POSITION SUMMARY:
The Dean of Student Support provides academic and administrative leadership for the College functions that most directly connect students to learning, academic progress, and credential completion. Reporting to the Vice President of Student Achievement and Academics and serving as a peer member of the Academic Leadership Team, the Dean ensures that advising, academic support, testing, TRIO, and regional center operations function as extensions of the academic enterprise.
This position is intentionally distinct from a traditional dean of student services. It is not a catch-all for student-facing functions and does not duplicate responsibilities assigned to other areas of the College. Its purpose is to eliminate organizational silos by creating direct, structured, and accountable connections among faculty, academic departments, academic deans, Navigators, learning support, testing, TRIO, and the regional centers
The Dean is accountable for translating academic direction into an accurate, accessible, and coordinated student experience; faculty-connected academic support; advising grounded in current curriculum and pathway requirements; testing access responsive to faculty and student needs; specialized support for eligible TRIO participants; and community-based programming that allows students to complete meaningful credentials through evening, weekend, hybrid, and on-site options.
ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
1) Leadership and strategic direction
- Serve as a member of the Chief Academic Officer’s Academic Leadership Team (ALT) and contribute to collegewide planning, policy development, academic operations, and innovation.
- Translate the Student Academic Achievement Imperative, Maroon & Gold Standards, and College strategic priorities into clear operating expectations, annual goals, and measurable outcomes for all assigned units.
- Develop and execute an integrated annual plan for the assigned portfolio, with explicit connections to course success, persistence, retention, credential completion, transfer, access, and community responsiveness.
- Establish formal operating agreements, communication schedules, escalation pathways, and shared accountability among assigned units, in cooperation with academic deans, departments, faculty, and other College offices.
- Lead organizational change with clarity and follow-through. Replace avoidable handoffs and duplicated processes with coordinated workflows that make ownership visible to employees and students.
- Ensure consistent service and quality across locations, academic pathways, delivery modalities, and student populations while allowing responsible adaptation to local and programmatic needs.
- Lead and/or support committees, task forces, accreditation activities, grant initiatives, and special projects as assigned; maintain professional currency through appropriate regional and national engagement.
2) Center for Student Success: faculty-connected academic support
- Lead the Center for Student Success team as an academically driven learning-support operation rather than a stand-alone referral or general service center.
- In collaboration with the Vice-President, peer academic deans, department chairs, and faculty, develop a staffing model that uses qualified full-time and adjunct faculty to provide course-specific assistance, mentoring, academic coaching, review sessions, learning labs, supplemental instruction, and other direct academic support.
- Ensure that faculty and adjunct assignments, service expectations, scheduling, and compensation comply with College policy, applicable agreements, academic qualifications, and available resources.
- Establish discipline-based standards for the selection, faculty approval, training, supervision, and evaluation of peer tutors and other student academic-support personnel.
- Use enrollment patterns, gateway-course performance, course success data, faculty referrals, and student demand to prioritize staffing and services where academic support can have the greatest effect.
- Integrate Center services with early-alert processes, Navigator outreach, TRIO support, faculty communication, online learning, and support at Jackson College Lenawee and Jackson College Hillsdale.
- Provide accessible day, evening, weekend, and online support consistent with the course schedule and the needs of working, adult, online, dual-enrolled, and regional students.
- Evaluate the Center’s effect on student learning, course completion, persistence, and student confidence; report findings to faculty and academic leaders and adjust services based on evidence.
3) Testing Center: faculty-informed access and academic integrity
- Establish and administer a clearly defined Testing Center service model, including eligibility criteria, capacity expectations, approved testing uses, accommodation-related testing, make-up testing, placement or certification testing, and other authorized services.
- Direct the Testing Center staff regarding schedule, staffing, capacity, and service model of the Testing Center based on faculty course schedules, testing windows, student demand, and the instructional calendar.
- Ensure dependable in-person and approved online or virtual proctoring, including appropriate evening and weekend availability when academic programs require it.
- Create a routine faculty consultation process and publish clear calendars, submission deadlines, testing procedures, and service expectations well in advance of each term.
- Ensure secure and consistent test administration, identity verification, confidentiality, chain-of-custody practices, academic-integrity protocols, incident documentation, and timely communication with faculty.
