Director of Academic and Workforce Integration
Summary
| Title: | Director of Academic and Workforce Integration |
|---|---|
| ID: | 1476 |
| Department: | Academic Affairs |
Description
Position Summary
The Director of Academic and Workforce Integration provides strategic leadership for the College’s efforts to connect academic learning with meaningful workforce and experiential learning opportunities. Funded initially through the College’s Title III grant, the Director will serve as a strategic liaison between the College and regional employers, building partnerships that expand opportunities for students to participate in internships, co-ops, project-based learning, and other meaningful work-integrated learning experiences.
The Director will serve as a bridge between faculty, academic departments, students, employers, and the regional business and nonprofit community. The position will cultivate and manage a portfolio of employer and community partners, develop sustainable partnership frameworks, support the creation and development of Advisory Councils, and work with faculty and academic leaders to identify opportunities for connecting experiential learning with curricular pathways.
The Director will also oversee Career Services which includes two direct reports—an existing Career Services Coordinator and a new grant-funded position for a Co-op and Internship Coordinator. The Career Services office under the guidance of the Director will work collaboratively with Enrollment Management and Student Engagement Division, department chairs, including the faculty in the Manufacturing Engineering Technology (MET) program to strengthen the College’s employer relationships, career preparation, and workforce connections.
The Director will monitor regional workforce trends and economic developments to identify emerging industries, occupations, and employer needs that may create opportunities for LaGrange College students and graduates.
The Director does not exercise curricular authority. Any credit-bearing experiential learning opportunity, transcripted designation, course modification, academic program change, or new program requirement will be developed and approved through the College’s established academic governance processes.
Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Employer Partnerships and Work Integrated Learning
- Serve as the College’s strategic liaison with regional employers, businesses, nonprofit organizations, and community partners.
- Develop and maintain a diverse portfolio of employer and community partnerships that provide meaningful opportunities for students.
- Cultivate relationships with organizations willing to host students in internships, co-ops, project-based placements, and other work-integrated learning experiences.
- Develop sustainable partnership frameworks that establish clear expectations, responsibilities, communication processes, and outcomes for the College and participating organizations.
- Represent the College at appropriate business, civic, professional, and community events to strengthen institutional visibility and relationships.
- Develop strategies to increase awareness of LaGrange College among regional employers and demonstrate the value of engaging with the College and its students.
- Maintain regular communication with employer partners and evaluate the effectiveness of partnerships
- Provide strategic leadership for the development and expansion of institutional internship, co-op, and other work-integrated learning opportunities.
- Establish processes for identifying, developing, documenting, and maintaining employer-sponsored experiential learning opportunities.
- Work with employers to define meaningful student responsibilities, learning opportunities, supervision expectations, and desired outcomes.
- Support the development of scalable and sustainable models for internships, co-ops, and project-based placements across the College.
- Identify barriers that may limit student participation in experiential learning and collaborate with appropriate College offices to address them.
Faculty and Academic Collaboration
- Serve as a bridge between faculty and employers to facilitate meaningful connections between academic learning and workforce needs.
- Collaborate with faculty, department chairs, and program coordinators to identify employer partnerships and experiential opportunities relevant to academic programs.
- Help faculty and academic leaders understand emerging workforce needs and employer expectations without exercising curricular authority.
- Facilitate employer input that may inform academic departments’ consideration of experiential learning and workforce relevance.
- Support academic units in developing relationships with employers appropriate to their disciplines and student learning goals.
Advisory Councils
- Coordinate the development and ongoing support of Advisory Councils composed of employers, community leaders, alumni, faculty, and other appropriate stakeholders.
- Assist academic programs and departments in identifying appropriate Advisory Council members.
- Develop guidelines and expectations for Advisory Council participation and engagement.
- Coordinate Advisory Council meetings, communications, agendas, and follow-up activities.
- Track recommendations and opportunities emerging from Advisory Councils and communicate relevant information to appropriate College leaders and academic units.
Career Services, Workforce Intelligence, and Enrollment Partnerships
- Provide leadership and oversight for Career Services.
- Strengthen connections between Career Services, academic programs, employers, alumni, and community partners.
- Expand employer participation in career fairs, recruiting, internships, co-ops, mentoring, networking, and other career-development activities.
- Support strategies that improve students’ career readiness and connections to employment and graduate opportunities.
- Collaborate with faculty and academic departments to promote career preparation throughout the student experience.
- Develop systems for tracking employer engagement, student participation, placements, and outcomes.
- Monitor regional workforce trends, industry developments, employer needs, and economic shifts.
- Identify emerging industries, occupations, and skill areas in which LaGrange College students and graduates may have opportunities for employment and professional growth.
- Develop and maintain relationships with regional workforce-development organizations, chambers of commerce, economic-development organizations, employers, and other relevant partners.
- Provide timely information regarding workforce trends and emerging opportunities to the VPAA, faculty, academic departments, Enrollment Management, Career Services, and other appropriate College leaders.
