Associate or Assistant Director of Academic Success

Job Description

Job Description

POSITION: Associate or Assistant Director of Academic Success

REPORTS TO: Associate Dean of Academic and Student Success

STATUS: Full-time, Exempt 

RANGE: $110,000 to $120,000; Compensation and role level will be determined based on experience and includes a competitive benefits package. 

SUMMARY: Founded in 1901, Brooklyn Law School is a distinguished, independent law school located in Downtown Brooklyn, New York. The Law School is seeking an Associate or Assistant Director of Academic Success to join its Academic and Student Success program.

Reporting to the Associate Dean of Academic and Student Success, the Associate or Assistant Director of Academic Success is a key member of the Academic and Student Success team and will work collaboratively with other members of the department to foster and promote high student achievement throughout their time in law school and as they transition to their professional careers. This includes developing communication strategies that foster an engaged and informed student body. 

The Associate or Assistant Director will support academic success programs available to all students but will serve primarily as the school’s 1L specialist and the team member responsible for working with part-time students throughout their tenure at the law school. The Associate or Assistant Director will have the responsibility for developing the 1L support curriculum and supervising other instructors in the program. During the 0L summer, the Associate or Assistant Director will have the responsibility of designing and running a week-long non-credit course designed to ensure seamless transition to the 1L year and other 0L summer support offerings. In addition, the Associate or Assistant Director will teach academic success courses for students in need of support and intervention (i.e. sections of the Legal Analysis Seminar and other intervention or pre-bar classes), conduct workshops, provide other targeted support to students and participate in other student retention activities as needed.

The Associate or Assistant Director must stay abreast of developments legal education including national and local bar-related testing. The Associate or Assistant Director must develop and maintain substantial knowledge about academic support, supporting different learning styles, and changes in law school curriculum. The Associate or Assistant Director will also help advise the faculty and administration on student outcomes, maintain and analyze data related to student outcomes, and prepare periodic reports for administrators and the Dean as needed.  

Most notably, the Associate or Assistant Director must possess a keen understanding of the cultural, social, neurological, psychological, and financial challenges that confront college-age and professional students, and work with other members of the Academic and Student Success team and other departments to devise thoughtful strategies for addressing them. This includes working collaborative with the Director of Accessibility to support students with disability-related accommodations. Moreover, the Associate or Assistant Director must demonstrate genuine enthusiasm for working with and building meaningful learning relationships with both the student body and faculty.  

Responsibilities include: 

• Serve as the 1L specialist and responsible success professional for part-time students.
• Teach academic success courses (not to exceed 4 courses in an academic year); and provide other targeted academic support to students as needed.
• Conduct skills workshops on learning strategies, test-taking, time management and organizational skills. 
• Work with students within the law school community to provide academic advice and support, both individually and through expansion of the law school’s existing academic success program, to ensure students’ wellbeing, successful completion of law school, and passage of the bar.
• Assist students in developing an academic plan.
• Prepare reports on student outcomes and program accomplishments.
• Employ student outcomes data to identify students who may need early intervention and to assess the effectiveness of our programming.
• Use predictive data to assess curricular needs.
• Assist in evaluating and improving the law school’s support programming.
• Engage with the faculty and other offices at the law school to support student learning.
• Stay abreast of trends in the field of academic success and bar support.
• Additional related duties as assigned.  

Required: 

• The ideal candidates will have specific experience in instruction related to academic success, legal writing and bar preparation. 
• Candidates must possess   a J.D. degree from an ABA-accredited law school; be admitted upon examination to the bar of any state; and have experience in law teaching, preferably in an academic-success or legal writing program. Teaching experience in the first year is also desirable. 
• Candidates will only be considered for an Associate Director position if they have 5 or more years of experience as an academic success professional and can provide demonstrable measures of success regarding student outcomes. Candidates with less than 5 years of experience in academic success or with other law school teaching will be considered for an Assistant Director position. 
• Facility in supporting students with learning differences and ability to work collaboratively with the Director of Accessibility.
• Experience advising students on time management, executive function skills and coping strategies.
• Experience in working with students of varying ages, academic achievement, lived experience.
• Experience with assessment and data collection.
• Ability to manage multiple priorates under deadlines.
• Excellent written, verbal and interpersonal skills.
• Ability and interest in conducting research to better understand trends in student success in law school and on the bar exam.

Remote capabilities:

• This position requires duties to be performed primarily on-site, but there is some flexibility for limited remote work. In person work on-site may also be required on a limited number of weekends. 

Travel:

• Travel is required to attend designated professional conferences and workshops. 

Brooklyn Law School has an excellent benefits package that includes sick, personal and vacation paid time off, a generous retirement plan, dependent tuition scholarship Pre K- undergraduate college and additional summer Friday PTO.

Affirmative Action/EEO statement 

It is the policy of Brooklyn Law School to be impartial in the treatment of all employees and applicants for employment without unlawful discrimination as to race, creed, religion, color, natural origin, citizenship status, gender, age, veteran status, disability, marital status, union affiliation, political affiliation, sexual orientation or preferences or any other legal protected status.