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Position Summary
The Academic Vice President (AVP) is responsible for developing the college’s vision and portfolio strategy in alignment to and in support of WGU goals. The AVP provides leadership, direction, and focus on continuous improvement to inspire innovative programs that achieve student outcomes and meet workforce needs. The AVP is the chief public voice for the college for both internal and external audiences. The AVP creates and promotes partnerships and brand awareness for both WGU and the college and is a key participant in external relations. The AVP ensures industry standards and processes are applied to achieve accreditation and licensure requirements. The AVP will effectively influence change in a highly matrixed organization while working with leadership and functional managers to ensure business strategy and initiatives are delivered on time and within budget.
Essential Functions and Responsibilities:
Creates and executes college vision and strategy and sets targets on key performance indicators and goals
Provides clear and effective leadership to the college and cross-functional partners to achieve strategic goals
Leverages employer partnerships and industry data to identify current and future workforce needs
Works with the College leadership to determine potential new degrees and to ensure existing degrees maintain the highest quality and relevancy
Oversees and ensures accreditation, program review, and other processes that are important for the continuous improvement of the college’s activities
Partners with internal and cross-functional teams to achieve key performance indicators at the College and program levels for student outcomes and enrollment growth
Develops and grows partnerships at the national, state, and local levels
Builds and maintains partnerships with key professional and industry organizations
Represents the college on education matters at the university, state, and national levels
Promotes the college and WGU through external engagement and thought leadership, including speeches, articles, interviews, and events
Achieves and maintains industry awards and recognition for quality
Manages the college’s budget and fiscal responsibilities
Influences Others and Communicates Effectively: Communicates to improve and promote teamwork, decision making, and problem solving. Listens and responds effectively to the reactions and positions of others and encourages the expression of diverse ideas and opinions. Adjusts message and style to fit the audience. Provides timely and helpful feedback. Communicates appropriately to win support with all audiences.
Collaborates: Works cooperatively with others across the organization to achieve shared objectives. Represents own interests while being fair to others and their areas. Partners with others to get work done. Credits others for their contributions and accomplishments. Gains buy-in, trust and support of others.
Manages Ambiguity: Deals comfortably with the uncertainty of change. Effectively handles risk. Can decide to act without the total picture. Is calm and productive, even when things are up in the air. Deals constructively with problems that do not have clear solutions or outcomes.
Drives for Results: Has a strong outcomes-based orientation. Persists in accomplishing objectives despite obstacles and setbacks. Has a track record of successfully achieving goals. Pushes self and helps others achieve results. Has a continuous improvement mindset.
Builds Effective Teams: Forms teams with appropriate and diverse mixes of styles, perspectives, and experience. Establishes common objectives and a shared mindset. Creates a feeling of belonging and strong team morale. Shares wins and rewards team efforts. Fosters open dialogue and collaboration among the team. Creates a team that works well cross-functionally.
Organizational Learning: Learns quickly when facing new situations. Experiments to find new solutions. Takes on challenges of unfamiliar tasks. Extracts lessons-learned from failures and mistakes. Expands knowledge base through ongoing curiosity.
Knowledge, Skill and Abilities
Ability to organize and coordinate activities and results across cross-functional teams
Ability to coach and develop direct reports
Ability to collaborate with and manage teams, including those in a remote environment, while demonstrating excellence, integrity, and respect
Ability to work effectively in a highly matrixed organization
Ability to build relationships and influence at all levels, both internally and externally
Ability to be an agent of change in a rapidly changing environment
Proven ability to analyze data to identify trends and drive innovation
Sound judgement and decision-making skills
Strong oral and written communication skills
Qualifications
Minimum Qualifications
:
PhD in education or related field
5 years of experience in curriculum development for educational programs
5 years of experience in educational administration in a school district, university, or government setting connected.
5 years of experience working across levels and departments of a complex organization
Working Conditions
Ability to travel is required.
Disclaimer:
This Job Description has been designed to indicate the general nature, essential duties, and responsibilities of work performed by employees within this classification. It does not contain a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities, and qualifications that are required of the employee to do this job. Duties, responsibilities and activities may change at any time with or without notice. This Job Description does not constitute a contract of employment and the University may exercise its employment-at-will rights at any time.
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As an equal opportunity employer, WGU recognizes that our strength lies in our people. We are committed to diversity.