Director of Clinical Education Doctor of Physical Therapy Program

Point Loma Nazarene University•San Diego, CA

19h•Hybrid

About The Position

Point Loma Nazarene University (PLNU) is seeking a full-time Director of Clinical Education (DCE) for its developing Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) program. The DCE will be a core faculty leader responsible for designing, implementing, assessing, and continuously improving the clinical education curriculum. This role is crucial for building a CAPTE-ready, student-centered, competency-based clinical education infrastructure that addresses the health needs of the San Diego region and beyond. The DCE will oversee all integrated and full-time clinical education experiences, ensuring they are intentionally sequenced with the didactic curriculum and aligned with program outcomes. The goal is to support students in becoming practice-ready physical therapists who exhibit clinical reasoning, professional accountability, compassionate care, evidence-informed decision-making, and readiness for contemporary entry-level practice. The successful candidate will be an experienced physical therapist educator and relationship-builder capable of cultivating durable clinical partnerships, supporting clinical instructors and site coordinators, guiding students through clinical readiness and progression, and contributing to accreditation, program assessment, teaching, scholarship, and service.

Requirements

An earned Doctor of Physical Therapy degree or other doctoral preparation appropriate to the role.
Current, active, and unencumbered physical therapist licensure in a United States jurisdiction.
Eligibility for physical therapist licensure in California and compliance with the California Physical Therapy Practice Act.
Commitment to PLNU’s mission and to the formation of students for lives of service, professional excellence, ethical practice, and whole-person care.
A minimum of three years of full-time post-licensure clinical practice as a physical therapist.
A minimum of two years of experience as a Clinical Instructor or Site Coordinator of Clinical Education, OR a minimum of two years of experience in teaching, curriculum development, and administration in a physical therapist education program.
Demonstrated understanding of clinical education in physical therapist education, including clinical site development, student placement, student assessment, Clinical Instructor support, and clinical education compliance.
Familiarity with CAPTE standards and accreditation expectations related to clinical education.
Evidence of effective communication, organization, collaboration, and relationship-building with students, faculty, clinical partners, and administrators.
Demonstrated ability to support student learning, clinical performance development, professional behavior formation, and remediation when needed.
Evidence of Christian commitment and active church involvement.
Agreement to live in agreement with PLNU’s Community Life Covenant.
Successful completion of a background check.

Nice To Haves

Prior experience as a Director of Clinical Education, Assistant Director of Clinical Education, Academic Coordinator of Clinical Education, SCCE, or comparable clinical education leader.
A post-professional academic doctorate such as a PhD, EdD, DSc, DHSc, or ScD.
APTA Credentialed Clinical Instructor Program certification or experience providing CI development.
ABPTS board certification, residency or fellowship training, or other evidence of advanced clinical expertise.
Experience developing clinical education infrastructure for a new or developing DPT program.
Experience contributing to CAPTE candidacy, self-study, annual accreditation reporting, or site visit preparation.
Experience with clinical education management systems such as Exxat or comparable platforms.
Evidence of scholarship or scholarly potential in clinical education, competency-based education, student performance assessment, professional formation, interprofessional education, or health professions education.
Established relationships with clinical partners in Southern California or experience building clinical networks across multiple practice settings.
Demonstrated commitment to community-engaged education, service-oriented practice, health equity, belonging, and preparation of graduates to serve diverse communities.

