Director of Honors College

Position Title Director of Honors College About the University

Western Washington University, with over 16,000 students in seven colleges and the graduate school, is nationally recognized for its educational programs, students and faculty. The campus is located in Bellingham, Washington, a coastal community of 90,000 overlooking Bellingham Bay, the San Juan Islands and the North Cascades Mountain range. The city lies 90 miles north of Seattle and 60 miles south of Vancouver, British Columbia. Western is the highest-ranking public, master's-granting university in the Pacific Northwest, according to the 2022 U.S. News & World Report rankings.

Western Washington University is committed to achieving excellence through advancing inclusive success, increasing our Washington impact, and focusing on transformational education grounded in the liberal arts and sciences and based on innovative scholarship, research, and creative activity. Western's greatest strength is the outstanding students, faculty, staff, and alumni/ae who make up its community. Western supports an inclusive governance structure for all and provides a learning and working environment in which everyone can thrive. In pursuit of this excellence, individual employees are expected to establish and maintain productive and effective inclusive working relationships amongst diverse populations including staff, faculty, administration, student, and external constituents. Further, individual employees are expected to have the ability to operationalize sustainability concepts (economic, societal, environmental) into all aspects of performing their job duties.

About the Department The Honors College supports Western's mission, which states that together with our students, staff, and faculty, we are committed to making a positive impact in the state and the world with a shared focus on academic excellence and inclusive achievement. We encourage applications from women, people of color, people with disabilities, veterans, and other candidates from underrepresented backgrounds and with diverse experiences interested in this opportunity.

About the College: The Honors College is housed in the Division of Academic Affairs and is an all-university program that draws its faculty from a wide variety of disciplines, offers discussion-based classes to students in all colleges, and boasts an interdisciplinary curriculum that covers a broad range of fields. The college is at the forefront of recruitment strategies for students with diverse experiences who seek to actively engage in classroom conversations and community initiatives. As the college grows, the director's vision and leadership drives the cycle of admissions and enrollment. The director leads a cohort of faculty teaching core classes with introductory curriculum, maintaining a student-to-instructor ratio of 25:1. The Honors College also collaborates with interdisciplinary Faculty Fellows, who have contracts in both Honors and their home departments, to develop consistent offerings of lower-division colloquia and upper-division seminars. A 10-member board, composed of four Honors students and six faculty members, broadly representative of the colleges and disciplines of the university, serves as the College's Curriculum Committee and advises the Honors Director on policy and planning.

The Honors College is located in the Old Main Building on the Bellingham, Washington campus.

About the Position About the Position:

The University Honors College (https://honors.wwu.edu/ ) serves approximately 900 students and provides challenging opportunities for undergraduate students of demonstrated academic achievement to realize their potential. The Director is a 1.0 FTE 12-month Academic Administrator Exempt Staff position, and is a renewable five-year appointment, with an underlying right to return to a faculty contract. This position provides the opportunity to serve and collaborate with an engaged group of students, faculty, and staff. The candidate will help guide the ongoing developments of WWU Honors by promoting practices of process-oriented inquiry, participating in conversations that challenge the historical structures of merit-based Honors colleges, and inviting a diverse group of learners to further inherit, inhabit, and establish the community. In addition the director will collaborate with faculty to develop and innovate practices that revolutionize the systemic framework of Honors education and academia. The director represents and advocates for the Honors College by maintaining and strengthening positive relationships among faculty, classified, and professional staff. The Honors Director sits on the Provost's Council and operates as a key academic leader on campus.

The position reports to the Provost and Executive Vice President.

Required Qualifications

• Tenured faculty member at Western Washington University
• Demonstrated commitment to valuing diversity and contributing to an inclusive working and learning environment by using practices that foster diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility
• Effective written and oral communication; ability to collaborate and engage with students and colleagues of varying backgrounds in impactful ways
• Experience in curriculum development, assessment design and implementation, and program evaluation

Preferred Qualifications

• Three years of academic administration or leadership experience
• Experience successfully recruiting student applicants and reviewing student applications in programs or scholarships
• Experience successfully advising undergraduate students
• Experience productively supervising and managing staff and faculty
• Knowledge and understanding of current developments in Honors education and exemplary models of practice
• Evidence of research/creative activities with undergraduate students
• Evidence of interdisciplinary collaboration

Conditions of Employment All employees must comply with our Immunization policies, including Proof of Rubeola Measles Immunity within 60-days of hire. Please reach out to HR@wwu.edu if you need information regarding medical or religious exemption and applicable accommodations. Salary

The anticipated job compensation will commensurate current faculty salary rate and be annualized to a 12-month appointment to ensure a fair and competitive compensation package.

Benefits Information

Benefits Overview for Administrative Professional Position.

Application Instructions

Application materials should address your experience related to the position responsibilities and the required and preferred qualifications.

Curriculum Vitae

Letter of Interest

ADEI Statement

Prompt: The Honors College is establishing a community that values and practices diversity and equity through the reconstitution of institutional access, interdisciplinary methods, and inquiry-based pursuits. What, to you, are the practices of equity? How will you contribute to establishing them?

Closing Date Notes Application review begins February 8, 2024; position is open until filled

Western Washington University (WWU) is an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer committed to assembling a diverse, broadly trained faculty and staff. Women, minorities, people with disabilities and veterans are strongly encouraged to apply. In compliance with applicable laws and in furtherance of its commitment to fostering an environment that welcomes and embraces diversity, WWU does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, creed, religion, national origin, sex (including pregnancy and parenting status), disability, age, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status or genetic information in its programs or activities, including employment, admissions, and educational programs. See WWU's Policy on Ensuring Equal Opportunity and Prohibiting Discrimination and Retaliation. Inquiries may be directed to the Office of Civil Rights and Title IX Compliance, Title IX and ADA Coordinator, Western Washington University, Old Main 126 (MS 9021), 516 High Street, Bellingham, WA 98225; 360.650.3307 (voice) or 711 (Washington Relay); crtc@wwu.edu

WWU is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to qualified individuals with disabilities upon request. To request this document in an alternate format or to request an accommodation, please contact Human Resources Disability Services, 360.650.3303 or 711 (Washington Relay).

Annual Security and Fire Safety Report: This report is provided pursuant to the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act ("The Clery Act"). It includes statistics for the previous three calendar years concerning reported crimes that occurred on Western's campus; in certain off-campus buildings or property owned or controlled by Western; and on public property within, or immediately adjacent to and accessible from, the campus. The report also includes institutional policies concerning campus security, such as policies concerning alcohol and drug use, crime prevention, the reporting of crimes, sexual assault, and other matters. You can obtain a copy of this report in printed or alternate formats by contacting the Office of the Vice President for Enrollment and Student Services at vpsa.office@wwu.edu. The report can be found at: Annual Security and Fire Safety Report.

All new employees must comply with the immunization policy and show employment eligibility verification as required by the U.S. Citizen and Immigration Service before beginning work at WWU. A thorough background check will be conducted on all new hires which includes a sexual misconduct background check.