Specialist - Outreach-Continuing

Working/Functional Title

Program Director

Position Summary

Overview:

MSU seeks a strategic, creative, and community-minded colleague to join the Undergraduate Student Success team as the inaugural Program Director for a new Lansing Spartan Scholars Program. The Program Director will provide leadership and vision for the program, which is set to welcome its first cohort in Fall 2025. The Program Director will be a key leader in MSU’s goal of building a stronger relationship with the Lansing community and its strategic goal of closing opportunity gaps to reach a graduation rate of 86%.

The Lansing Spartan Scholars Program is an exciting new initiative announced by President Kevin Guskiewicz at his investiture to support Lansing students’ access to and success at MSU.  It builds strong community partnerships between MSU and Lansing to provide opportunities for students in their community. A workgroup with members from MSU and the Lansing community has been meeting since January to help design the framework for the program and recruit the first cohort.

The Program Director will provide leadership and direction in the overall management of the Lansing Spartan Scholars Program, including overseeing holistic student support services and promoting outreach, transition, student success, retention, and degree completion through a data-informed and assessment-based lens.  The position assumes the responsibility of developing and implementing the core service components of the program focused around the five opportunity areas for student success: Educational Success, Sense of Belonging, Community, Sense of Purpose, and Well-being.  These include: Advising; High Impact Practices (First Year Seminar, Education Abroad, Service Learning, Internships, Undergraduate Research); pre-college outreach to Lansing schools, student development and institutional navigation opportunities, and relationship building with Lansing schools, community organizations, and businesses to build continuous connection points for students before, during, and after their time at MSU.  The position provides strategic planning in long- and short-term goals including the development of program learning outcomes and assessment. 

The Lansing Spartan Scholars Program will join the Office of Undergraduate Education in the Office of the Provost.  The Office of Undergraduate Education oversees undergraduate academic policies and facilitates institution wide initiatives focused on enhancing undergraduate learning. We engage in everything from the orientation and welcome of first-year students to the enhancement and oversight of selected academic programs and co-curricular initiatives. Focused around the five opportunity areas for student success https://undergrad.msu.edu/strategy-retention/sues, Undergrad Ed seeks to ensure every student MSU admits can learn, thrive, and graduate.

Primary Duties:

Teaching (5%)

• Coordinate, develop, and teach 1-credit UGS 110 first-year seminar courses for students in the Lansing Spartan Scholars Program each year

Outreach (40%)

• Organize and lead partnership development with Lansing public schools, community organizations, and local businesses to enhance collaborative opportunities.
• Develop and implement a strategic outreach and recruitment plan targeting eligible prospective students and their parents and supporters as well as school staff and Lansing community members/organizations in collaboration with MSU’s Office of Admissions.
• Manage an efficient and timely application process for new cohorts.
• Establish and foster partnerships with both on-campus and off-campus community stakeholders to create and support student success and community-centered initiatives.
• Actively participate in relevant university and community committees, contributing to professional development, expanding connections and supporting decision-making
• Work with state and local governments and partners on access, persistence, and completion initiatives

 Advising (10%)

• Directs the comprehensive development, implementation and review of advising and coaching services to align with MSU and Lansing community goals enhancing student experience, academic development and career readiness.   
• Leads the overall management of academic and socio-emotional programming such as workshops, first-year transition programming, welcome events, and recognition celebrations designed to address the five opportunity areas for student success.

Research (15%)

• Implement comprehensive assessment and evaluation strategies to drive student success learning goals and outcomes and ensure continuous program improvement and operational effectiveness.
• Utilize data to evaluate past interventions, guide future programming, and monitor persistence and student success outcomes to ensure that the programs meet current and future needs.
• Research, develop, implement, and assess innovative policies and procedures related to persistence and student success.
• Collaborate with Data Analytics Team to create and refine data request schedules, assessment plans, and reports.
• Prepare and present reports and documentation to internal and external stakeholders as needed.

Other (30%)

• Provide leadership, management, and supervision for one full-time professional staff member (to be hired), graduate student employees/interns, and undergraduate peer mentors.
• Manage the distribution of Lansing Spartan Scholars Program scholarship funds to support student participation in high-impact experiences (e.g., internship, research, study abroad) and assist with the cost of attendance.
• Develop the program budget and manage expenditures to align with program goals.
• Create strategic plan and vision for grant and donor funds including leading requests for additional funds
• Coordinate with campus partners related to persistence and student success including Admissions, Advising, Financial Aid, Transfer Student Success Center, Envision Green, Student Life and Engagement, Strategic Retention, Colleges, and others.
• Represent the unit on committees, workgroups, and relevant spaces; perform other duties as assigned by supervisor.

This position requires occasional evenings and weekends.  Direct questions to the search committee chair, Dr. Korine Wawrzynski, steinke7@msu.edu. 

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, citizenship, age, disability or protected veteran status.

Required Degree

Masters -Student affairs, higher education, social work, business, counseling, or another related field

Desired Degree

Other -Terminal degree in higher education or related field

Minimum Requirements

• Master's degree in student affairs, higher education, social work, business, counseling, or another related field.
• At least 5 years of experience in program management, student services, or higher education, including collaboration with internal and external stakeholders.
• Knowledge of concepts, theories and practice related to student success, persistence, and graduation.
• Previous successful experience with designing and implementing student success programs, strategic planning, or leadership of strategic initiatives.
• Previous successful experience with advising, student success, or cohort-based initiatives.
• Previous successful experience managing staff or colleagues towards program goals and ability to apply project management concepts.
• Ability to implement assessment and evaluation strategies to monitor student success data and inform continuous improvement.
• Excellent organizational, communication, and interpersonal skills with the ability to work diplomatically and effectively with campus partners and stakeholders.
• Experience developing and managing program budgets.

Desired Qualifications

• Terminal degree in higher education or related field
• Understanding of the needs and opportunities related to the Lansing Community
• Previous experience teaching, advising or mentoring post-secondary students with a focus on institutional navigation, sense of community, academic development, wellbeing, sense of belonging, and purpose and career readiness.
• Budget management experience, including working with student financial aid and donor-based funds. 
• Grant writing experience and/or experience generating funds from donors or external sources

Required Application Materials

A complete application will contain a resume or CV, letter of interest and contact information for three professional references.

Website

https://undergrad.msu.edu/strategy-retention/sues

Department Statement

Founded in 1855 as the nation's first land-grant university, Michigan State University (MSU) enrolls over 50,000 undergraduate, graduate, and professional students. MSU is known internationally as a major public research university with global reach and extraordinary impact. Home to nationally ranked and recognized academic, residential college, and service-learning programs, MSU is a diverse community of dedicated students and scholars, athletes and artists, scientists and leaders.  The Office of Undergraduate Education seeks to help lead MSU's undergraduate student success initiatives by operationalizing MSU's stated beliefs that every student it admits has the capacity to learn, thrive, and graduate and that it is MSU's responsibility to provide a curriculum and environment with the academic, social, wellness, and financial support our students need to persist in college and succeed after graduation.

MSU Statement

Michigan State University has been advancing the common good with uncommon will for more than 160 years. One of the top research universities in the world, MSU pushes the boundaries of discovery and forges enduring partnerships to solve the most pressing global challenges while providing life-changing opportunities to a diverse and inclusive academic community through more than 200 programs of study in 17 degree-granting colleges.