SUBJECT:

NOMINATION DEADLINE APPROACHING - Search for the Faculty Director, Teaching + Learning Commons

I am pleased to invite nominations and applications for the position of Faculty Director of the Teaching + Learning Commons. We have enlisted the assistance of the Witt/Kieffer executive search firm to help us manage this national search. Cheryl Anderson (Professor and Interim Chair, Family Medicine and Public Health) has agreed to chair the Search Advisory Committee (membership listed below).

The Faculty Director will provide strategic vision and leadership to further the mission of the Teaching + Learning Commons to advance student success through teaching excellence and comprehensive academic support, in light of a complex and ever-changing higher education landscape. The Commons consists of six hubs: Engaged Teaching, Digital Learning, Academic Achievement, Writing, Experiential Learning and Education Research + Assessment. The hubs closely interact, inform, and mutually reinforce each other. Together, they function as a single entity embodying the intertwined relationship of teaching and learning. Through its wide range of programs, services, and research, the Commons assists all members of the UC San Diego community in developing learning environments and experiences for their students that encourage engagement and foster student success.

Under the direction of the Associate Vice Chancellor for Educational Innovation, the Faculty Director will be a key partner in creating transformative pedagogical advancements at UC San Diego to provide equitable, high quality and accessible educational experiences for all students. The Faculty Director's knowledge and contributions to the scholarship of teaching and learning will guide faculty in their advancement of teaching excellence, inside and outside the classroom in both traditional and digital teaching and learning settings. Additionally, the Faculty Director's experience supporting undergraduate and graduate student academic success and professional development will prove critical as the Commons refines and evolves its student support offerings. The Faculty Director will serve as a catalyst for conversations and collaborations amongst faculty, departments and academic leaders to refine and assess student learning outcomes and to move educational innovation opportunities from development to implementation. The position is a full-time, 12-month administrative appointment accompanied by a full-time appointment of associate professor or professor, either with tenure as a ladder-rank faculty member or with or security of employment in the teaching professor series, and eligible for full university benefits.

Additional details regarding the position and qualifications for the Faculty Director are outlined in the position profile:
https://bit.ly/3akgix8

Application review will begin immediately and will continue until the position is filled. Please direct confidential inquiries, applications and nominations to consultant Jen Meyers Pickard, Ph.D. at jpickard@wittkieffer.com. You need not contact the individual to ascertain if they are willing to be considered as a candidate. All nominees will be contacted in confidence, to discuss their willingness to have their names put forward to the search advisory committee.

Candidates should provide a curriculum vitae, a letter of application that addresses the responsibilities and requirements described in the position profile, a diversity statement (see Contributions to Diversity: https://go.ucsd.edu/2vsGKEj), and the names and contact information of five references. References will not be contacted without prior knowledge and approval of candidates. For fullest consideration, applicant materials should be received by February 28, 2020.

Pradeep K. Khosla Chancellor Elizabeth H. Simmons Executive Vice Chancellor

PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS AND DESIRED CHARACTERISTICS OF THE FACULTY DIRECTOR:

• A demonstrated record of scholarship, publications or creative works and teaching that merits a tenured (ladder rank series) or security-of-employment (teaching professor series) faculty appointment as an associate or full professor at UC San Diego.
• A proven record of broad, progressively responsible and substantive administrative management and leadership experience in higher education, preferably in the context of a large research university.
• A highly regarded researcher within their academic field with a demonstrated record in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning and/or discipline-based educational research.
• Ability and demonstrated experience to lead a collaborative and highly coordinated team grounded in integrity and ethical behavior to best meet the holistic needs of the student body and campus community.
• Ability to collaborate effectively with a wide variety of people of diverse backgrounds, including an understanding and respect for cultural, ethnic and individual differences. Ability to contribute in meaningful ways to UC San Diego's commitment to enhance the inclusivity and equity of the campus teaching and learning environment.
• Proven skill in fostering collaborative, consultative and meaningful partnerships across university constituents while demonstrating sensitivity to considerations within, between and across academic disciplines, departments, schools, divisions, Academic Senate, community partners and the executive vice chancellor's office.
• Experience navigating academic governance in a complex, multi-campus system, including the ability to relate to faculty with diverse experiences and technical capabilities
• Demonstrated financial acumen, effective human, financial and organizational management experience and the ability to address fiscal constraints collaboratively and creatively. Excellent record of accomplishment of public resource stewardship.
• Highly refined active listening and effective communication skills including the ability to address with sensitivity diverse audiences internal and external to the institution.
• Strong interpersonal, analytic and presentation skills coupled with highly refined active listening and effective communication and consultative skills.
• Skill and experience in developing and refining strategic thinking, planning and goal setting within the broader context of the UC San Diego mission and strategic plan.
• Achievement in fostering change management, process improvement and the development and implementation of data-informed, effective and efficient policies and processes.
• A clear commitment to the mentoring of a talented staff and investment in their ongoing professional development.
• A successful record in fundraising endeavors and creative leadership in generating external resources.
• Excellent management, organization, planning, supervisory and problem-solving skills.
• Extensive knowledge of emerging research and practice in student success and the higher education environment.
• Ability to multi-task, prioritize and meet deadlines in a fast-paced environment, as well as possession of strong computer literacy and digital citizenship skills.

SEARCH ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEMBERS:

• Cheryl Anderson (Professor and Interim Chair, Family Medicine and Public Health) Chair
• Ed Abeyta (Associate Dean, Extension)
• Eric Allen (Professor, Scripps Institution of Oceanography)
• Veronica Eliasson (Associate Professor, Structural Engineering)
• Karen Flammer (Director, Digital Learning, Teaching + Learning Commons)
• Marina Hayden (Principal Analyst, Office of the Executive Vice Chancellor), Staff Consultant
• Jess Mandel (Professor, Department of Medicine)
• Stephanie Mel (Teaching Professor, Biological Sciences)
• Mia Minnes (Associate Teaching Professor, Computer Science and Engineering)
• John Moore (Dean, Undergraduate Education)
• Tom Murphy (Professor, Physics)
• Adarsh Parthasarathy (Associate V.P., Academic Affairs, Associated Students)
• Carolyn Sandoval (Associate Director, Teaching + Learning Commons)
• Alysson Satterlund (Vice Chancellor Student Affairs)
• Matthew Wills (Student Representative from Graduate Student Association)
• Paul Yu (Chair, Council of Provosts/Revelle College)