Vice President of Academic Affairs

TITLE: Vice President of Academic Affairs

SALARY: $176,000-186,000.00 annually

DEPARTMENT: Instruction

REPORTS TO: College President

This position is eligible for hybrid work location, per Everett Community College’s Telework Policy

Everett Community College is seeking a collaborative, forward-looking academic leader to serve as Vice President of Academic Affairs. Reporting to the President and serving on the executive leadership team, the Vice President is the College’s executive academic officer and will shape the strategic direction of instruction, academic policy, curriculum, faculty systems, and teaching and learning.

This leader will guide the College’s transfer, professional-technical, dual enrollment, and applied baccalaureate programs, using student, workforce, transfer, enrollment, and outcomes data to strengthen quality, relevance, access, and sustainability. The ideal candidate will bring sound judgment, strong operational leadership, and a deep commitment to shared governance while building trust across the College and with external partners. This is an opportunity to lead meaningful academic growth and change in service of student access, success, and completion.

Duties & Responsibilities

Strategic Academic Leadership

• Serve as the College’s executive academic officer, establishing a clear academic vision and strategic direction for instruction in alignment with the College’s mission, strategic plan, and student-success priorities.
• Oversee academic master planning and the development, expansion, enhancement, redesign, and, when appropriate, discontinuation of instructional programs based on student demand, transfer pathways, workforce needs, and program outcomes.
• Oversee the College’s portfolio of transfer, professional-technical, dual enrollment, and applied baccalaureate offerings, ensuring programs remain relevant, accessible, and financially sustainable.
• Advise, and partner with, the President, Board of Trustees, and Executive Leadership Team on academic strategy, instructional capacity, policy, emerging opportunities, and risks.
• Develop intra-College strategies that align instruction with enrollment management, student services, technology, facilities, and workforce and economic development.
• Represent the College in state, system-wide, and community partnerships that strengthen academic pathways, workforce responsiveness, and institutional priorities.

Academic Excellence

• Oversee curriculum development and approval, academic program review, learning outcomes assessment, and continuous improvement across instructional departments.
• Oversee the quality and integrity of the academic calendar, College catalog, course scheduling, and curriculum-management processes.
• Promote evidence-based innovation in teaching and learning, including effective in-person, hybrid, and online delivery, open educational resources, work-based learning, and emerging instructional models.
• Use enrollment, completion, transfer, employment, labor-market, and other relevant data to evaluate program performance, guide investment, and improve student outcomes.
• Ensure instructional compliance with accreditation, licensure, and federal and state requirements; oversee programmatic accreditation and support institutional accreditation.
• Develop and maintain academic policies, procedures, and standards that support consistent, effective, and responsive instructional operations.

Organizational Leadership

• Oversee instructional deans, academic administrators, and staff; establish clear expectations, accountability, collaboration, and succession planning.
• Oversee faculty recruitment, onboarding, evaluation, tenure, and professional development in accordance with College policy, shared-governance processes, and collective bargaining agreements.
• Partner with Human Resources and labor representatives on faculty labor-management matters, contract administration, collective bargaining, and organizational change.
• Oversee the instructional budget and long-range resource allocation, balancing current operations, program quality, innovation, and strategic growth.
• Oversee planning for instructional facilities, equipment, and technology that support program quality, safety, and expansion.
• Foster meaningful engagement with faculty, staff, and students in academic decision-making, policy development, and institutional change.

General Duties

• Support the goals and operations of the department, division, and College.
• Perform other duties as assigned to support departmental operations and campus needs.

Qualifications

Required Education and Experience (or equivalent combination of):

• Master’s degree in an academic discipline, higher education, educational leadership, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Seven (7) years of progressively responsible academic leadership in higher education, including academic planning, program development and evaluation, faculty leadership, budgets, and operations.
• Three (3) years of supervisory experience, including employee development and performance management, and experience with shared governance and collective bargaining.
• Postsecondary teaching experience.

Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Knowledge of academic planning, curriculum development, program review, learning outcomes assessment, accreditation, and regulatory compliance.
• Knowledge of transfer, professional-technical, adult education, dual-enrollment, and applied-baccalaureate programs in a community-college setting.
• Understanding of shared governance, faculty roles, collective bargaining, and academic labor relations.
• Skilled in strategic planning, organizational change, partnership development, and data-informed resource decisions.
• Ability to translate institutional priorities into sustainable academic programs and coordinated implementation.
• Ability to advise executive leaders and the Board, communicate complex academic matters clearly, and build trust with internal and external partners.

Preferred

• Earned doctorate or other terminal degree in an academic discipline, higher education, educational leadership, or a related field.
• Executive academic leadership in a community or technical college, including transfer or workforce program growth and experience in Washington’s community and technical college system.
• Participatory Management : Provides opportunity for assigned staff to participate in management decision‑making when and where appropriate. Consistently seeks out appropriate information and input that ensure stakeholders perspective is considered.
• Approachability : Willing to take immediate time to actively listen to others. Considered "accessible" or can be depended upon to be available when needed. Responsive.
• Change Management : Initiates and/or manages the change process and energizes it on an ongoing basis, taking steps to remove barriers or accelerate its pace.
• Leadership : Leads by example, serves as appropriate role model to colleagues. Demonstrates confidence within area of expertise - promotes a cooperative work environment. Ability to appropriately apply leadership techniques to motivate, develop and guide employees.
• Visionary Leadership : Creates a clear, compelling vision. Communicates vision and gains commitment. Acts in accordance with vision. Displays passion and optimism. Mobilizes others to fulfill the vision.
• Data Literacy : Uses data as a key component to assess performance, in particular toward meeting College and unit goals in support of student success. Understands what data is available, internally and externally, and what story that data is telling in order to improve programs, services, and processes for serving students, other units, and the College’s service district.
• Oral & Written Communication : Speaks clearly and persuasively in positive and negative situations. Listens and gets clarification. Responds well to questions. Demonstrates group presentation skills. Participates in meetings. Structures and conveys information clearly and effectively through both formal and informal documents. Reviews and edits written work constructively. Ability to tailor to audience in mind.
• Student Centered : Ensures attention, interest, activities and efforts are centered upon the best interest of students. Creates and supports an environment that enables learners to achieve their personal, academic, and professional goals. Provides courteous and helpful responses to all customers, whether they be students, general public, or employees from another department.
• Support for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion : Supports initiatives of the college and departments to expand the human qualities that differentiate our workforce and workplace. Exemplifies tenants of tolerance, acceptance, and interest in different viewpoints, cultures, and backgrounds and demands similar conduct of assigned staff and department.
• Accountability : Accountable for own actions, decisions, errors, mistakes and/or failures to act when appropriate. Accepts responsibility when given, understands what duties employee is responsible for and can be counted upon to carry out those responsibilities.
• Teamwork : Demonstrates a willingness to work with, and help others in completing job assignments, the ability to accept constructive criticism, and to cooperate with fellow employees and supervisors.