- Coordinate approved testing accommodations with faculty and the College office responsible for formal accommodations, while preserving test security and student dignity.
- Maintain reliable testing technology, vendor relationships, staff training, contingency plans, and accessible testing environments across approved modalities and locations.
- Monitor utilization, wait times, no-shows, capacity constraints, faculty satisfaction, and student access; use the results to adjust hours, staffing, space, and processes.
4) Student Achievement Navigators: pathway-based advising in partnership with faculty
- Establish a program- and pathway-aligned advising model in which each Navigator has defined academic departments, programs, and faculty contacts, with support from the appropriate academic dean.
- Create and enforce a regular communication cycle among Navigators, faculty, department chairs/program directors, and academic deans so that advising reflects current curriculum, prerequisites, sequencing, program-entry requirements, transfer expectations, and career pathways.
- Implement a closed-loop process for updating advising guides, degree maps, registration tools, catalog information, transfer information, and student communications before academic changes take effect.
- Develop required onboarding, continuing education, and periodic competency verification for Navigators; conduct routine advising-accuracy audits and address errors promptly and transparently.
- Ensure that students receive documented academic plans, proactive outreach, degree-progress review, timely registration support, early-alert follow-up, and interventions appropriate to their goals and academic standing.
- Define clear referral and escalation processes for curriculum exceptions, complex transfer questions, restricted-program requirements, academic concerns, and issues requiring faculty or dean judgment.
- Ensure that Navigator advising complements rather than replaces faculty mentoring and program-specific academic guidance; build a connected relationship in which each group understands its responsibilities and shares relevant information.
- Use caseload, appointment, contact, registration, persistence, and completion data to balance workload, identify students who need outreach, and evaluate advising effectiveness.
- Provide consistent advising quality for students at Central Campus, Jackson College Lenawee, Jackson College Hillsdale, partner schools, and online, with service methods adapted to each setting.
5) TRIO Student Support Services: specialized academic support and grant stewardship
- Provide executive oversight for TRIO Student Support Services, including program direction, personnel, budget, required services, documentation, performance objectives, reporting, and compliance with federal grant requirements.
- Ensure that eligible participants, including low-income and first-generation students and students with disabilities who demonstrate academic need, receive intensive, individualized academic support consistent with the approved grant.
- Support high-quality tutoring, mentoring, academic planning, study and test-taking skills, self-advocacy, financial literacy, transfer preparation, career exploration, and other authorized services that advance persistence and completion.
- Build structured collaboration among TRIO staff, faculty, Navigators, the Center for Student Success, and other College units so that participants experience coordinated rather than parallel support systems.
- Partner with faculty, Navigators, and the Center for Student Success to create appropriate intervention pathways for students facing elevated academic risk who are not eligible for TRIO, while keeping grant-funded services, records, and expenditures properly separated.
- Ensure that TRIO support for students with disabilities complements, and does not replace, the College’s formal accessibility and accommodation processes.
- Monitor participant progress, service delivery, persistence, graduation, and transfer outcomes; intervene when performance is below grant or College expectations.
- Support grant renewal, audit readiness, responsible stewardship of federal funds, and the responsible adoption of effective TRIO practices across the broader College where appropriate.
6) Regional centers and community-based academic delivery
- Provide academic and administrative leadership for Jackson College Lenawee in Adrian and Jackson College Hillsdale, ensuring that each center is fully connected to the College’s academic leadership, standards, systems, and student-support network.
- Develop and sustain predictable multi-year course rotations that allow students to complete designated degrees and credentials through evening, weekend, hybrid, and other accessible formats without unnecessary travel to Central Campus.
- Use program pathway maps, enrollment trends, student demand, labor-market information, transfer opportunities, and community input to determine which complete pathways should be offered at each location.
- Collaborate with academic deans, department chairs, and faculty to recruit, assign, and support qualified Jackson College full-time and adjunct faculty to teach at the centers and at partner high schools.
- Ensure that instruction delivered at regional centers and partner schools meets the same expectations for faculty qualifications, course outcomes, assessment, academic integrity, student engagement, and continuous improvement as instruction delivered elsewhere.