Responsibilities

Provide leadership for the clinical education curriculum and ensure alignment with program outcomes, CAPTE expectations, and contemporary physical therapist practice.
Lead the planning, development, coordination, implementation, and evaluation of integrated and full-time clinical education experiences.
Ensure clinical education is developmentally sequenced and integrated with didactic, laboratory, simulation, service, and coaching components of the curriculum.
Collaborate with the DPT Program Director and faculty to develop clinical education policies, procedures, readiness standards, progression expectations, grading processes, and assessment systems.
Contribute to CAPTE-related documentation, including Application for Candidacy materials, self-study evidence, program assessment, and continuous quality improvement processes.
Ensure clinical education prepares students for entry-level practice across the lifespan, body systems, and continuum of care.
Develop and sustain a high-quality network of clinical education sites that provides sufficient variety, quality, and capacity for student learning.
Recruit, develop, evaluate, and maintain clinical education sites across diverse practice settings, patient populations, geographic communities, and models of care.
Build partnerships with hospitals, outpatient clinics, rehabilitation centers, pediatric settings, neurologic and orthopedic practices, community-based organizations, underserved care settings, military- or veteran-serving environments, and regional health systems.
Obtain, maintain, and monitor clinical affiliation agreements, memoranda of understanding, certificates of insurance, site documentation, onboarding requirements, and other compliance materials.
Serve as the primary relationship manager for clinical partners, including Site Coordinators of Clinical Education, Clinical Instructors, administrators, and community stakeholders.
Cultivate academic-clinical partnerships grounded in clear communication, mutual accountability, educational quality, student development, patient care, and professional excellence.
Guide students through clinical readiness, placement, performance monitoring, and progression within the clinical education curriculum.
Coordinate student placement processes to ensure clinical assignments support curricular goals, student learning needs, site capacity, and CAPTE expectations for quality, quantity, and variety of clinical experiences.
Oversee systems for tracking clinical readiness, onboarding requirements, immunizations, background checks, drug screens, HIPAA/OSHA training, health documentation, site-specific requirements, and related compliance elements.
Orient students to clinical education expectations, professional behavior standards, performance assessment processes, and communication procedures.
Monitor student performance before, during, and after clinical experiences through communication with students, faculty, Clinical Instructors, and clinical partners.
Support student learning through advising, coaching, check-ins, conflict resolution, learning plans, supervision plans, and remediation plans when needed.
Collaborate with faculty to determine student readiness and contribute to progression decisions using evidence from assessments of performance, clinical reasoning, professionalism, safety, communication, affective behaviors, and Clinical Instructor feedback.
Support Clinical Instructors and Site Coordinators of Clinical Education in providing high-quality, consistent, and developmentally appropriate assessment and supervision of students.
Serve as the primary liaison between the DPT program and clinical education faculty, including Clinical Instructors and Site Coordinators of Clinical Education.
Orient clinical partners to the PLNU DPT mission, curriculum design, expected student outcomes, assessment tools, progression expectations, and standards for supervision and feedback.
Design and facilitate Clinical Instructor development activities related to student assessment, feedback, coaching, professional behavior evaluation, remediation, and use of clinical performance assessment tools.
Support Clinical Instructors in addressing student learning needs, performance concerns, and remediation processes.
Promote calibration across clinical sites to improve consistency, fairness, and quality of clinical assessment.
Lead the use of clinical education data to support accreditation readiness, program assessment, and continuous improvement.
Collect, analyze, and use clinical education data to inform program improvement and accreditation reporting.
Track student performance outcomes, site and Clinical Instructor evaluations, student evaluations, placement capacity, practice setting distribution, patient population exposure, progression patterns, remediation outcomes, and clinical education trends.
Contribute directly to CAPTE documentation and reporting related to clinical education, including evidence of clinical site quality, student readiness, student performance, Clinical Instructor support, and coordination between didactic and clinical education.
Ensure integrated and full-time clinical education experiences are organized, sequential, coordinated with the didactic curriculum, and designed to support students’ achievement of expected program outcomes.
Collaborate with the Program Director and faculty to use clinical education data for curriculum review, student progression processes, site development, and program-level decision-making.
Teach or co-teach courses within the DPT curriculum based on area of expertise and program need.
Contribute to learning experiences in areas such as clinical education seminars, professional formation, clinical reasoning, patient/client management, systems-based content, interprofessional education, or service-learning preparation.
Maintain a scholarly agenda appropriate to academic rank and consistent with expectations for core faculty.
Engage in scholarship related to clinical education, student readiness, competency-based education, clinical performance assessment, interprofessional education, community-engaged learning, health equity, workforce development, professional formation, or related areas.
Participate in program, college, university, professional, and community service, including DPT program committees, clinical education consortia, professional organizations, community partnerships, accreditation workgroups, and College of Health Sciences initiatives.