Assistant/Associate Provost, Academic Systems and Services

academic systems and services across Academic Affairs, including student success and support; academic planning and records; educational effectiveness and assessment; faculty effectiveness, advancement, and development; physical and digital learning environments; academic planning; financial management; faculty contracts, more. As such, the AP oversees the faculty and academic staff and programs for the Library, Institutional Research, Educational Effectiveness, Academic Technology, Registrar's Office, the offices and departments within the Division of Student Success, as well as the administrative operations within the Office of the Provost (approximately 40 full-time faculty and staff across the various departments). The Assistant or Associate Provost may hold an appointment as Administrative Faculty or staff, reports directly to the Provost + Vice President for Academic Affairs, and serves on the Academic Leadership Council (the Provost's senior leadership team).

Essential Functions:

Ensure Effectiveness and Collaboration Across Key Academic Systems and Services

• Provide strategic leadership by directly supervising the leaders of the following offices and departments within Academic Affairs, including the Library (Senior Director of the Library), Institutional Research (Assistant Director), Educational Effectiveness (Director of Educational Effectiveness and Accreditation Liaison Officer), Academic Technology (Director of Academic Technology and Strategic Communication), Registrar's Office (Dean of Academic Records/Registrar), Student Success (Dean of Student Success and Academic Services), as well as administrative operations within the Office of the Provost (Associate Director, Strategic Academic Initiatives). Optimize the leadership structure for these areas to drive effectiveness, accountability, and collaboration.
• Proactively partner with Academic Deans, Department Chairs/Program Directors and other leaders across campus to ensure that academic systems and services across these offices are aligned with institutional mission, academic priorities, and student learning outcomes.
• Facilitate the interpretation, development, and consistent application of academic policies and procedures across Academic Affairs.
• Champion and support faculty engagement in shared governance by coordinating the membership and work of academic committees, and providing analysis, data, and administrative leadership.
• Develop and champion professional development opportunities for staff across Academic Affairs.
• Coordinate with key partners across campus to ensure that campus classrooms as well as the digital learning spaces (e.g., Canvas) are properly equipped to support effective teaching and learning (in collaboration with the Academic Technology and Learning Spaces Council).
• In collaboration with directors within span of care, optimize operational planning, staffing, resource coordination, and budget oversight within assigned academic systems and services.
• Serve as a member of the Academic Leadership Council and engage in various committees and work groups, as necessary, and fulfill other duties, as assigned by the Provost + Vice President for Academic Affairs.

Oversee Academic Assessment, Accreditation, and Continuous Improvement

• Provide visionary leadership for all institutional research and educational effectiveness functions for the university to enhance evidence-based decision-making across Vanguard.
• Lead educational effectiveness and institutional research faculty and staff to develop and execute institutional, program, and course-level assessment processes and program review processes that meet compliance reporting requirements, support accreditation readiness, and drive continuous improvement in academic quality, educational efficiency, and graduate gainful employment.
• Support institutional and programmatic accreditation efforts by coordinating documentation, timelines, communication, and follow-up actions.

Champion Faculty Effectiveness and Development

• Collaborate with deans, department chairs, and faculty leaders to support faculty effectiveness through policies and practices related to workload, evaluation, advancement, and professional development.
• Facilitate processes related to faculty contracts (for both core and adjunct faculty) and faculty reviews, including annual faculty review, pre- and post-tenure review, as well as promotion and tenure review. Collaborate with the Promotion and Tenure Committee in achieving effective, efficient processes.
• In collaboration with the Faculty Development Committee, provide strategic direction for a comprehensive set of faculty development initiatives across the university that empower faculty members to improve their teaching and students' learning, foster a Christ-centered approach to leadership and service in their teaching and mentoring of students, and explore and embrace innovative teaching methods and technologies that enhance learning outcomes and student engagement. Working collaboratively with other academic and administrative leaders, this includes:
  • Coordinating the New Faculty Experience for Vanguard's new faculty.
  • Developing, facilitating, implementing, and evaluating various programs (e.g., gatherings, events, seminars, and workshops, and learning communities) in both on campus and online contexts.
  • Developing and directing a systematized, comprehensive program for faculty development across the stages of an academic career.
  • Consulting with individual faculty (and departments) to facilitate growth in appropriate pedagogy, curriculum design, and assessment of student learning.
  • Designing and supporting the course/faculty instructional evaluation process, including course evaluations.
  • Enhancing capacity for powerful integration of faith and learning within all aspects of faculty and curriculum, and ensuring teaching methodologies resonate with and extend Vanguard's faith-based values and principles.
  • Supporting deans and department chairs and program directors in creating a culture of continuous improvement and ongoing development.

Advance Student Success Through Integrated Academic Support Systems

• Provide leadership for student success initiatives by ensuring alignment of academic support services, advising-related systems, course scheduling systems, and academic policies to drive student persistence and graduation, as well as operational excellence.
• Partner with academic and administrative leaders to identify and break-through barriers to student success and implement coordinated, data-informed interventions.
• Use assessment and student success data to monitor outcomes and guide continuous improvement efforts.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Vibrant belief in Jesus Christ with ample evidence of personal discipleship.
• Education: Master's degree in higher education administration or related field. A doctoral degree is strongly preferred.
• 10+ years of higher education experience (at least 5 years in a management role) in educational effectiveness, faculty development, academic planning, student success, and/or accreditation leadership.
• Strong analytical abilities and requisite knowledge of institutional effectiveness, accreditation standards, and tools commonly used for assessment and accreditation.
• Ability and devotion to embrace, uphold and preserve Vanguard's Assemblies of God theological distinctives, including the Pentecostal heritage of Spirit-empowered life and thought.
• Utmost personal and professional integrity, with the willingness and ability to earn respect and trust, and demonstrated high level of emotional intelligence, including self and relational awareness.

The Ideal Candidate:

• Experience collaborating with administration, faculty, and staff as well as successful leadership and team management experience.
• Working knowledge and/or ability to learn various software and data analysis programs relevant to areas of responsibility (e.g., student information systems, student success software, data management platforms).
• Knowledge of higher education research trends; regional accreditation standards; mandated state and federal reporting; and research design.
• Strong strategic and operational planning/budgeting skills.
• A commitment to spiritual and organizational health that is expressed in organizational effectiveness, stewardship of resources, collegiality, and personal well-being.
• Demonstrated communication and interpersonal skills that will result in effective collaboration with faculty and key campus stakeholders for strategic thinking, team building, and managing differences.
• Regular participation in worship and service within a local church community.

Salary:

This is a full-time FLSA exempt position. Salary Range: 140,000 to 161,500 (annually)
Placement within the salary range is commensurate upon education and experience. Placement at the upper range is reserved for those that demonstrate the highest level of education and experience necessary for this position. All benefits of current Vanguard Employees would remain the same.
Position begins July 1, 2026, though if circumstances allow, the role could be filled prior to that date. Applications will be reviewed starting March 3, 2026, and the search process will continue until the position is filled.