- Provide students at the centers with dependable access to advising, testing, tutoring, TRIO and other eligible supports, technology assistance, and timely connections to College offices.
- Maintain a visible College presence in Lenawee and Hillsdale counties and build sustained relationships with K–12 districts, intermediate school districts, employers, transfer partners, civic organizations, community groups, and local leaders.
- Identify, recruit, and engage appropriate community, employer, education, alumni, and student representatives for regional and program advisory committee work; ensure that their input informs academic planning and delivery.
- Lead strong, measurable growth in dual enrollment and early middle college participation through active school partnerships, clear pathways, effective student and family communication, coordinated advising, on-site faculty delivery, and academic support.
- Monitor not only dual-enrollment participation but also course success, credit accumulation, credential progress, high-school partner satisfaction, and students’ transition into continued Jackson College enrollment after graduation.
- Develop financially and academically sustainable multi-year course rotations, subject to enrollment demand, faculty availability, facility capacity, academic approval, and College resource requirements.
7) Data, assessment, and continuous improvement
- Establish a concise performance dashboard for the assigned portfolio and review results regularly with the Vice President for Student Achievement and Academics, peer deans, unit leaders, and faculty partners.
- Use student-level and program-level data, disaggregated as appropriate by location, pathway, modality, and student population, to identify barriers, inequities, capacity needs, and improvement opportunities.
- Set annual improvement targets and require written action plans when results, service quality, advising accuracy, grant objectives, or access expectations are not being met.
- Partner with institutional research, information technology, and academic leaders to improve data quality, reporting, early-alert use, degree audit accuracy, and evidence-based decision-making.
- Conduct regular program and service reviews; document changes made, resources invested, and whether those changes improved student learning, persistence, completion, or community access.
- Support institutional accreditation, assessment, compliance, and strategic planning by providing accurate documentation and demonstrating how assigned functions contribute to student achievement.
8) Personnel, budget, operations, and compliance
- Recruit, select, onboard, supervise, coach, evaluate, and develop assigned administrators and staff; create a culture of care, high expectations, responsiveness, accountability, and professional growth.
- Establish appropriate staffing patterns and work schedules, including evening and weekend coverage, to meet instructional and student needs across the College’s locations and modalities.
- Develop and manage operating, grant, personnel, technology, and program budgets; align resource decisions with documented academic priorities and measurable student outcomes.
- Ensure compliance with College policy, applicable collective bargaining agreements, FERPA, ADA/Section 504, federal TRIO requirements, testing and academic-integrity standards, grant conditions, accreditation expectations, and other relevant laws and regulations.
- Address student, faculty, employee, and community concerns promptly and fairly; use concerns as information for process improvement while maintaining academic standards, confidentiality, and due process.
- Perform other duties and lead other initiatives as assigned by the Vice President of Student Achievement and Academics / Chief Academic Officer.
SUPERVISORY RESPONSIBILITIES
Directly supervises assigned directors, managers, coordinators, professional staff, support staff, and other employees within the portfolio. Carries out supervisory responsibilities in accordance with College policy and applicable law, including hiring recommendations, work assignment, training, coaching, performance evaluation, corrective action, and professional development.
Faculty and adjunct faculty assigned to Center for Student Success activities, regional-center instruction, or partner-school delivery remain within the appropriate academic department for academic supervision and evaluation. The Dean of Student Support manages service expectations, schedules, access, operational performance, and coordination in partnership with the supervising academic dean and department leadership.
CONTACTS AND PURPOSE OF CONTACTS:
Internal: Frequent contact with students; faculty; adjunct faculty; academic deans; department chairs/program directors; Navigators; TRIO, Testing Center, Center for Student Success, and regional-center employees; Business Office; admissions and records; information technology; institutional research; human resources; facilities; and other College leaders and employees to coordinate academic support, advising accuracy, testing, program delivery, compliance, and student completion.
External: Contact with K–12 school districts; intermediate school districts; dual-enrollment and early middle college partners; employers; advisory committee members; transfer institutions; community and civic organizations; government and grant agencies; testing and proctoring partners; and other stakeholders to strengthen access, academic quality, community responsiveness, and student outcomes.
PERFORMANCE EXPECTATIONS
- Assigned support functions operate as integrated extensions of academics, with documented faculty and academic-dean participation rather than parallel or siloed practices.