- Use workforce information to identify opportunities for new employer partnerships, experiential learning placements, student projects, and career-development initiatives.
- Maintain close working relationships with Enrollment Management to communicate the career and workforce advantages of a LaGrange College education.
- Collaborate on initiatives that demonstrate the connection between a liberal arts education, experiential learning, career preparation, and post-graduation opportunities.
- Support employer and community partnerships that may contribute to student recruitment, engagement, retention, and career outcomes.
- Assist in identifying employer-sponsored or community-supported opportunities that enhance the student experience.
Grant Implementation, Assessment and Reporting
- Support implementation of the Title III grant activities associated with academic and workforce integration.
- Establish and maintain systems for tracking employer partnerships, internships, co-ops, experiential learning opportunities, Advisory Councils, student participation, and related outcomes.
- Monitor progress toward grant objectives, milestones, and performance measures related to work-integrated learning and employer engagement.
- Maintain appropriate documentation of grant-funded activities and outcomes.
- Provide regular progress reports and updates to the VPAA/Title III Project Manager.
- Collaborate with the Title III Project Coordinator and External Evaluator to provide required data and documentation for grant evaluation and reporting.
- Identify challenges, barriers, and opportunities for improvement and recommend appropriate strategies to the VPAA/Title III Project Manager.
- Assist in documenting the institutionalization and sustainability of successful employer-engagement and work-integrated learning initiatives beyond the grant period.
Qualifications and Training
- Master’s degree in higher education, business, workforce development, career services, or a closely related field from an accredited institution.
- Minimum of three years of professional experience in employer engagement, partnership development, career services, workforce development, experiential learning, or a closely related area.
- Demonstrated success establishing and developing institutional internship, co-op, or other work-integrated learning programs.
- Demonstrated ability to develop and sustain relationships with employers and community organizations.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills.
- Demonstrated project-management and organizational skills.
- Proficiency with Microsoft Office products and related technology.
- Ability to work effectively with faculty, administrators, students, employers, and community partners.
Preferred Experience
- Experience working in a liberal arts college or small-college environment.
- Experience in higher education administration.
- Experience developing employer advisory councils or industry advisory boards.
- Experience overseeing or administering Career Services.
- Experience developing internship or co-op programs across multiple academic disciplines.
- Experience working with regional workforce-development or economic-development organizations.
- Experience with grant-funded programs and federally funded initiatives.
- Experience collecting and reporting student employment, internship, experiential learning, or career-outcome data.
Knowledge Skills and Abilities
The successful candidate will demonstrate:
- Exceptional relationship-building and interpersonal skills.
- Ability to establish trust and credibility with employers, faculty, students, and community leaders.
- Strategic thinking and an entrepreneurial approach to developing partnerships.
- Strong project-management skills and attention to detail.
- Ability to translate employer and workforce needs into meaningful opportunities for students.
- Ability to communicate effectively with both academic and business audiences.
- Strong organizational skills and the ability to manage multiple initiatives simultaneously.
- Ability to analyze workforce and employer trends and translate findings into actionable opportunities.
- Ability to work collaboratively across academic and administrative divisions.
- Understanding of and respect for shared governance and established academic processes.
- Commitment to liberal arts education and the integration of academic learning with career preparation.
Key Areas of Responsibility
The Director will be accountable for:
- Expanding the College’s portfolio of meaningful employer and community partnerships.
- Increasing opportunities for students to participate in internships, co-ops, and project-based experiential learning.
- Establishing sustainable systems and processes for work-integrated learning.
- Strengthening connections between faculty, academic programs, employers, and workforce needs.
- Developing and supporting effective Advisory Councils.
- Providing leadership and oversight for Career Services.
- Identifying emerging workforce opportunities relevant to LaGrange College students and graduates.
- Strengthening the College’s visibility and relationships within the regional business and nonprofit community.
- Tracking and documenting outcomes associated with Title III-funded activities.
- Keeping the VPAA/Title III Project Manager informed of progress, accomplishments, challenges, and opportunities.
Position Scope and Academic Governance
The Director is responsible for facilitating connections among the College, employers, and the broader workforce community but does not possess independent curricular authority. The Director may recommend, facilitate, and support experiential learning opportunities; however, any opportunity involving academic credit, transcripted recognition, course changes, program requirements, or other curricular matters must proceed through the College’s established academic governance and approval processes.
LaGrange College is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, sex, age, national origin, disability, veteran status or any other legally protected status.
The Director is responsible for facilitating connections among the College, employers, and the broader workforce community but does not possess independent curricular authority. The Director may recommend, facilitate, and support experiential learning opportunities; however, any opportunity involving academic credit, transcripted recognition, course changes, program requirements, or other curricular matters must proceed through the College’s established academic governance and approval processes.
LaGrange College is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, gender, sex, age, national origin, disability, veteran status or any other legally protected status.
