Dean, Retention & Engagement

General Summary This is a college wide position and has the opportunity to be located at any one of our three campuses (Boulder County Campus, Larimer Campus, or Westminster Campus).

Who We Are

With three campuses along Colorado’s Front Range, Front Range Community College is the state’s largest community college.

We enroll close to 28,000 students annually from our diverse service area, which offers a variety of cultural and recreational activities.

Each year approximately 5,000 FRCC students transfer to four-year universities. FRCC offers more than 36 career training programs that prepare students for immediate employment and rewarding careers.

Last year, more than 5,000 high school students took concurrent enrollment classes with us, earning college credit without having to pay college tuition.

And we were recently ranked as one of the Top Online Colleges in the country by Newsweek.

One of FRCC’s main goals is to offer educational excellence for everyone. The college’s strong commitment to student success means we start by creating an inclusive and equitable environment one where both students and employees feel they belong and are supported.

FRCC’s focus on diversity, equity and inclusion is woven into the fabric of our college conversations and decision-making processes.

We are actively seeking to hire a workforce that reflects the diversity of our student body.

The college is also an emerging Hispanic Serving Institution. For us, becoming an HSI is an intentional commitment to being a college where our Latinx (and other historically marginalized) students thrive.

FRCC employees and leaders work hard to create a culture of collaboration, innovation and pride. We’re looking to hire people who share these values along with our commitment to student success, equity and excellence.

Who You Are

As the Dean of Retention and Engagement, reporting to the Vice President of Enrollment Management and Student Success (EMSS), you will shape policies and processes that will support FRCC’s commitment to access and degree attainment for a diverse community of learners by providing overall management, planning, administration, and evaluation of wide array of programs, resources, services, personnel, and policy / procedure development.

In this role, you will offer direction and assess the implementation and effectiveness of services and activities to support student retention and completion.

You will be responsible for the departments that fall under the umbrella of student retention and engagement, including Wraparound Student Support and Retention Services, Student Engagement / Student Life and Wellness, and Student Success / Care and Conduct / Mental Health Counseling.

As the Dean of Retention and Engagement, you will support a climate of inclusion, collaboration and innovation. You will be responsible for developing, implementing, and assessing student support services to create a holistic student experience and support student success.

Ideally, you are a strategic student affairs leader with a strong knowledge of student development theories, guided pathway best practices, student trends and programs that could impact student success and student personal and professional growth.

As the Dean of Retention & Engagement, you will join the Vice President’s EMSS Senior Leadership team alongside an AVP for Enrollment Management and a Dean of Student Development.

You will partner with the Dean of Student Development to create a collegewide retention plan. You will be responsible for achieving collegewide persistence, retention, and enrollment targets through the development, implementation, and execution of student engagement and support services.

Please note : This is an on-campus position with an opportunity for hybrid remote work. You need to be a Colorado resident on your first day of employment.

SALARY : $102,500 - $107,625 annually

BENEFITS : Please click here to find more information about APT & Faculty Benefits

SELECTION PROCESS : Position will remain open until filled with a priority deadline of August 27, 2023. This posting may be used to fill multiple or similar positions.

Preliminary screening will be made on the basis of completed application package submitted by candidate. In your application please include a resume and cover letter that specifically addresses how your background and experience align with requirements, qualification and responsibilities of the Dean of Retention & Engagement .

Primary Duties

Strategic Student Success Planning & Leadership

• Ensure that student engagement and retention departments develop and provide responsive services and programming that offer equitable access to all students enrolled at FRCC across 3 campuses and online, including first generation and historically underrepresented students, that are grounded in best practices and trends in student development.
• Provide senior leadership supporting a Senior Director who is responsible for state and federally grant funded programs including TRIO SSS, TRIO Upward Bound, Colorado Opportunity Scholarship Initiative (COSI), CCAMPIS, and others.
• Provide senior leadership supporting a Senior Director who is responsible for student engagement, student government, student life, and student wellness programming.
• Provide senior leadership supporting a Senior Director who is responsible for student support & conduct, and mental health counseling.
• Promote a culture of assessment that utilizes data-informed decision-making and acts upon the data to regularly evaluate the effectiveness of retention activities and recommend changes as necessary to support best practices for all students.
• Compile and present data-informed proposals and recommendations regarding immediate and long-range planning for retention efforts.
• Provide leadership in the development and ongoing assessment and evaluation of policies and procedures through an equity lens and make appropriate adjustments to remove barriers and enhance the student experience.
• Collaborate to enhance and develop best practices, processes and procedures that assess health and wellness services programming that are responsive to the changing needs and requirements of the student population.
• Lead intentional and transformative culturally relevant programs, services, and events that improve students’ academic performance, and create a sense of belonging.
• Develop strategies for promoting student engagement and learning in collaboration with Academic Affairs.
• Lead student success and student conduct initiatives by providing direction and managing Student Rights and Responsibilities and the Student Code of Conduct.
• Provide direction and intervention for students in crisis and non-crisis including intervening with mental health staff, providing victim advocacy, and working with students and staff affected by the crisis.
• Develop and maintain a service approach that reduces barriers to students with a keen focus on serving special student populations to reduce the achievement gap for students of color and other under-represented populations.

