Academic Vice President, College of Information Technology

Position Summary

Western Governors University’s (WGU) IT College currently has over 12,000 actively enrolled students in over 12 degree programs at both the bachelor’s and master’s levels. WGU’s IT College continues to add new degree programs and is expected achieve a sustained rate of 20% increased enrollment year over year.

The academic vice president (AVP) of the IT College is responsible for developing the college’s vision and portfolio strategy in alignment to and in support of WGU goals. The AVP provides leadership, direction, and focus on continuous improvement to inspire innovative programs that achieve student outcomes and meet workforce needs. The AVP is the chief public voice for the college for both internal and external audiences. The AVP creates and promotes partnerships and brand awareness for both WGU and the college and is a key participant in external relations. The AVP ensures standards and processes are applied to meet industry requirements. The AVP will effectively influence change in a highly matrixed organization while working with leadership and functional managers to ensure business strategy and initiatives are delivered on time and within budget. 

Job Responsibilities

• Creates and executes college vision and strategy and sets targets on key performance indicators and goals
• Provides clear and effective leadership to the college and cross-functional partners to achieve strategic goals
• Leverages employer partnerships and industry data to identify current and future workforce needs
• Works with the IT College Council to determine potential new degrees and to ensure existing degrees maintain the highest quality and relevancy
• Oversees and ensures program reviews and other processes that are important for the continuous improvement of the college’s activities
• Works closely with compliance and accreditation department to ensure compliance with national and state accreditation
• Partners with internal and cross-functional teams to achieve key performance indicators at the college and program levels for student outcomes and enrollment growth
• Develops and grows partnerships at the national, state, and local levels
• Builds and maintains partnerships with key professional and industry organizations
• Represents the college on education matters at the university, state, and national levels
• Promotes the college and WGU through external engagement and thought leadership, including speeches, articles, interviews, and events
• Achieves and maintains industry awards and recognition for quality
• Manages the college’s budget and fiscal responsibilities

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• Ability to organize and coordinate college activities and results across cross-functional teams
• Ability to coach and develop direct reports
• Ability to collaborate with and manage teams, including those in a remote environment, while demonstrating excellence, integrity, and respect
• Ability to work effectively in a highly matrixed organization
• Ability to build relationships and influence at all levels, both internally and externally
• Ability to be an agent of change in a rapidly changing environment
• Proven ability to analyze data to identify trends and drive innovation
• Sound judgement and decision-making skills
• Strong oral and written communication skills

Influences Others and Communicates Effectively: Communicates to improve and promote teamwork, decision making, and problem solving. Listens and responds effectively to the reactions and positions of others and encourages the expression of diverse ideas and opinions. Adjusts message and style to fit the audience. Provides timely and helpful feedback. Communicates appropriately to win support with all audiences.

Collaborates: Works cooperatively with others across the organization to achieve shared objectives. Represents own interests while being fair to others and their areas. Partners with others to get work done. Credits others for their contributions and accomplishments. Gains buy-in, trust and support of others.

Manages Ambiguity: Deals comfortably with the uncertainty of change. Effectively handles risk. Can decide to act without the total picture. Is calm and productive, even when things are up in the air. Deals constructively with problems that do not have clear solutions or outcomes.

Drives for Results: Has a strong outcomes-based orientation. Persists in accomplishing objectives despite obstacles and setbacks. Has a track record of successfully achieving goals. Pushes self and helps others achieve results. Has a continuous improvement mindset.

Builds Effective Teams:   Forms teams with appropriate and diverse mixes of styles, perspectives, and experience. Establishes common objectives and a shared mindset. Creates a feeling of belonging and strong team morale. Shares wins and rewards team efforts. Fosters open dialogue and collaboration among the team. Creates a team that works well cross-functionally.

Organizational Learning: Learns quickly when facing new situations. Experiments to find new solutions. Takes on challenges of unfamiliar tasks. Extracts lessons-learned from failures and mistakes. Expands knowledge base through ongoing curiosity.

• PhD in education, IT, engineering, computer science or related field
• 5 years of experience in curriculum development in IT programs areas
• 5 years of industry experience in IT or related field
• 5 years of experience working across levels and departments of a complex organization

Other: Ability to travel is required.

Location: Salt Lake City, UT. Relocation assistance is available.