans of study in bulletin to show full 5-year course plans that incorporate all undergraduate and graduate required coursework.

2. Course Scheduling Optimization

• Analyze and provide coordination of course scheduling analytics and planning in collaboration with the Registrar’s Office and the academic departments.
• Support departments in their utilization of course scheduling best practices, including waitlists and the utilization of degree planning data to create a Class Schedule that meets student enrollment needs.
• Utilize data to support summer, winter, intersession and mini-term enrollment.
• Serve on campus committees charged with developing technology tools to improve course demand analytics.

3. Barrier Course Analysis and Remediation Practices

• Analyze success rates in courses and collaborate with academic affairs, faculty affairs and academic departments to implement strategies for improvement. 
• Identify and develop corrective action with AVP of Advising and Technologies to influence department chairs and faculty to reduce barriers to gateway courses with high DFW rates.

4. Manage and promote VCU’s Early Notification Processes and solicit greater participation in student success initiatives by faculty.

• Collaborate with student success units to triage early alerts in conjunction with advising units.
• Manage communications for progress report and midterm reporting in conjunction with the registrar’s office and AVP.
• Compile/track/report on compliance rates with early alert reporting and mid-term reporting.
• Identify non-compliant courses and work with Schools to increase participation rates.

New Student Onboarding & Journey Mapping (20%):

• Collaborate with campus partners on an optimal onboarding process for new students.
• Attend Orientation planning meetings and provide updates to AVP & AAAC.
• Update incoming student intake registration surveys (QuestionPro), accepted student checklists, recommended course list and other documentation in collaboration with admissions, orientation, University Academic Advising, First & Second Year Experience, and advising units.
• With Coordinator of Student Success Initiatives, provide training to students and staff on how to utilize registration, advising and student success tools.  Assess impact and implement strategies to increase effectiveness.
• Analyze intake data and provide regular reports to AVP and Directors of Advising on appointments & registration, while also developing and assessing process improvement recommendations.
• Implement a comprehensive advising communication plan in concert with the Directors of Advising.

Special Projects and Project Management (20%):

• Serve as a liaison between SR/AVPs and internal and external parties. Assess the nature and complexity of requests and either resolve directly or forward as appropriate for prompt resolution.
• Conduct research and provide Student Success leadership with comprehensive information on a variety of issues so that SR/AVPs can respond to issues.
• Plan and implement university special projects, events and activities. Organize planning and briefing meetings across multiple units. Collaborate with university and school offices (Records and Registration, Dean’s Offices, Technology Services, etc.) to facilitate implementation of special projects.

Supervision (10%):

• Supervise the Coordinator of Strategic Initiatives to maximize the utilization of Navigate 360, Advising Tools and other student success technologies to meet retention and graduation goals and promote the academic and career success of our students.
• Assess technical updates to Navigate and work with coordinator to implement and train users on new features.
• Host monthly meetings with EAB Strategic Leader and campus colleagues and plan annual EAB onsite to support continued campus wide utilization of Navigate 360.
• Collaborate with Technology Services and Programmers to promptly identify and resolve technical issues with Navigate.
• Strategically monitor and provide biweekly reporting of university-wide student analytics leveraging Navigate and other institutional data reporting tools to AVP and AAAC.

Minimum Hiring Standards:

• Current VCU employee.
• Master’s degree from an accredited institution.
• Experience supervising professional staff or student employees.
• Experience effectively coordinating a diverse portfolio of student success responsibilities (advising, coaching, financial support services, university level instruction/teaching, student information systems, etc.).
• Knowledge of leading issues, trends, and best practices in graduation and retention initiatives.
• Demonstrated success in developing and implementing business, strategic, and operating plans.
• Strong analytic, problem-solving, presentation, and written and oral communication skills; flexibility, responsiveness, and impeccable follow-through.
• Demonstrated experience working in and fostering a diverse faculty, staff and student environment or commitment to do so as a faculty member at VCU.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Significant and progressive experience in higher education administration.
• Proficient in Education Advisory Board (EAB) Navigate 360 platform, including reports, utilizing analytic tools, and advanced search capabilities.Demonstrated experience using Degree Works, eServices, and Native Banner.
• Demonstrated experience using the VCU Reporting Center/Insights 3.0 to abstract, report, and make strategic decisions using data.
• Demonstrated ability in shared governance among diverse groups, including deans, faculty, students, enrollment management, student affairs, university relations, corporate and community partners.
• Demonstrated ability to develop new systems and processes to improve graduation and retention rates.
• Proficiency in MS Excel to create tables, charts, graphs, and pivot tables.
• Previous experience providing training and development.

Other Position Details:

• This position is eligible for a hybrid work arrangement with up to 40% remote working.
• This posting will close on February 16th 2025 at 7PM.