The Executive Director of Student Persistence works in MCLA's Academic Affairs division under the direction of the Provost and Vice President of Academic Affair. The Executive Director is responsible for overseeing all MCLA student transitions to campus: first-year students, transfers, and students returning from a leave, suspension, or dismissal. The Executive Director provides leadership for the College's advising and student tutoring programs, with a specific focus on student retention and timely graduation; administers, supervises, and evaluates the performance of all unit academic and support personnel; and evaluates educational support systems, programs, courses, and services that are related to student engagement and persistence. The Executive Director oversees success coaching, tutoring, and professional advising initiatives designed to support first-year and ongoing students.  Additionally, the Executive Director designs and oversees programs intended to ensure MCLA students are college and life ready.

DETAILED STATEMENT OF DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Provide leadership for the planning, development, implementation, coordination, and evaluation of the College's student advising and support initiatives with a focus on retention and timely graduation.
• Provide leadership, oversight and administrative support for tutoring programs and services, Disability Resources, and TRiO.
• In collaboration with the Provost, determine appropriate strategies to meet enrollment and retention goals, oversee the case management process for students served and ensure that the goals and retention practices are in line with institutional goals, utilizing data and reports.
• Utilizes student information system and potential student success platforms to maintain case management of students served including data entry, tracking, and reporting.
• Oversee programs for undeclared students, including managing advising, outreach activities, and events.
• Advise and coach all students on navigating College systems and processes, especially situations that may be complex or loaded: dismissal appeal, grade appeals, petition for reinstatement, etc.
• Collaborate with the Center for Teaching and Learning and the Dean of Academic Affairs to support faculty on student advising with a focus on retention and timely graduation.
• Oversee student coaching and academic interventions that target high-risk student populations by identifying and addressing barriers to student success.
• Develop and oversee promotion and delivery of workshops and events to encourage student engagement and retention, collaborating with offices across the College.
• Manage the New Student Onboarding Canvas course with partners in Student Affairs and the Office of Admission to ensure the seamless transition of new students through the later stages of the enrollment funnel.
• Work in partnership with Student Affairs colleagues on new student orientation initiatives and programing.
• Utilize data-driven strategies and best practices to inform college readiness and student success strategies and address matters related to student retention and timely completion.
• Serve as departmental representative for advising and support programs during Admissions and other College events.
• Prepare and administer annual budget for assigned areas while advocating for the educational and support needs of students.
• Supervise, mentor, and evaluate assigned personnel, provide onboarding for new hires.
• Participate in professional opportunities that provide awareness of best practices as related to student retention and success.
• Performs other related duties as assigned to support student success at MCLA.

• Master's degree in a related field required.
• Strong written and oral communication skills.
• Five to seven years of progressive responsible experience in admission/enrollment/advising/academic support.
• Strong computer skills, particularly Microsoft Excel and CRM software.
• Demonstrated understanding of best practices in enrollment communications and ability to strategically construct customized communication plans across the student lifecycle.
• Previous supervisory experience.
• Quantitative skills and the ability to analyze data for purposes of retention and persistence analysis.
• Ability to work effectively with campus constituents to meet institutional retention and graduation goals.
• Ability to creatively and accurately articulate the goals of a liberal arts college.

Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts strongly encourages employees to be up to date with their COVID-19 vaccinations.  The Centers for Disease Control recommendation is that everyone aged 6 and up should get 1 updated Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, regardless of whether they've received any original COVID-19 vaccines.

Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to provide reasonable accommodations to qualified applicants and employees with disabilities. Should you need to request a reasonable accommodation for the application process, please email Joe DaSilva, Vice President of Administration and Finance. 

Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts is deeply committed to fostering a community of excellence, equity, diversity, and inclusion. We provide equal access to educational, co-curricular and employment opportunities for all applicants, students, and employees regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, age, disability, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, genetic information, marital or parental status, veteran status, or membership in any other legally protected class. Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts does not discriminate on the basis of sex in any educational program or activity that they operate, which extends to admission and employment.  

Inquiries about Title IX, Equal Opportunity, or ADA/504 and other non-discrimination policies may be directed to MCLA's Title IX Coordinator and Equal Opportunity Officer, to the Assistant Secretary of the Department of Education Office for Civil Rights, or both. 

Camie Pratt

Interim Title IX Coordinator and Equal Opportunity Officer 

375 Church Street, North Adams, MA 01247 

Titleix@mcla.edu 

U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights  

33 Arch Street, 9th Floor Boston, MA 02119-1424  

Telephone: (617) 289-0111; FAX: (617) 289-0150; TDD (877) 521-2172  

OCR.Boston@ed.gov