EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF WORKFORCE & ADULT LEARNING

Job Description

Job Description:\n\nTALLADEGA COLLEGE\n\nAn Education of Distinction\n\nEXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF WORKFORCE ADULT LEARNING\n\nPATHWAYS\n\nOffice of Academic Affairs — Job Description\n\nPosition Title Executive Director of Workforce Adult Learning Pathways\n\nLocation Talladega College — Talladega, Alabama; instructional and partnership sites at approved\n\nAlabama Department of Corrections facilities, community-college partners, employer\n\nsites, and other regional locations across the state\n\nDivision / Office Office of Academic Affairs — Workforce Adult Learning Pathways (Fast Track • Prison\n\nEducation Program • Alabama Workforce Ecosystem Initiative)\n\nPosition Classification Executive / Program Executive Director\n\nPosition Type Full-Time, Exempt; evenings, weekends, and regular travel to correctional facilities,\n\nemployer sites, workforce convenings, and recruitment events required\n\nReports To Provost and Executive Vice President\n\nSupervises Fast Track program coordinator(s), Prison Education Program coordinator(s) and on-site\n\nliaisons, Workforce Development coordinator(s), faculty-facilitators, adjunct instructors,\n\nadmissions/enrollment coach(es), employer-engagement staff, and program support\n\nstaff assigned to the three integrated pathways\n\nPosition Summary\n\nFounded in 1867 as the oldest private Historically Black College in Alabama, Talladega College is a residential\n\nliberal arts institution advancing its 2025–2030 strategic plan, Forging Onward: Reimagining Liberal Arts\n\nEducation. The Executive Director of Workforce Adult Learning Pathways provides unified executive\n\nleadership for three of the College’s most mission-critical, opportunity-centered pathways for working adults\n\nand non-traditional learners:\n\n• Fast Track — the cohort-based accelerated bachelor’s degree-completion program for working adults;\n\n• The Prison Education Program (PEP) — Talladega College credit and degree instruction delivered to\n\nincarcerated learners under the federally re-established Second Chance Pell / Prison Education Program\n\nframework (34 CFR Part 668, Subpart P); and\n\n• The Alabama Workforce Ecosystem Initiative — Talladega’s statewide leadership role, anchored by the\n\nProvost’s appointment as Alabama’s SACSCOC State Convener for the Workforce Coordinator Network,\n\nconnecting education, credentials, employers, and workforce systems in service of Alabama’s Success Plus\n\ngoal of adding 500,000 credential holders to the workforce.\n\nThe Executive Director reports to the Provost and Executive Vice President and holds integrated responsibility\n\nfor recruitment, admissions, advising, curriculum, faculty-facilitator engagement, scheduling, assessment,\n\nmarketing, community and employer engagement, correctional-facility relationships, credential-of-value\n\nalignment, work-based learning and apprenticeship structure, compliance, budget, and reporting across all three\n\npathways. The role is expressly designed to connect the three entities — so that a working adult, a returning\n\ncitizen, and an employer partner all experience a single, coherent Talladega College pipeline from recruitment to\n\ncredential to job.\n\nTalladega College — Office of Academic Affairs\n\nPage 2 of 2\n\nThe Executive Director is expected to (1) grow enrollment and completion in Fast Track and the Prison Education\n\nProgram, (2) expand the College’s approved instructional sites and correctional-partner facilities, (3) advance\n\nTalladega College’s statewide leadership through the Alabama Workforce Ecosystem Initiative and the SACSCOC\n\nWorkforce Coordinator Network, (4) build durable employer, apprenticeship, and workforce-board partnerships\n\n(including East AlabamaWorks Region 2), (5) position Talladega College as a recognized voice in adult,\n\ncorrectional, and workforce education nationally, and (6) produce a high-completion, high-employment,\n\ncredential-of-value pipeline aligned with Alabama Success Plus.\n\nEssential Duties and Responsibilities\n\n1. Integrated Executive Leadership of the Three Pathways\n\n• Provide unified executive, academic, and operational leadership for Fast Track, the Prison Education\n\nProgram (PEP)/Second Chance Pell, and Talladega College’s role in the Alabama Workforce Ecosystem\n\nInitiative.\n\n• Develop and execute an annual, integrated Workforce Adult Learning Pathways plan with measurable\n\nrecruitment, enrollment, persistence, completion, credential-attainment, and post-completion\n\nemployment outcomes across all three pathways.\n\n• Ensure full compliance with U.S. Department of Education Prison Education Program regulations (34 CFR\n\nPart 668, Subpart P), Title IV / Pell requirements, SACSCOC substantive-change and accreditation\n\nexpectations, applicable Alabama Community College System / ACHE requirements, Alabama Department\n\nof Corrections (ADOC) partnership agreements, and applicable state workforce and apprenticeship\n\nstandards.