The Vice President for Student Affairs position is an exciting opportunity for an energetic and visionary leader to champion holistic student learning and success grounded in diversity, equity, and inclusion. Reporting to the President and serving on the Executive Cabinet for Bemidji State University (BSU) and Northwest Technical College (NTC), the Vice President provides creative, strategic, and equity-minded leadership for a comprehensive portfolio of programs, services, and staff dedicated to the student experience at BSU and NTC.
 
The Vice President plays a leadership role in providing guidance and direction to advance institutional missions, efforts, and strategic priorities to enhance student success including retention and completion rates in a manner that is just, equitable, and inclusive. The Vice President coordinates and leads student crisis planning and response efforts, serves as a Deputy Title IX Coordinator for students, and oversees the student conduct program – partnering with others across campuses to create and sustain a student culture of care, respect, and responsibility. In collaboration with the President and other Executive Cabinet members, the Vice President prepares and implements the annual general fund, auxiliary, and student fee budgets for the division and its various units, as well as actively working to create safe, healthy, and inclusive environments for both institutions.
 
Included in the Vice President’s portfolio are the following areas that provide student-centered experiences designed to meet the needs of an ever-changing population of students:

• Campus Life and Community Standards areas including: Dining Services; Hobson Memorial Union; Housing and Residential Life; New Student Orientation; Deputy Title IX for Students, Student Conduct, and Student Crisis Response.
• Student Health and Well-being areas including: Gillett Wellness Center and Student Center for Health and Counseling.
• Student Leadership areas including: Ex officio advisor to BSU and NTC Student Senates.

CHARACTERISTIC DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

Leadership

• Serving as a member of the President’s Executive Cabinet Team and the Cabinets for BSU and NTC.
• Providing thought leadership related to the scope of responsibility in planning and decision-making for BSU and NTC including service as a senior advisor and trusted partner to the President in pursuit of the vision and mission of BSU and NTC.
• Center holistic student learning, success, and achievement leading to long-term educational value in all professional practices.
• Demonstrating self-awareness of one’s own cultural beliefs, perspectives, and privileges as a part of one’s orientation toward leadership.
• Acknowledging the specific and particular realities of Indigenous, Black and other persons of color, 2SLGBTQIAP+ individuals, first-generation college students, people from low-income families, and other minoritized communities within Northern Minnesota while also connecting communities to local and regional experiences in order to foster a greater sense of belonging among employees and students.
• Advancing a campus culture of proactive, transparent, and inclusive engagement with shared governance.
• Actively and visibly engaging with campus, local, and regional communities.
• Promoting practices that are environmentally sustainable and consistent with practices advanced by American Indian stewards of the region’s land, water, and air.
• Proactively engage in data-informed practices that lead to continuous improvement. 
• Committing to the highest level of ethical practice including allocation of time and resources for reflection, rest, mentoring/consultation, etc.
• Maintaining currency in areas of leadership responsibility including student affairs administration through active engagement in NASPA, ACPA, and/or other related professional associations.

Senior Student Affairs Officer

• Providing high level strategic leadership and day-to-day oversight of the Student Life division.
• Overseeing the administrative, programmatic, and coordinating functions of the following units and offices: Gillett Wellness Center; Hobson Memorial Union (including New Student Orientation); Housing and Residential Life; Student Center for Health and Counseling.
• Working in partnership with the Vice President for Finance and Administration to provide management and oversight for Dining Services.
• Creating a coherent vision for student-centered programs and services designed to meet the needs of diverse 21st Century learners and establish and implement short- and long-range organizational goals, strategic plans, policies, and operating procedures.

Holistic and Equitable Student Learning and Success

• Providing strategic leadership in developing, implementing, and assessing comprehensive student learning and success plans to include strategies and interventions informed by theory, inclusive and equitable practices and data-informed practices that enhance student retention, completion, graduation, and graduate outcomes.
• Facilitating the development of a culture that recognizes, affirms, and helps students draw upon cultural, communal, and identity-based ways of knowing, being, and doing to achieve educational outcomes.
• Collaborating with others on campus to ensure a welcoming, inclusive, and success-oriented environment for minoritized and all other students.
• Supporting the exploration and sharing of best practices related to improving retention, persistence, and completion for at-risk and under-represented students.
• Creating and sustaining an organizational culture that is inclusive, safe, affirming and incorporates an anti-racist and social justice ethos.
• Embodying and exhibiting a philosophical approach grounded in the belief that all students can learn and succeed.
• Identifying and addressing systemic and structural inequities in educational access and outcomes related to Student Life policies, programs, and services.

