Fast Facts

The Academic Program Director for the Bachelor of Social Work is responsible for ensuring the quality and relevance of academic curricula and fostering a positive learning environment, while managing faculty and collaborating across departments to drive continuous improvement and program success.

Responsibilities: Oversee curriculum quality, manage faculty performance, ensure program accreditation, and foster partnerships to support academic offerings.

Skills: Knowledge of curriculum development, online teaching, and program evaluation; strong leadership and analytical skills.

Qualifications: MSW from a CSWE accredited program and a doctorate in social work or related field; preferred leadership experience in social work education and teaching experience in accredited programs.

Location: United States of America

Compensation: $92700 - $139100 / Annually

The Academic Program Director (PD) is a key leadership position within the university; he/she/they promote and support a quality academic experience for learners by ensuring an engaging courseroom environment that facilitates achievement of program outcomes. The Program Director has oversight of curricula quality and rigor, and works to ensure curricula are professionally relevant, current, efficient, effective, and cohesive. This management position contributes to a range of activities related to excellence in curriculum design/delivery and assessment effectiveness, learner success, satisfaction and engagement. work closely with deans, assistant/associate deans, and faculty directors, as well as relevant university departments, to manage systems and processes related to curriculum creation and delivery. He/she/they coordinate with the relevant faculty directors to remain aware of issues related to discipline content. The Program Director acts as a liaison to other departments including Portfolio Strategy, Doctoral Affairs, Course Development, Center for Faculty Excellence, Faculty Hiring, HR, Accreditation and Institutional Effectiveness, Learner Affairs, and others as required.

• Spearhead and oversee the development and revision of academic offerings.
• Utilize analytics and evidence-based practices to develop and execute actions that drive continuous quality improvement application in learner success, teaching, engagement, academic quality, and curricula development.
• Preside over efforts to ensure appropriate academic programmatic accreditation and/or licensure is obtained and maintained.
• Ensure assigned academic offerings align with professional trends and standards, while seeking professional validation wherever possible (in the way of credentials, licensure, alignment with existing or emerging standards/programmatic requirements, etc.)
• Oversight of curriculum development according to external standards and in alignment with university design principles; supervision of SME course development and leadership.
• Lead specialized accreditation process, self-study, etc.; ensure alignment to HLC best practices in university faculty oversight of curriculum. 
• Build and nurture internal and external partnerships and relationships that drive success of the school and academic offerings.
• Orchestrate and optimize course offering/scheduling.
• Supervise Core faculty; conduct Core faculty performance reviews.
• Host faculty meetings focused on program and curricula.
• Collaborate with Faculty Director on the hiring of new faculty.
• Address learner programmatic issues (academic, professional disposition, behaviors).
• Teach or mentor once a quarter.
• All other duties as assigned.
• — Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum development, andragogy, and assessment. 
• Knowledge of online teaching, competency-based education, and direct assessment.
• Discipline knowledge.
• Ability to objectively analyze program/course quality data and implement recommendations relevant to improving learner outcomes.
• Ability to maintain program compliance with all regulatory rules, and national program accreditation standards.
• Familiarity with program development and evaluation.
• Ability to advise and assess learning effectiveness and quality of the education experience.
• Ability to provide significant impact on learner retention plus direct impact on cost, revenue and quality assurance within a program area.
• Navigation – Integration of program, academic and regulatory considerations with business strategies and plans.
• Manage multiple academic and administrative projects.
• Resolve multi-faceted types of problems encountered involving courses, faculty, regulatory or administrative issues.
• Adaptability/Flexibility — Open to change.
• Drive results despite ambiguity.
• Innovation — Creativity and alternative thinking to develop new ideas for and answers to work-related problems.
• Stress Tolerance —Ability to accept constructive criticism and deal with high stress situations. 
• Leadership - Ability to operate independently (leading, collaborating and executing) in a highly ambiguous, matrixed environment with high interdependencies.
• Be a doer, focused not just on thought partnership but on getting things done and executing both independently and with others.
• Lead by listening, be highly collaborative, and productively contribute opinions to critical decision-making processes.
• Act independently to achieve results in support of business goals and strategies with a program area.

Work Experience:

• Two years of social work practice experience at the MSW/Graduate level, required.
• A minimum of two years of leadership experience in Social Work Higher Education at the bachelors or graduate level, preferred.
• A minimum of 3 years teaching in an accredited program or related field; online higher education teaching experience, preferred.
• Demonstrated contribution to the discipline including publishing, committee involvement, or professional association involvement.
• Significant experience in supervisory/leadership responsibilities for faculty including recruitment, retention, performance results and development. 
• Significant experience managing and working with remote teams and a matrix environment preferred.
• Be proficient in Microsoft Office Suite programs.
• Ability to travel as required/needed. 

Education:

• All degrees must be conferred from a regionally accredited institution. Copies of required certificates and licenses, and unofficial transcripts for all graduate degrees with the institution and conferred degree and date, must be attached.
• MSW from a CSWE accredited Social Work program, required.
• A doctorate from a regionally accredited institution in social work or closely related fields, including Human Services, Psychology, Counseling, and Education, required.

Certificates, licenses and registrations:

• Must hold a minimum Social Work graduate-level licensure or higher and obtain graduate-level licensure in the State of Minnesota upon hire (including passing the ASWB exam with their current graduate-level license).
• Must have two years of professional practice experience post-Social Work masters degree conferral.

Other:

• Must be able to travel 10% of time.
• Must be able to lift 25 lbs.
• Typical office setting.
• Mobility within the office including movement from floor to floor.
• Travel via plane, car, and metro may be required to perform this job.
• Must be able to work more than 40 hours per week when business needs warrant
• Access information using a computer.
• Effectively communicate, both up and down the management chain.
• Effectively cope with stressful situations
• Strong mental acuity
• Regular, dependable attendance and punctuality are essential functions of this job. Other essential functions and marginal job functions are subject to modification.

#LI-SW1

$100,000.00 - $105,000.00 is the expected starting pay for this position. This offer is based on current budgetary guidelines and the additional factors outlined below.

SEI offers a comprehensive package of benefits to employees scheduled 30 hours or more per week. In addition to medical, dental, vision, life and disability plans, SEI employees may take advantage of well-being incentives, parental leave, paid time off, certain paid holidays, tax saving accounts (FSA, HSA), 401(k) retirement benefit, Employee Stock Purchase Plan, tuition assistance as well as entertainment and retail discounts. Non-exempt employees are eligible for overtime pay, if applicable.

Careers - Our Benefits, Strategic Education, Inc

SEI is an equal opportunity employer committed to fostering an inclusive and collaborative culture where individuals can grow their careers and contribute fully. We strive to attract talent with broad experiences, skills and perspectives. We welcome applications from all. While it is not typical for an individual to be hired at or near the top end of the pay range at SEI, we offer a competitive salary. The actual base pay offered to the successful candidate may vary depending on multiple factors including, but not limited to, job-related knowledge/skills, experience, business needs, geographical location, and internal pay equity. Our Talent Acquisition Team is ready to discuss your interest in joining SEI. The expected salary range for this position is below.

$92,700.00 - $139,100.00 - Salary

If you require reasonable accommodations to complete our application process, please contact our Human Resources Department at [email protected].