The Executive Director for Persistence and Career Outcomes provides leadership in the design, implementation, and assessment of university student success and retention initiatives. This position oversees the operations of the Student Success Center and directly supervises the Director of Academic Advising, the Director of Career Services, and the Student Success Center Operations Manager. This leader also serves as the primary campus liaison to third party partners supporting student success…
outcomes. This position is a key collaborator with other offices across the Student Success Center and campus including: academic support and supplemental instruction, first year and first-generation student initiatives, and transfer student success. The Executive Director for Persistence and Career Outcomes reports within the Division of Student Affairs directly to the Associate Vice Chancellor for Enrollment Management and works closely with the Division of Academic Affairs including administrative faculty and college leadership.
Primary Responsibilities
Student Success and Retention Leadership
- Provides strategic leadership of campus wide retention initiatives and student success programs.
- Oversees the implementation of a coordinated advising and retention framework across campus.
- Serves as a key collaborator with campus partners supporting academic support and supplemental instruction, first year and first-generation student initiatives, and transfer student success, ensuring these efforts are coordinated with advising and career services.
- Partners with Academic Affairs on the State of Louisiana's Meauxmentum Approach which focuses on improving access to higher education and the successful completion of credentials of value.
- Serves as the institutional liaison to third-party student success partners, coordinating engagement, reporting, and implementation of partner recommendations.
- Coordinates the application of federal, state, University, and campus policies related to student success and retention.
- Leads or serves on university committees related to retention and student success.
Assists university leadership with developing policies and practices that support retention and completion outcomes.
Department-Level Leadership
- Directly supervises the Director of Academic Advising, the Director of Career Services, and the Student Success Center Operations Manager.
- Recruit, hire, train, develop, and evaluate direct reports, and provide leadership and guidance as those direct reports carry out the same processes within their offices.
- Build strategic plans for advising and career services that support institutional retention, completion, and employment goals.
- Serves as a critical liaison to Academic Affairs in coordinating advising practices and student success outcomes.
Career Success Leadership
- Sets the strategic direction and goals for career services in partnership with the Director of Career Services, with a shared focus on students securing gainful employment as soon as possible after graduation.
- Establishes institutional targets for employment outcomes within six months of graduation, across undergraduate and graduate student populations, and works closely with the Director of Career Services to support progress toward those targets.
- Reviews employment outcome data to evaluate the effectiveness of career services strategy and guide adjustments with the Director of Career Services.
- Supports career services in benchmarking LSUS employment outcomes against external sources, including Census Post Secondary Enrollment Options (PSEO) data and the College Scorecard, and uses those benchmarks to inform institutional goals.
- Reports on career success outcomes to university leadership and represents career outcome performance in institutional planning.
Data Informed Leadership
- Leads decision making that is current, informed by data, and rooted in best practices.
- Establishes shared expectations for data tracking across advising, retention, and career outcomes, including distinct tracking for undergraduate and graduate online students.
- Translates data into clear, actionable reporting for university leadership, campus partners, and external partners.
- Uses data to identify barriers to student success and to guide institutional investment across advising, career services, and retention programming.
Other Duties
- Participates in other duties assigned in alignment with system, university, and divisional expectations.
Required Qualifications, Skills, and Characteristics
- Master's degree and five (5) years of progressive leadership experience in student success, advising, career services, or retention initiatives, including supervisory experience.
- Experience developing higher education retention strategies and setting strategic directions for career services focused on employment outcomes.
- Broad knowledge of the higher education industry, including best practices in advising, career services, and retention.
- Proven ability to build and maintain effective relationships with external partners and internal stakeholders.
- Ability to lead, supervise, coach, and support directors and managers.
- Strong analytical ability, with a demonstrated track record of using data to inform planning and support departments in achieving outcomes.
- Excellent communication skills, with the ability to engage stakeholders across the institution and with external partners.
- Working knowledge of student learning and development theories and current issues in retention, completion, and career readiness.
Preferred Qualifications, Skills, and Characteristics
- Experience working directly with the Gardner Institute, Complete College America, Meauxmentum, or similar statewide or national retention initiatives.
- Experience supervising career services or employer relations functions at a director’s level or above.
- Experience supervising academic advising functions at a director’s level or above.
Position-Specific Information
- Physical demands for this position include being able to meet the requirements for “Light Work.” Light Work requires exerting up to 20 pounds of force occasionally, and/or up to 10 pounds of force frequently, and/or a negligible amount of force constantly (Constantly: activity or condition exists 2/3 or more of the time) to move objects. Accommodative measures are available.
Application Notes
- In addition to the required completed application form, a resume and cover letter must be submitted for full consideration. Applicants may be rejected if a cover letter, resume, and a completed application are not submitted.
- Resumes will not be accepted instead of completed education and experience sections within the application form.
- No Civil Service test score is required in order to be considered for this vacancy.
- To apply for this vacancy, click on the “Apply” link above and complete an electronic application, which can be used for this vacancy as well as future job opportunities. Applicants are responsible for checking the status of their application to determine where they are in the recruitment process. Further status message information is located under the Information section of the Current Job Opportunities page.
For additional information concerning this job posting contact:
Jennifer Isaac
LSUS Department of Human Resource Management
Room 108 Administration Building, LSUS
(318) 797-5279
