The Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) seeks a talented, self-motivated, productive, and creative individual for the position of Senior Director for Undergraduate STEM Education to support and implement the education research, survey, and related initiatives within its Office of Undergraduate STEM Education. The Senior Director is expected to possess keen interest in developing and applying skills of rigorous higher education research design and analysis to STEM faculty professional development, as a well as a substantive interest in broadening the participation of underrepresented groups in STEM.

 

The Office of Undergraduate STEM Education (OUSE) is AAC&U’s center of STEM higher education reform dedicated to supporting STEM faculty, particularly those from underrepresented groups, in implementing active learning pedagogies and culturally relevant strategies designed to produce more students in STEM fields who are competitively trained and liberally educated.   This Office uses the AAC&U LEAP Essential Learning Outcomes as shared reference points for championing undergraduate STEM education as a necessary component of liberal education.

 

OUSE is both grounded in and supported by the national reform initiatives of Project Kaleidoscope (PKAL), one of the leading advocates in the United States for transforming undergraduate STEM teaching and learning.  PKAL is supported by a national advisory board responsible for advising the leadership and staff of OUSE on shifts in national STEM undergraduate education priorities, evaluation and accountability measures associated with its signature programming, and sustainability of a robust community of practice committed to providing world class professional development for STEM faculty.

 

The Senior Director for Undergraduate STEM Education will provide strategic and practical leadership and supervision of all activities related to STEM higher education reform.  S/he will lead, develop, and/or work with an array of sponsored and continuing projects and initiatives; lead, direct, and manage project activities; conduct relevant qualitative and quantitative higher education research; and assist in developing and enhancing online resources related to advanced undergraduate STEM teaching.

Major Duties and Responsibilities:

• Pro-actively participate as a co-leader of the PKAL community and its continuing programs, and facilitate the work of the PKAL advisory board
• Direct both qualitative and quantitative research efforts related to OUSE/PKAL projects and continuing programs, including data gathering, data entry, and analysis; conduct surveys, interviews and focus groups (as appropriate); generate charts and graphs for presentation; organize data and materials based upon STEM higher education studies and national databases; generate manuscripts for publication
• Provide high level logistical and implementation support for new and continuing initiatives
• Conceptualize, generate and direct sponsored projects related to undergraduate STEM reform
• Act as a liaison and maintain communication and correspondence with multiple stakeholder communities including AAC&U staff, PKAL, disciplinary society administrators, funding agency program officers, STEM faculty and administrators
• Communicate and partner with key AAC&U staff regarding publications, databases, conferences, and other project-based activities
• Write and edit materials for broad dissemination to multidisciplinary audiences
• Other related duties as assigned

Minimum Qualifications:

• An earned doctorate in Higher Education, Evaluation, or related field
• Experience with scholarship on the challenges of university culture and change in STEM higher education including, but not limited to: STEM teaching and learning, STEM faculty diversity
• Proven track record of successful grantsmanship
• Strong skills in contemporary research tools including, but not limited to QSR, NVivo, SPSS, Excel or other statistical and data visualization software
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills; strong analytical skills
• Strong interpersonal skills and high emotional intelligence
• Superior communication skills and an ability to articulate a compelling message to multidisciplinary audiences
• A clear understanding of and commitment to the values of AAC&U
• Proven record of effectively designing, leading, and managing budgets and programs related to STEM higher education, particularly for underrepresented populations

• Demonstrated knowledge of current and best practices in STEM higher education teaching, particularly as it relates to historically underrepresented students in STEM
• Strong management skills, including the ability to lead teams and encourage initiative, teamwork, collaboration, and creative/innovative thinking

• Demonstrated experience in designing and evaluating professional development opportunities for STEM faculty

 

Salary commensurate with experience; exceptional benefits.  Please submit a letter of interest with salary requirements and CV to: employment@aacu.org, or to AAC&U, Box SDUSE, 1818 R Street, NW, Washington, DC 20009. Review of applications will begin on March 1, 2017.

AAC&U believes that a broadly diverse staff is critical to achieving excellence as a national higher education association. We seek to recruit, develop, and retain the most talented people from a diverse candidate pool. We are fully committed to equal employment opportunity and compliance with the full range of fair employment practices and non-discrimination laws.