Executive Director, Community Engagement and Continuing Education

Santa Fe College was established by the Florida legislature in 1985 to offer wide access to quality higher education. Since then, the college has established programs and services that fulfill its mission of educational opportunity, responsiveness to the community, economic development, and innovation in the public interest. Santa Fe College is a comprehensive public institution of higher education that adds value to the lives of our students and enriches our community through excellence in teaching and learning, innovative educational programs and student services, and community leadership and service.

Reporting to the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, the Executive Director for Community Engagement and Continuing Education is a key player in the College’s outward-facing community programs and initiatives. The Executive Director represents the College in local and regional workgroups, task forces, and boards to ensure that the College is an effective partner in meeting local needs and in creating pathways for SF employees to engage in the community. Additionally, the Executive Director provides leadership and strategic direction for the corporate, continuing, community, and adult education programs, conferencing and workshop activities, as well as the Center for Innovation and Economic Development (CIED) and associated incubator and entrepreneur-related activities. As the individual responsible for the success of continuing education, the Executive Director is expected to maintain strong relationships with local government, community, business, and industry partners.

Responsibilities and Duties Include:

• Provides direct oversight for staff in Corporate Education, Community Education, Adult Education, Conferences and Workshops, and the Center for Innovation and Economic Development.

• Serves as an integral member in engaging SF with local communities in Alachua and Bradford Counties by establishing and maintaining strategic connections with community organizations, government entities, nonprofits, businesses, and educational partners.

• Leads and actively participates in community projects that supports the college’s educational mission and strategic plan and elevates the college’s reputation as a valuable community partner.

• Establishes, catalogs, and disseminates opportunities for college employees to engage with the community through volunteer service, service on committees and task forces, speaking engagements, and other opportunities.

• Maintains an inventory of employee community service including volunteer activities and board membership, and reports this regularly to internal and external stakeholders.

• Serves as a resource for faculty who want to utilize service-based learning in both curricular and co-curricular activities

• Provides thoughtful leadership and develops metrics that monitors and ensures community engagement is aligned with the College’s mission and strategic plan.

• Leads the efforts to expand relevant, high-quality corporate education (including custom-fit and contract training), continuing education (including professional licensure preparation and continuing professional education), community education (including lifelong learning), and adult education (including adult basic education and English for Speakers of Other Languages) programs and offerings.

• Oversees and provides strategic guidance to the Center for Innovation and Economic Development, including business incubation and entrepreneurship development activities.

• Manages and grows the facilities at the CIED to ensure users have access to high tech meeting, workshop, and seminar space that is convenient, comfortable, and affordable.

• Develops and maintains relationships with community and industry partners to determine workforce needs that can be met through non-credit programs.

• Obtains labor market and talent demand data, translating that data into meaningful information that creates workforce development and continuing education strategies.

• Oversees the development of responsive, customized workforce solutions for area businesses, industry partners, and regional economic development efforts, collaborating closely with academic department chairs to achieve appropriate programmatic alignment.

• Creates educational pathways from non-credit to credit programs in cooperation with partners and academic departments.

• Leads efforts to increase the number of businesses and industry partners participating in contract and/or customized training with the college.

• Oversees the development of responsive community education programs and offerings to include conducting needs analyses and interest surveys that support the growth of community education.

• Engages with national groups, such as the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, to build expertise and program capacity for various community stakeholder groups.

• Works closely with the Marketing and Communications department to create and disseminate information about programs and offerings to recruit participants and partners.

• Researches new and innovative ways to market and promote community, corporate, and continuing education offerings and regularly assesses these programs to ensure continuous improvement.

• Collaborates with program leaders to solidify business plans that ensure program needs are well documented, planned activities match needs, and cost and pricing structures are sustainable.

• Oversees the management of the general funds, auxiliary funds, and grant/restricted funds of assigned responsibility.

• Leads areas of responsibility in budgeting, setting prices, managing costs, and monitoring expenditures and ensures that self-sustaining activities are solvent.