\n\n• Prepare and submit an annual integrated program report to the Provost and an executive summary to the\n\nPresident.\n\n• Achieve at least 95% documented compliance with all federal, state, accreditation, and correctional-\n\npartner reporting requirements during each review cycle.\n\n2. Recruitment, Admissions, and Enrollment Growth\n\n• Develop and implement recruitment and retention goals and operational plans for Fast Track, for each\n\napproved Prison Education Program site, and for workforce-aligned credential cohorts.\n\n• Advertise the programs, participate in weekly recruiting activities and events, and meet quarterly\n\nrecruitment goals across all three pathways.\n\n• Coach prospective learners through the admissions process, financial-aid packaging, and orientation; serve\n\nas the advisor to all Fast Track students and coordinate advising for all Prison Education students and\n\nworkforce-cohort participants in partnership with on-site liaisons and employer partners.\n\n• Hold information meetings and follow-up telephone, e-mail, and video correspondence in a timely,\n\ndocumented cadence.\n\n• Grow Fast Track headcount by at least 20% year-over-year; grow Prison Education headcount consistent\n\nwith approved facility capacity and Department of Education PEP application/approval status; grow\n\nworkforce-aligned credential enrollment consistent with employer-partner and Success Plus targets.\n\n• Achieve an inquiry-to-enrollment conversion rate of at least 25% for Fast Track and consistent site- and\n\ncohort-specific yield targets for Prison Education and workforce cohorts.\n\n3. Facility, Site, and Partner Expansion\n\n• Identify, evaluate, and pursue additional Fast Track instructional sites (community-college partners,\n\nemployer-based cohorts, church-based/community learning hubs, and online cohorts) that expand access\n\nfor working adults across Alabama and adjoining regions.\n\nTalladega College — Office of Academic Affairs\n\nPage 3 of 2\n\n• Identify, evaluate, and pursue additional Prison Education Program instructional sites in partnership with\n\nthe Alabama Department of Corrections, county correctional facilities, federal facilities where permitted,\n\nand reentry providers.\n\n• Identify, evaluate, and formalize workforce partnerships and work-based-learning sites with employers,\n\nindustry associations, apprenticeship sponsors, and regional workforce boards — particularly in East\n\nAlabamaWorks Region 2 — in coordination with the Alabama Office of Apprenticeship and the Alabama\n\nWorkforce Council.\n\n• Lead the U.S. Department of Education Prison Education Program application process for each new\n\nproposed site, including oversight-entity determination, best-interest-of-students review, and SACSCOC\n\nsubstantive-change filings.\n\n• Add or activate at least one (1) new Fast Track cohort site, at least one (1) new Prison Education Program\n\nfacility, and at least two (2) new employer or workforce partner sites/agreements during each review\n\ncycle, subject to approval.\n\n4. Curriculum, Faculty-Facilitators, and Academic Quality\n\n• Recruit faculty-facilitators for Fast Track in cooperation with the appropriate department heads and the\n\nBusiness Dean, and for Prison Education Program in cooperation with the applicable academic\n\ndepartments; recruit workforce and industry instructors and mentors in cooperation with employer\n\npartners and department heads.\n\n• Supervise the revision and development of the adult-learner and workforce curriculum in cooperation\n\nwith faculty-facilitators and department heads, ensuring alignment with Talladega College degree\n\nrequirements, SACSCOC standards, adult-learning best practices (competency framing, prior-learning\n\nassessment, credit for military and workforce credentials where applicable), credentials-of-value criteria,\n\nand AI-ready curriculum standards under the Alabama Workforce Ecosystem Initiative.\n\n• Supervise the evaluation of curriculum and instruction, assuring quality control across all cohorts, sites,\n\nand modalities (online, on-ground, correctional-facility delivery, and employer-site delivery).\n\n• Ensure course materials, textbooks, and technology used inside correctional facilities comply with\n\nADOC/facility policy, security protocols, and PEP requirements.\n\n• Achieve program-wide course completion rate of at least 85% and program-wide cohort GPA of at least\n\n2.75 across all three pathways.\n\n5. Marketing, Communications, and Community Engagement\n\n• Develop and execute a unified Workforce Adult Learning Pathways marketing plan that (a) recruits into\n\nFast Track, (b) supports appropriate reentry- and family-audience communications for the Prison\n\nEducation Program in coordination with ADOC and Communications, and (c) tells the opportunity-\n\ncentered public story of Talladega’s statewide workforce leadership.\n\n• Coordinate all promotional literature, digital campaigns, employer outreach, and information sessions\n\nacross the three pathways in coordination with the Office of Communications.\n\n• Represent the pathways to campus and community groups, employers, workforce boards, community-\n\nbased organizations, correctional-education stakeholders, and reentry providers.