Vice President/Chief Academic Officer

About Highland Community College

Highland Community College is a public community college located in the heart of Northwest Illinois whose mission is to shape the future of its communities by providing quality education and learning opportunities through programs and services that encourage personal and professional growth.

HCC is strongly committed to its core values of integrity, compassion and respect; its vision of partnering with learners to successfully shape their futures; and its principles of operation, which include being grounded in purpose, mutual respect, ethics/integrity/honesty, sense of humor, shared responsibility and a climate that promotes competence.

The college was established in 1962 as Freeport Junior College before becoming Highland Community College in 1966. Today, it serves four counties: Stephenson, Ogle, Jo Daviess and Carroll, and had a fall 2023 FTE enrollment of 828 and unduplicated headcount of 1,369 — with an FY23 unduplicated headcount of 2,690, including nearly 400 high school students earning dual credit, participating in College Now programs or otherwise pursuing courses at the college level  Highland Community College’s new and continuing student body of 1,369 is 15.6% larger than fall 2022 with 12,417 credit hours, also a significant increase of 9.4% over 2022.

Highland Community College, which is recognized by the Illinois Community College Board and accredited by the Higher Learning Commission, offers more than 70 academic programs and certificates with degrees in Associates of Arts, Associates in Science, Associates in Applied Science, Associate of Engineering Science and Associate of General Studies. The student to faculty ratio is 14-1, and collectively HCC is proud to have served thousands of students at its campus in Freeport and through online learning opportunities.  The College is in the first academic year of a new Strategic Plan - https://highland.edu/about-us/strategicplan/.

The college’s facilities consist of the Marvin-Burt Liberal Arts Center, the Natural Science and Health Center including the Ray and Betty Stamm Health Science Wing, the Dorothy and R.C. Clock Technology Center, the Ferguson Fine Arts Center, the Sports Complex, the Community Services Center, the Student/Conference Center, and the Child Care Training Center.

For more information visit https://highland.edu

About the Position

Highland Community College invites applications and nominations for the position ofVice President/Chief Academic Officer (CAO), Academic Services tobegin on or before July  1, 2024.

The Vice President/Chief Academic Officer (CAO), Academic Services is the chief Academic Officer of the college. This vice president serves as a vital member of the senior management team, providing vision, leadership, strategic direction, and operational management to the College’s Academic and Academic Support areas and serves on the President’s Cabinet.

Essential Responsibilities:

• Serves as the College’s Accreditation Liaison Officer (ALO) to the Higher Learning Commission (HLC)
• Provides visionary leadership and evaluation related to the quality, relevancy, and growth of the College's curriculum programs and partnerships and alignment to workforce needs
• Leads achievement of academic institutional priorities.
• Develops academic strategic plans and tactical goals for the division, placement and evaluation, determines scope and priorities of projects; coordinates resources required to achieve goals
• Supervises and evaluates departments within the division; oversees the supervision and evaluation of all employees within the academic services area to include the academic programs distributed over four instructional divisions, Center for Teaching and Learning, Transitional Education, Dual Credit and transfer students

Desired Competencies:

• Proven academic leader
• Passion for the community college philosophy and mission
• Visionary yet analytical thinker Inspirational and servant leader
• Effective communicator
• Builder of strong collaborative teams

Required Qualifications:

• Master’s degree from a regionally accredited institution (earned Doctorate Degree from a regionally accredited institution preferred)
• Five (5) years increasingly responsible administrative experience in higher education, including experience in instruction and academic administration
• Teaching experience in higher education (teaching at a community college preferred)
• A collaborative and collegial leadership/management style, excellent communication skills, and the ability to forge effective working relationships with a broad range of internal and external constituents
• Knowledge of and/or demonstrated ability in quality improvement processes, especially as related to accreditation
• Effective communication and interpersonal skills
• Advances academic quality via professional development and training for faculty and staff
• A commitment to building a diverse campus community
• Knowledge and in-depth understanding of academic programs and development of a learning-focused environment
• Provides leadership and policy direction to achieve the highest standards of excellence in instruction and academic programs
• Proven experience in successfully participating in the negotiation and management of a faculty collective bargaining agreement
• Works with the internal and external campus communities (i.e. senior leadership, deans, department heads, industry, advisory boards, community partners, and other stakeholders) to identify new curriculum program opportunities and ensure the relevancy of existing curriculum programs
• Can establish and maintain effective community partnerships and effective relationships with external stakeholders and with co-workers and others

To view the Position Profile, go to  https://www.highereducationleadershipsearch.com/current-searches/

To apply for this position, visit https://www.highereducationleadershipsearch.com/candidate-portal-form

To nominate someone for this position, e-mail: nominations@highereducationleadershipsearch.com

Martha Lavender, Ph.D. will be assisting Highland Community College with the search. If you have questions or would like to have a confidential conversation about the position, call 256-239-2305 or e-mail mlavender@highereducationleadershipsearch.com

Best consideration for candidates will be through February 28, 2024

Highland Community College is an Equal Opportunity Employer and specifically invites applications from women, minorities, veterans and people with disabilities.