Student Engagement, Well-being and Sense of Belonging

• Collaborating with campus partners, particularly with faculty and academic affairs, to enrich and enhance students’ curricular, co-curricular and experiential learning to promote student engagement, achievement, and success.
• Promoting and encouraging the creation of a developmentally sound, student-centered set of options for engagement that help students perceive an increased sense of belonging.
• Utilizing the BSU’s and NTC’s strategic priorities, organize Student Life programs and services to better integrate and coordinate student support services while also increasing student engagement in campus life.
• Leading and supporting best practices for effective conflict resolution with students, drawing upon restorative justice practices when appropriate, understanding student mental health and well-being issues, and convening resources from multiple departments and constituencies to address complex student issues.

Student Care and Support

• Serving as a Deputy Title IX Coordinator and assisting with allegations of Title IX, 1B.1 (Equal Opportunity and Non- Discrimination in Employment and Education) and 1B.3 (Sexual Violence) policies, Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) and Campus SaVE Act violations.
• Serving as the senior conduct officer and ensuring confidential student conduct records for both institutions are maintained.
• Providing leadership and direction to the Care Team, ensuring coordination of student interventions.
• Serving as a resource for faculty and staff with student issues and emergencies.

Proactive and Responsive Retention Advocacy

• Collaborating with Executive Cabinet and BSU and NTC Cabinet members, academic deans, faculty, and staff to promote, implement, and advance the strategic direction outlined in the strategic enrollment management plan and other efforts to enhance student success including retention and completion rates in a manner that is just, equitable, and inclusive.
• Maintaining a bias toward making decisions informed by research, data, and theory and that leverage students’ unique cultures, experiences, and backgrounds as strengths.
• In partnership with the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs and other campus leaders, provide vision and support for achieving retention and student success goals by enhancing and coordinating substantive experiences beyond the classroom.
• Serving on the Strategic Enrollment Management Steering Committee and the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee.

Program Assessment and Evaluation

• Ensuring that a “best practice” student affairs program, which supports the strategic plan and emphasizes student engagement, is at the forefront of a BSU and NTC education.
• Creating and sustaining a culture of assessment within the Student Life division for continuous improvement of the programs and services offered with a commitment to adhering to CAS Standards to evaluate the range of existing programs.
• Leading student learning outcome assessment planning, strategy, and implementation for co-curricular and extra-curricular contexts.
• When representing the student experience to internal and external audiences, the SSAO/DOS will offer an assessment and data-informed perspective and advocate for programs and services that enhance the student experience and promote student engagement.

Fiscal and Human Resource Management

• In collaboration with the President and Executive Cabinet members, prepare and implement the annual general fund, auxiliary and student fee budgets for the division and its various units.
• Strategically manage the fiscal and human resources of the Student Life division.
• Developing, monitoring, and ensuring integrity of all budgets to include income, staffing, and expenditures.

Other Duties

• Developing, implementing, monitoring, and revising policies and procedures related to the Student Life Division
• Co-Chairing the University Policy Committee
• Representing the interests and resources of the division on campus committees and in a variety of contexts (e.g., budget planning, risk management, student activities) with students, families, and other stakeholders.
• Frequently collaborating with students and campus partners and modeling the qualities and characteristics necessary to be viewed as a responsive, communicative, and engaged division.
• As part of rotation with select Vice Presidents, serving as Acting President when the President is traveling out of the region or state.
• Serving as the ex-officio advisor to BSU and NTC student senates.
• Performing other job-related duties as assigned.

Minimum Qualifications

• Master’s degree in an appropriate and relevant discipline or field from an accredited institution.
• Five (5) or more years of recent, successful post-masters experience in a higher education supervisory leadership role in or closely related to student affairs functions.
• An ability to navigate shared governance environments and productively work with bargaining units and student governance.

Preferred Qualifications

• Doctoral degree in an appropriate and relevant discipline or field – preferably higher education/student affairs administration or college student personnel.
• Ten (10) or more years of increasingly responsible senior level administrative management and effective leadership experience in higher education.
• Knowledge of and appreciation for the mission of regional public universities, and familiarity with public two-year technical and community colleges.
• Demonstrated ability to work with individuals from diverse backgrounds, to interrupt oppressive structures and practices, and to create an institutional culture that is equitable, inclusive, and just.
• Highly refined active listening and effective interpersonal and other communication skills.
• Demonstrated knowledge and competence in assessment of student life services and programs as well as making data-informed decisions for continuous improvement.
• A proven record of providing transformational leadership by being highly visible, transparent, and approachable while acting with the highest ethical values and principles in personal and professional endeavors.