Operations Planning & Implementation

• Provide vision and direction in leading student retention and engagement programs, improving efficiencies across units and eliminating barriers that prevent students from achieving academic and personal success.
• Inform the campus community of policy and procedural changes related to functional areas and obtain input and buy-in from stakeholder groups prior to implementation.
• Act as budget authority for the departments that make up Student Retention and Engagement and for ensuring proper management and administration of services and programs.
• Develop and maintain strong partnerships with faculty and administrators from partner offices such as Enrollment Management, Student Retention and Engagement as well as other offices throughout the College.
• In collaboration with the VP of Enrollment Management & Student Success, develop expected outcomes for all student retention and engagement programs.
• Evaluate program outcomes, prepare reports, and provide feedback to the college community, assure compliance with relevant services and program reports required by external agencies related to all direct report service units.
• Collaborate on the development and execution of effective and innovative programs in student retention and engagement services promoting FRCC as a regional and national leader in delivering an exceptional student experience.

Leadership

• Build an effective leadership team that is results-driven and characterized by inclusivity, collaboration, cooperation, and trust.
• Hire, supervise, direct, and evaluate the Student Retention and Engagement staff. This includes coaching, developing staff, evaluating performance, responding to employee concerns, and effectively recommending various personnel actions.
• Provide direction, leadership, and professional development to Student Retention, Student Success, Student Engagement and other departments as necessary.

Work closely with Human Resources and Organizational Development to identify and expand appropriate training and professional development opportunities for staff.

• Work with teams to ensure the recruitment, retainment, and support of a diverse staff.
• Implement change management strategies for Student Retention and Engagement staff when promoting or implementing new initiatives or strategies that affect the workplace environment.
• Provide mentorship, support and guidance to all direct reports and their teams to foster data-driven, care-centered and equity-minded decision making.
• Prepare annual budget and requests for review by the Vice President of Enrollment Management & Student Success.
• Collaborate with direct reports to prepare program budgets, including analysis of individual program needs.

Required Competencies

• Commitment to Values : Demonstrates leadership and collaborative behaviors and actions that support FRCC values.
• Student Success Focus : Demonstrate behaviors and actions that support a student-first culture.
• Equity, Inclusion and Diversity decisions : Champions equity through reducing or eliminating barriers within departmental practices, policies and processes.

Uses an equity lens to guide.

• Change Catalyst : Ability to encourage others to seek opportunities for different and innovative approaches to addressing problems and opportunities.
• Communication : Communicate effectively with many types of individuals and the ability to communicate clearly and persuasively.
• Consensus Building : Ability to bring about group solidarity to achieve a goal.
• Leadership : Ability to influence others to perform their jobs effectively and to be responsible for making decisions.
• Strategic Planning : Ability to develop a vision for the future and create a culture in which the long-range goals can be achieved.
• Team Building : Ability to convince a group of people to work toward a goal.
• Collaboration : Ability to connect stakeholders from across areas to develop and support cohesive enrollment initiatives.
• Cultivating Relationships : Lead efforts to engage in and support collaborative efforts across divisions when job processes are integrated and to strategically focus on way to support student success.
• Project Management : Lead project teams for development of new processes and other strategic initiatives.

Qualifications

Required Education / Training & Work Experience :

• Master’s degree from an accredited institution.
• Significant higher education experience in student engagement and retention programs and a proven track record of creating and implementing effective student support and retention processes.
• Supervisory experience with staff at an assistant director level or above and a proven track record of collaborative leadership.
• Record of successful decision-making, data analytics, budget management and goal achievement.
• Demonstrated record of student success innovation and initiatives.
• A leadership record with a strong commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.

Preferred Education / Training & Work Experience :

Experience with the oversight and management of grant-funded programs.

Welcoming. Respectful. Inclusive. Together, we are FRCC.