• Monitors and maintains ongoing grant activities, including overseeing application and reporting activities for state grants and other restricted funds related to corporate, continuing, community, and adult education programs as well as the CIED and Incubator.

• Actively seeks funding opportunities to support corporate, continuing, community, and adult education efforts.

• Represents the College at local, state, regional, and national meetings and events in alignment with areas of responsibility.

• Promotes a climate that fosters respect among students, faculty, staff, administration and shared governance ensuring the inclusivity of faculty and college partners on community engagement initiatives.

• Supervises direct reports, including hiring, onboarding, training, setting goals and performance expectations, managing performance, evaluating, and giving guidance and/or correction as needed and in consultation with Human Resources.

• Facilitates professional development opportunities and professional growth of staff when needed.

• Complies with all published College Rules, procedures, guidelines, and laws/regulations governing public employees, including but not limited to those related to document retention and destruction, FERPA, and confidentiality.

• Strictly honors the privacy, security, and confidentiality of student records and other sensitive information according to appropriate state, federal, and college regulations, policies, and procedures.

• Provides service excellence through courteous, informed, accessible, and professional engagement.

• Performs other duties as assigned.

Reports to: Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs

QUALIFICATIONS

Required: A master’s degree or Ph.D./Ed.D. in business management, entrepreneurship, or a related field from an accredited institution with a minimum of four (4) years of progressively responsible experience in an educational institution or community program setting, as well as demonstrated success with leading and participating in large community outreach and engagement initiatives. Prior supervisory/leadership experience at the intermediate or senior level is also required

Additional Requirements: A criminal background check will be conducted.

Preferred: A Ph.D., Ed.D., or relevant terminal academic degree from an accredited university; demonstrated experience and expertise in entrepreneurship, business management, and community, corporate, and continuing education; and six (6) years of progressively responsible experience in an educational institution or community program setting as both an administrator and team member.

General Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Ability to work successfully in a multi-cultural environment.

• Adaptability to Change – able to be flexible and supportive, able to positively and proactively assimilate change in rapid growth environment.

• Analytical Aptitude & Problem Solving - able to analyze information, problems, situations, practices and/or procedures, collect and interpret data, reason logically, establish facts, identify and define existing and potential issues, recognize the interrelationships among elements, draw valid conclusions, develop recommendations, as well as alternative courses of action, select appropriate course, follow up, and evaluate.

• Communication – able to effectively communicate in a professional, diplomatic, empathetic, and tactful manner using preferred method and level as applicable to the job.

• Critical Thinking & Judgement - able to make well-reasoned, sensible, and timely decisions based on careful, objective review and informed analysis of available information, considerations, and other factors.

• Customer Service – ability to respond promptly and courteously to all questions from students and faculty, demonstrating patience and persistence when helping students with little or no computer skills.

• Ethics – able to demonstrate integrity, professionalism, civility, and a high degree of ethics in all job-related actions.

• Organization & Time Management – able to plan, schedule, and organize tasks related to the job to achieve goals within or ahead of established time frames.

• Problem Solving – proven skills in identifying issues, determining their cause, developing creative solutions, and following through with implementing resolutions.

• Relationship Management – able to personally provide high level of interactive service to others, building relationships and addressing identified needs.

• Results Orientation – proven ability to set and exceed established targets.

• Systems & Software - proficient level of knowledge of Microsoft Office and/or relevant position software programs.

• Detail Oriented - Proven accuracy and attention to detail.

• Multi-task - Ability to expeditiously organize, coordinate, manage, prioritize, and perform multiple tasks simultaneously to swiftly assess a situation, determine a logical course of action, and apply the appropriate response.

Application Process:  All applicants must submit a completed online SF application, a letter of intent, an up-to-date resume/curriculum vitae, and unofficial academic transcripts (if applicable) to be considered for this position. Unofficial transcripts are only accepted for review purposes, official transcripts are required prior to any offer of employment being made.