- Navigator advice is current, accurate, pathway-based, and supported by regular communication with faculty and academic leadership.
- The Center for Student Success is visibly faculty-connected and demonstrates measurable contribution to course success, persistence, and student learning.
- Testing schedules and proctoring options are reliable, secure, accessible, and demonstrably responsive to faculty and student needs.
- TRIO meets grant objectives, maintains strong compliance, and provides coordinated academic support that advances participant persistence, graduation, and transfer.
- Jackson College Lenawee and Jackson College Hillsdale offer predictable, completion-oriented evening and weekend pathways supported by qualified Jackson College faculty and integrated student support.
- Dual enrollment and early middle college participation, course success, credit accumulation, and transition to continued College enrollment show sustained, responsible growth.
- Budgets, staffing, technology, and schedules are aligned to evidence of need and are evaluated for their effect on student achievement and community access.
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:
Education and experience
- Bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution in higher education administration, education, counseling, an academic discipline, organizational leadership, or a related field; earned doctorate preferred.
- Minimum of five (5) years of progressively responsible leadership experience in higher education, including supervision of professional staff and responsibility for budgets, planning, assessment, or complex operations.
- Demonstrated experience building productive working relationships with faculty, department chairs/program directors, and academic deans.
- Demonstrated leadership experience in multiple areas relevant to the portfolio, such as academic advising, learning support or tutoring, testing, TRIO or other grant-funded student support, regional center operations, dual enrollment, early middle college, retention, or completion initiatives.
- Demonstrated record of using data, assessment, and continuous-improvement methods to strengthen student outcomes and operational effectiveness.
- Experience serving diverse student populations, including first-generation, low-income, adult, online, dual-enrolled, academically at-risk, and students with disabilities.
Skills and attributes
- Academic credibility and a clear understanding of curriculum, program requirements, course sequencing, academic standards, advising, and the role of faculty in student success.
- Ability to lead through influence, shared accountability, and clear decision rights in an environment that includes faculty governance, multiple locations, and cross-functional responsibilities.
- Strong strategic, operational, communication, interpersonal, and change-leadership skills; ability to build trust while setting and enforcing clear expectations.
- Ability to analyze complex information, establish priorities, manage multiple initiatives, resolve problems, and bring work to completion.
- Working knowledge of relevant student information, advising, degree-audit, scheduling, early-alert, testing, learning-management, and reporting systems, with the ability to support effective technology adoption.
- Ability to travel regularly among College locations and partner schools and to work evenings and weekends when required by programs, events, or student needs.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
- Earned Master’s Degree
- Community college teaching, faculty leadership, or substantial experience in an open-access institution.
- Direct leadership experience with TRIO Student Support Services or another federal student-success grant.
- Experience leading academic advising redesign, guided pathways, early-alert, or degree-completion initiatives.
- Experience with testing-center operations and in-person and online proctoring.
- Experience leading a regional campus, extension center, multi-site operation, dual-enrollment program, or early middle college partnership.
- Experience working in a shared-governance and faculty-led academic environment.
PHYSICAL DEMANDS
- Ability to perform the essential functions of the position with or without reasonable accommodation.
- Ability to work at a computer for extended periods and participate in meetings, presentations, classroom or learning-center visits, community events, and school-partner activities.
- Ability to move throughout College facilities and partner locations and occasionally lift or transport light materials and equipment.
WORK ENVIRONMENT:
Work is performed in office, instructional, testing, learning-support, regional-center, K–12 partner, and community settings with frequent interaction with students, employees, and external partners.
Regular local travel among Central Campus, Jackson College Lenawee, Jackson College Hillsdale, and partner schools is expected.
Evening and weekend work is expected periodically to support testing, regional programming, community engagement, and student access.
The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate.
“This description is intended to indicate the kinds of tasks and levels of work difficulty that will be required and shall not be construed as declaring the specific duties and responsibilities. It is not intended to limit or in any way modify the right of any supervisor to assign, direct, and control the work of employees under his or her supervision. The use of a particular expression or illustration describing duties shall not be held to exclude other duties not mentioned that are of similar kind or level of difficulty.”
