JOB DESCRIPTION

POSITION TITLE: Director of First-Year Experience Program

DEPARTMENT: First Year Experience Program

STATUS: Full-time Exempt, Faculty Status, Grant Funded

REPORTS TO: Provost

The National Hispanic University (NHU) is a WASC accredited baccalaureate granting institution serving minority and under-served population. The position will help first-year students successfully transition to NHU by directing current initiatives for the First Year Experience Program as well as developing new initiatives that will enhance academic success, student satisfaction and student persistence. This position will meet with individual students to identify and resolve issues and challenges that new students are experiencing as they transition to NHU with the specific expectation to increase NHU’s Persistence-to-Graduation Rate and the Retention Rate as measured by IPEDS. This position will strengthen the retention efforts by knitting these and several additional campus-wide efforts into a unified campaign.

JOB DESCRIPTION:

The general areas of responsibility include: administration and management, multi-departmental program planning and development, supervision of operational staff, Summer Bridge program planning, and public relations. Specifically, within these general categories, the position is responsible for:

1. Direction and oversight of planning and implementation of a First-Year Learning Community through multi-departmental goals and objectives consistent with stated initiatives & milestones in the Applied Materials Grant and NHU academic objectives.
2. Student Services including tutoring and counseling, monitoring of student progress and active intervention when a student begins to flounder, financial aid including work study, and student life programs that provide a social context that will aid retention.
3. Plan, coordinate, and facilitate faculty and staff development activities for faculty participating and/or teaching in First Year cohorts by working corroboratively with all academic units to meet the benchmarks of the program.
4. The development of new campus academic activities and personal development based on changing student or program needs.
5. Strengthen the Summer Bridge Program by focusing on the transition from high school to college.
6. Assist financial aid to minimize the number of freshmen who must work off campus to support their education.
7. Coordinate retention/student success activities at NHU so that students will succeed.
8. Teach one or more courses of UNI 100.
9. Manage an annual operating budget and analyze budget expenditures, and making decisions regarding the allocations of limited resources within changing priorities.
10. Maintaining expertise in national trends and developments in the field of student development and higher education to assess and share results and information regarding best practices with NHU faculty.
11. Participate in the review of General Education requirements in partnership with the Chair of General Education with focus on a first-year curriculum that include literacy, numeracy, study skills, critical thinking, and social/psychological/self-understanding while integrating student-success/support activities to meet the academic and developmental needs of our primary student constituency.
12. Other related duties as assigned.

JOB REQUIREMENTS:

• M. A. required. Ph.D. preferred at the time of appointment in appropriate discipline with emphasis in Counseling or any of the subject areas within General Education, such as History, Education, English, Anthropology, and Psychology or equivalent.
• Bilingual in Spanish and English.
• Ability to communicate effectively with an ethnically and culturally diverse campus community.
• Demonstrated experience counseling college students or equivalent.
• Administrative and leadership experience highly desired.
• Three to five years of higher education experience working with at risk and underrepresented students, preferred
• Demonstrated skill and interest in mentoring students through the first-year.
• Experience in teaching at the college level.
• Ability to work with at risk and underrepresented students.

This position is contingent on grant funding.

SALARY RANGE: Commensurate with background and experience

REQUIRED DOCUMENTATION:
Letter of application addressing qualifications and stating teaching interests; current curriculum vitae, including an email address; three letters of recommendation; official transcript from institution awarding highest degree. (Employment is contingent upon proof of the legal right to work in the United States. An appointment is not final until proof is provided to the University).

POSITION OPEN UNTIL FILLED (or recruitment canceled). Review of applications to begin June 26, 2008. Applicants are encouraged and highly preferred to go through Edjoin, at www.edjoin.org for the full application process. If applicant prefers to apply for this position via US Post mail please send applications, required documentation, and/or requests for information addressed to:

Tony Fuentes
Human Resource
National Hispanic University
14271 Story Rd.
San Jose, CA 95127
afuentes@nhu.edu

In addition to meeting fully its obligations under federal and state laws, NHU is committed to creating a community in which a diverse population can learn, live, and work, in an atmosphere of tolerance, civility, and respect for the rights and sensibilities of each individual, without regard to economic status, ethnic background, political views, or other personal characteristics or beliefs.

NHU is an Equal Opportunity employer.
Please visit us at http://www.nhu.edu to find out more about us.