\n\n• Generate at least twenty-four (24) earned-media or feature placements per review cycle (across the three\n\npathways combined) in coordination with Communications.\n\n• Deliver at least twenty (20) recruitment or awareness events per review cycle across community,\n\nemployer, workforce, and correctional-partner venues.\n\nTalladega College — Office of Academic Affairs\n\nPage 4 of 2\n\n6. Scheduling, Program Operations, and Student Support\n\n• Schedule all classes planned for the year across the three pathways and manage cohort calendars, facility\n\naccess windows, employer-site logistics, and instructor assignments.\n\n• Conduct an advising session at least once per semester with each Fast Track student and coordinate\n\ndocumented advising touchpoints for each Prison Education student and workforce-cohort participant.\n\n• Hold regular and as-needed video conferences with faculty and students in Fast Track and appropriate\n\ncheck-ins with faculty-facilitators serving the Prison Education Program and workforce cohorts.\n\n• Oversee and assist personnel in the Workforce Adult Learning Pathways office.\n\n• Achieve a student-satisfaction score of at least 4.3 / 5.0 across all three pathways (annual survey).\n\n7. Alabama Workforce Ecosystem Leadership and External Partnerships\n\n• Serve as Talladega College’s operational lead for the Alabama Workforce Ecosystem Initiative and support\n\nthe Provost’s role as SACSCOC State Convener for the Workforce Coordinator Network, coordinating the\n\nAlabama Higher-Ed Workforce Alliance, JobsEQ-informed institutional alignment, credentials-of-value and\n\nAI-ready curriculum work, and the Alabama Workforce Dashboard.\n\n• Cultivate and maintain formal partnerships with local, regional, state, and national associations relevant to\n\nadult, correctional, and workforce education, including but not limited to the Alliance for Higher Education\n\nin Prison, the Council on Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL), the Correctional Education Association,\n\nthe University Professional and Continuing Education Association (UPCEA), the Alabama Department of\n\nCorrections, the Alabama Community College System, the Alabama Workforce Council, AlabamaWorks!,\n\nEast AlabamaWorks Region 2, the Alabama Office of Apprenticeship, the Alabama Reentry Network, and\n\napplicable regional workforce development boards.\n\n• Represent Talladega College at national, regional, state, and local convenings on adult learning, degree\n\ncompletion, correctional education, reentry, workforce development, and apprenticeship.\n\n• Deliver at least four (4) documented external presentations, conference papers, or panel appearances per\n\nreview cycle.\n\n• Establish or renew at least three (3) formal partnership agreements (MOU / MOA / articulation /\n\napprenticeship agreement) per review cycle.\n\n8. Best-Practices Programming and Convening\n\n• Design and host on-campus Workforce Adult Learning best-practices sessions that bring together\n\nfaculty, staff, correctional-education partners, employers, apprenticeship sponsors, reentry providers, and\n\npeer institutions to advance the field and position Talladega College as a convening institution.\n\n• Deliver at least two (2) on-campus best-practices sessions per review cycle, each with documented\n\nlearning outcomes, participant evaluations, and follow-up publications or resources.\n\n• Publish an annual Workforce Adult Learning Pathways Best-Practices Brief summarizing convening\n\noutcomes and lessons learned.\n\n9. Data, Reporting, and Continuous Improvement\n\n• Work collaboratively with the Office of Institutional Effectiveness and Research to provide and analyze\n\ndata and submit reports as requested, including data feeding the public Alabama Workforce Dashboard\n\nwhere appropriate.\n\n• Prepare monthly reports for the Provost on program recruitment and retention profiles, and produce\n\ndisaggregated dashboards covering inquiry-to-enrollment, persistence, credit-hour production, course\n\ncompletion, GPA, graduation, credential attainment, and post-completion outcomes (employment, wage\n\ngain, further education, and reduced recidivism where measurable).\n\n• Maintain ongoing collaboration with the Faculty Manager.\n\nTalladega College — Office of Academic Affairs\n\nPage 5 of 2\n\n• Deliver monthly recruitment/enrollment/credential-attainment dashboards to the Provost with 100% on-\n\ntime submission.\n\n10. Budget, Compliance, and Stewardship\n\n• Manage the annual operating budgets for Fast Track, the Prison Education Program, and workforce\n\npartnership operations within +/- 3% of approved plan; deliver monthly budget-variance reports to the\n\nProvost and Business Office.\n\n• Ensure 100% compliance with Title IV / Pell disbursement, PEP oversight-entity, SACSCOC, ADOC,\n\napplicable workforce/apprenticeship, and applicable federal and state requirements — with zero (0)\n\nunresolved audit exceptions.\n\n• Pursue grants, sponsored programming, employer investment, and philanthropic support