Assistant Director for the Workshop Program

POSITION SUMMARY:

The Assistant Director for the Workshop Program provides strategic leadership of the College Workshop Program (CWP). The CWP is a Peer-Led Team Learning (PLTL) program: an internationally recognized, evidence-based pedagogy in which student-led, problem-based learning sessions are integrated into courses. Each year, Arts, Sciences & Engineering’s CWP serves more than half of AS&E undergraduate students: 2,500 students across 30 courses in 12 different departments. The Assistant Director designs and adapts the CWP for courses in diverse academic disciplines and designs and delivers sections of the credit-bearing courses that train over 250 undergraduate and graduate peer Workshop leaders annually for their responsibilities. Under the supervision of the Director of the Learning Center and in collaboration with other members of the CWP team, the Assistant Director manages the operations of the CWP, defines the program by setting policy, and assesses the program through data collection, research, and benchmarking in order to make program improvements and to advise senior College leadership.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

Under general direction and with latitude for independent judgement:

(20%) Administration of Workshop Program

• Plans, communicates, and ensures the timely execution of Workshop Program elements, including initiation of hiring, communication, and logistical needs, in conjunction with multiple stakeholders such as College offices, academic departmental administrators, faculty, students, and external vendors

• Continually collects, updates, and maintains data about the Workshop program to inform senior College leadership about the scope and operational needs of the Workshop program

• Coordinates with College offices to set policies and identify the schedules, spaces, and resources necessary to implement the Workshop Program

• Ensures compliance with legal requirements and College policy in response to changes in the regulatory environment communicated by the Director of TLC

• Recruits, hires, trains, supervises, and sets priorities for two graduate assistant data analysts under the supervision of the Director of TLC

• Plans and executes the end-of-semester, college-wide symposium to showcase up to 100 total research projects executed annually by 250 undergraduate Workshop leaders in the credit-bearing Workshop leader training course

(10%) Faculty Support for Workshop Program

• Provides expert guidance to faculty on PLTL teaching strategies to co-design and plan courses and course elements across multiple academic departments each year

• Trains faculty members implementing PLTL in new courses, including instructing faculty members about PLTL pedagogy and course implementation, Workshop problem design, PLTL administration and policy, student employee management, and assessment

• Recruits, interviews, and hires up to 100 undergraduate and graduate Workshop leaders in partnership with faculty across multiple academic departments each year

• Supervises, manages, and sets employment policy for up to 100 undergraduate and graduate student Workshop leaders in partnership with faculty across multiple academic departments each year

• Creates course-specific assessments and interprets them for faculty to explain the impact of PLTL in their courses to inform future course design and the academic success of systemically marginalized student populations

• Provides expert guidance to faculty for educational research on collaborative learning in their courses

(50%) Student Management for Workshop Program

• Develops and delivers up to 12 Workshop leader training credit-bearing courses for up to 150 student leaders annually

• Seeks out, develops, and implements additional professional development and leadership programming for Workshop leaders in collaboration with other College offices to support College-wide student development initiatives

• Crafts individualized and opportunity-specific letters of recommendation for Workshop leaders seeking grants, fellowships, and post-graduate employment

(15%) Assessment and Research for Workshop Program

• Prioritizes and adapts assessments of the College Workshop Program under the supervision of the Director of TLC, including conducting original educational research

• Creates and reinforces policies and guidelines for effective data management, data analysis methods, procedures for data sharing, and data collection to ensure accuracy and integrity

• Assesses student outcomes by designing and administering student surveys, collecting and processing course outcome data gathered from up to 12 faculty members, and analyzing institutional student demographic data

• Analyzes student outcome data in order to promote student academic success and retention

• Analyzes student outcome data in order to promote equity across student demographic groups, with a particular focus on systemically marginalized student populations

• Solicits and interprets input from diverse Workshop program stakeholders, including faculty, staff, students, and leadership of academic departments and College offices, to make programmatic recommendation to the Director of TLC

• Continually collects, updates, and maintains operational data about the Workshop program to make programmatic recommendations to the Director of TLC

• Benchmarks the CWP against peer-reviewed literature, peer institutions, and past CWP data in order to make programmatic recommendations to the Director of TLC

• Creates annual reports to relay program impacts and needs to the Director of TLC and senior College leadership

(5%) Academic Support for AS&E

• Provides expert guidance to AS&E academic departments regarding peer education policies and best practices to support high-quality, evidence-based training of undergraduate teaching assistants and other peer educators

• Assists training programs for other College peer educator programs

• Critically reviews scholarly publications on best practices in teaching and learning to inform AS&E faculty professional development and TLC programming

• Attends professional conferences focused on higher education best practices and shares these experiences with TLC colleagues for departmental professional development

• Serves on College-wide committees as assigned by the Director of TLC

• Other duties as assigned

QUALIFICATIONS:

Master’s degree with at least two years (prefer 2-5 years) of experience in teaching, teaching and learning support, instructional development, or educational assessment. Ability to establish strong working partnerships with diverse faculty, staff, and students.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

Ph.D. in an appropriate area of specialization. Five or more years of experience teaching, supporting, and/or supervising undergraduate students through instruction, academic advising, student affairs, or another higher education role. Ability to collect, manage, and analyze large sets of confidential data to generate reports for administrators. Ability to identify the needs and new directions for the program based on assessment data and evidence-based practices. Experience working in a teaching and/or learning center, peer educator training experience, and knowledge of evidence-based instructional strategies to promote learning.

The University of Rochester is committed to fostering, cultivating, and preserving a culture of equity, diversity, and inclusion to advance the University’s mission to Learn, Discover, Heal, Create – and Make the World Ever Better. In support of our values and those of our society, the University is committed to not discriminating on the basis of age, color, disability, ethnicity, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, military/veteran status, national origin, race, religion/creed, sex, sexual orientation, citizenship status, or any other status protected by law. This commitment extends to the administration of our policies, admissions, employment, access, and recruitment of candidates from underrepresented populations, veterans, and persons with disabilities consistent with these values and government contractor Affirmative Action obligations.

How To Apply

Please include a cover letter and resume/CV in your application loaded as one file under the resume upload tool in the University of Rochester job application software.

All applicants must apply online.

EOE Minorities/Females/Protected Veterans/Disabled

Location: The College
Full/Part Time: Full-Time
Opening: Full Time 40 hours Grade 052
Schedule: 8 AM-5 PM