Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs and Success

The Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs and Success provides strategic and operational leadership for the university’s faculty enterprise, advancing a comprehensive, career-long approach to faculty recruitment, development, advancement, and retention. Reporting to the Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs, this role serves as the institution’s senior leader for faculty affairs and is responsible for ensuring consistent, equitable, and policy-aligned faculty personnel processes across the university.

The Vice Provost provides leadership and oversight for faculty-related policies and processes, including faculty hiring and appointments, promotion and tenure, annual review, post-tenure review, other faculty performance review processes, and the resolution of faculty grievances and related matters. In this capacity, the Vice Provost partners closely with deans and academic leaders to ensure institutional compliance, uphold academic standards, and support effective and consistent implementation of faculty policies.

In addition, the Vice Provost leads the university’s strategy for faculty success, including faculty onboarding, mentoring, professional development, and leadership preparation for faculty and department chairs. The role advances initiatives that strengthen faculty engagement, support career progression at all stages, and enhance the overall faculty experience in teaching, research, and service.

The Vice Provost uses data-informed approaches to assess faculty outcomes, guide decision-making, and drive continuous improvement in faculty recruitment, development, and retention. The position plays a central role in shaping a dynamic, high-performing, and sustainable faculty community aligned with the university’s mission and strategic priorities.

This position focuses on faculty affairs and faculty success and partners with units responsible for teaching excellence, instructional design, academic technology, online and hybrid learning, and related faculty development. The position does not include responsibility for curriculum, academic program administration, instructional design operations, online learning operations, or academic technology services.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

25% Faculty Lifecycle Strategy and Institutional Alignment. Lead and advance a comprehensive, career-long strategy spanning workforce planning, recruitment, hiring and appointment, onboarding, development, advancement, engagement, and leadership pathways. Ensure that faculty-related processes operate as an integrated, institution-wide system aligned with strategic priorities, academic unit needs, and a high-quality faculty experience. Partner with deans and academic leaders to align faculty talent strategy with institutional goals and workforce needs.

20% Faculty Affairs Operations and Policy Implementation. Provide executive oversight for Academic Human Resources and university-wide faculty affairs operations, including faculty recruitment and search processes, appointments, onboarding and employment actions, promotion and tenure, annual review processes, post-tenure review processes, and compensation and classification guidance. Ensure that all faculty personnel processes are consistent, efficient, equitable, and compliant with institutional policy and applicable regulations.

20% Policy Leadership, Faculty Relations, and Complex Case Management. Serves as the university’s senior advisor to the provost, deans, and academic leaders on faculty policy, shared governance, faculty relations, and complex personnel matters. Provide leadership and guidance on faculty grievances, conflict resolution, disciplinary actions, and due process, ensuring policies are applied consistently, transparently, and equitably across the institution.

10% Faculty Success, Development, and Leadership Pipeline. Lead the development and implementation of a comprehensive faculty success framework, including onboarding, mentoring, professional development, and leadership preparation for faculty and department chairs. Ensure faculty at all career stages have access to clear pathways, resources, and opportunities that support success in teaching, research, and service through partnership with academic innovation, teaching and learning, and related units on teaching excellence.

10% Faculty Engagement and Experience. Advance faculty engagement and the overall faculty experience through structured feedback mechanisms (e.g., surveys, listening sessions) and targeted initiatives to improve climate, satisfaction, and retention. Partner with academic units to identify and address areas of concern and to strengthen faculty engagement and community.

10% Data, Assessment, and Continuous Improvement. Use data-informed approaches to assess faculty outcomes, monitor trends in recruitment, advancement, engagement, and retention, and guide policy, programmatic, and process improvements. Establish metrics and reporting processes to support continuous improvement in the faculty experience.

5% Institutional Initiatives and Operational Effectiveness. Lead and contribute to special projects and university-wide initiatives related to faculty affairs and success. Identify opportunities to reduce administrative burden, improve coordination across units, and enhance the effectiveness, transparency, and accessibility of faculty-facing services.

Required Qualifications

• Terminal degree from an accredited institution in a field aligned with the university’s academic mission, with a record of scholarly achievement sufficient for appointment as a tenured full professor.
• Significant, progressively responsible academic leadership experience in a complex university environment, such as department chair, associate dean, dean, vice provost, or equivalent role.
• Demonstrated leadership in faculty affairs, including faculty appointments, promotion and tenure, evaluation, policy interpretation, and complex personnel matters.
• Proven ability to work effectively with deans, chairs, faculty leaders, and governance bodies in a shared governance environment.
• Experience improving academic administrative processes to ensure consistency, compliance, transparency, and operational effectiveness.
• Exceptional judgment, discretion, communication, and relationship-building skills, particularly in sensitive or high-stakes matters.

Preferred Qualifications

• Senior-level faculty affairs leadership experience at an R1 or similarly research-intensive university.
• Demonstrated success advancing faculty success across the faculty lifecycle, including recruitment, onboarding, mentoring, leadership development, retention, and career advancement.
• Experience using data and analytics to inform faculty workforce planning, engagement, retention, and advancement strategies.
• Record of leading institutional change, organizational improvement, or culture-building initiatives in academic environments.
• Experience aligning faculty initiatives with institutional strategy, academic priorities, and long-term workforce needs.
• Experience working closely with academic human resources, dual-career hiring, workload policies, faculty wellbeing, or related faculty support functions.