Associate Dean & Director, Computer Science Programs

Western Governors University • Salt Lake, UT

2d

About The Position

As the Associate Dean and Program Director for Computer Science programs in WGU’s School of Technology (WST), you will play a pivotal role in shaping student success and outcomes in this critical field. Leveraging your subject matter expertise and academic leadership, you will drive transformative education experiences that empower students to achieve their goals. Collaborating closely with School and University leadership, as well as other departments and WGU organizations, you will hold end-to-end responsibility for: (a) expanding and improving program offerings by developing innovative, competency-based curricula that align with market demands, (b) establishing and executing strategic industry partnerships and go-to-market strategies to attract students and connect them with employers, and (c) ensuring exceptional student outcomes by coordinating and aligning efforts across supporting service organizations to serve students effectively and maximize their success. Your impact will be measured by your ability to plan, build, deliver, and scale programs that address the needs of an underserved student population while maintaining high retention rates and delivering strong ROI for your students. Achieving this requires a steadfast commitment to fostering equitable opportunities and advancing educational excellence. In this role, you will report directly to the Vice President and Dean of the Department, with a shared mission to transform lives by creating pathways to opportunity. As the Associate Dean and Program Director for Computer Science programs in WGU’s School of Technology (WST), you will play a pivotal role in shaping student success and outcomes in this critical field. Leveraging your subject matter expertise and academic leadership, you will drive transformative education experiences that empower students to achieve their goals. Collaborating closely with School and University leadership, as well as other departments and WGU organizations, you will hold end-to-end responsibility for: (a) expanding and improving program offerings by developing innovative, competency-based curricula that align with market demands, (b) establishing and executing strategic industry partnerships and go-to-market strategies to attract students and connect them with employers, and (c) ensuring exceptional student outcomes by coordinating and aligning efforts across supporting service organizations to serve students effectively and maximize their success. Your impact will be measured by your ability to plan, build, deliver, and scale programs that address the needs of an underserved student population while maintaining high retention rates and delivering strong ROI for your students. Achieving this requires a steadfast commitment to fostering equitable opportunities and advancing educational excellence. In this role, you will report directly to the Vice President and Dean of the Department, with a shared mission to transform lives by creating pathways to opportunity.

Requirements

• Knowledge, Skill and Abilities: Deep understanding of how students learn and combining innovative curriculum and student support strategies to drive student success and employability
• Customer and student obsession with a focus on driving successful outcomes for them
• Industry or academic leader in the discipline
• Understanding of the industry trends, job opportunities, and educational market trends in the discipline
• Credible voice of the department in external partnerships and presentation opportunities
• Strong people leader to directly or indirectly lead a diverse team of INSERT + people including academic program leaders, instructional faculty, and student coaches/mentors
• Execution focus with the ability to dive-deep and live in the details with a fast-paced weekly execution cadence
• Ability to organize and coordinate 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
• Job Qualifications: Minimum Qualifications:
• Master’s degree in a relevant field from an accredited institution.
• Demonstrated subject matter expertise in computer science in an industry or academic setting

Nice To Haves

• Preferred Qualifications:
• Terminal degree in a relevant field from an accredited institution.
• Experience in higher education, particularly in online education programs or in rapidly evolving organizations/programs.
• Expertise in developing curriculum and/or high-stakes assessments.
• Proven success in leading change management efforts and bringing structure to complex, dynamic situations.

Responsibilities

• P&L Leadership: manage a $25M+ budget, maintaining affordable tuition while maximizing students' return on investment
• Program management and program marketing experience in launching new and revised programs into the education market and operating programs using data and insights; data-driven portfolio management experience
• Drive a culture of continuous experimentation, measurement, and learning from data to rapidly improve the quality and delivery to students
• Strong people leader to directly or indirectly lead a diverse team including program managers, instructional faculty, and student coaches/mentors
• 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.
• Ensure Accreditation Compliance: maintain ABET accreditation (currently held by the BS Computer Science program) and other appropriate accreditations, ensuring programs meet high standards of academic and professional excellence
• Build and Leverage an Advisory Council: establish and maintain an industry advisory board to align programs with workforce needs, gather expert insights, and create opportunities for students
• Performs other related duties as assigned.

Benefits

• eligible for bonuses; medical, dental, vision, telehealth and mental healthcare; health savings account and flexible spending account; basic and voluntary life insurance; disability coverage; accident, critical illness and hospital indemnity supplemental coverages; legal and identity theft coverage; retirement savings plan; wellbeing program; discounted WGU tuition; and flexible paid time off for rest and relaxation with no need for accrual, flexible paid sick time with no need for accrual, 11 paid holidays, and other paid leaves, including up to 12 weeks of parental leave

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director