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Bennett CollegePOSITION PROFILE

VICE PRESIDENT FORACADEMIC AFFAIRS

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THE PRESIDENT’S MESSAGEBennett College is a small, private, historically Black liberal arts college for women located in Greens-boro, NC. The College is on the verge of reinventing/reimagining itself for the 21st Century. We are doing so in a VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous) environment in the world and on our campus. This is a critical moment requiring a team of people who are willing to dive in and be part of something big, something challenging, something important. At this moment, we have an opportunity to reinvent and reimagine the roles of Bennett College, HBCUs and the liberal arts in the 21st Century preparation of women of color who aspire to leadership in social justice, civil rights and social mobility.

If that opening left you feeling a mixture of excitement, trepidation, anxiousness, curiosity, and hope, then please read on. Your sort of grounded optimism -- propensity to anticipate the best possible outcome with a healthy dose of realism and pessimism blended in with it—is just what we are looking for in this role.

We are very excited to be hiring roles for the Senior Leadership TEAM where “team” is the operative word. I work best as a leader when balanced, cajoled, and pushed by creative, innovative risk takers who like to make, build, and create things. These are most often people who are undaunted by and excited about hairy challenges; who are fast and nimble problem-solvers; who both make my thinking better, as well as bring their own original ideas to the work; and who know how to navigate team work to get the best from diverse and sometimes divergent opinions and skillsets.

This Senior Leadership TEAM is essential because it represents and signals the future possibilities of Bennett College. Every action by each of us matters to the future of Bennett College, and every ac-tion by each of us is being watched and noted carefully by stakeholders in the community and around the country, not to mention by students, families, alumnae, faculty and staff on campus. That is both daunting and poses an exciting opportunity.

The opportunity is to put the 21st Century woman of color at the center of our work and reinvent/reimagine Bennett College and the Liberal Arts accordingly. Our role at Bennett College is to help our students navigate VUCA on campus and in the world by preparing them to be flexible and adaptable in an environment where the nature, speed, volume, and magnitude of change is occurring more fre-quently than in the past. At the same time, we need to support and develop faculty and staff in nav-igating that same set of factors. This Senior Leadership TEAM will be at the forefront of reinventing/reimagining a College that supports students, faculty and staff to navigate VUCA through developing much needed policies and procedures, while also leading a significant shift in the culture of the Col-lege-- a tall order and one that is ever urgent.

The community, nation and the world need all of us and our graduates. It is why I am here—to respond to an urgent need to make a difference in the world and prepare the leaders the world so desperately needs. I hope that you are also looking to make a difference in the world and that you will seriously consider joining us on this journey.

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OPPORTUNITY: AN ENERGETIC TURNAROUND, INNOVATIVE LEADERBennett College in Greensboro, North Carolina seeks an energetic turnaround, innovative leader to serve as its next vice-president for academic affairs (VPAA). A member of the senior team reporting to President Suzanne Walsh, the VPAA will lead a committed and dynamic faculty in educating women of color who aspire to leadership.

In a mission-centered educational environment that values academic quality and social responsibility, the VPAA will lead the following priorities:

• provide academic vision and strategic planning that foster active, engaged and distinctive learning experiences for women of color who aspire to leadership in their fields, social justice, civil rights and social mobility

• improve the academic profile and reputation of the College through high quality academic programs, cross-disciplinary collaborations, and engaging educational experiences

• establish college-wide pathways that lead to increased student retention degree completion, professional/graduate schools, and career readiness

• promote academic partnerships and diversified academic initiatives for enrollment growth

• build alliances with external partners that enhance the student experience with internships, experiential programs, and student employment

• guide strategic and operational planning and assessment across the academy in support of institutional effectiveness as well as institutional and professional accreditations and institutional effectiveness

• serve as an advocate for effective shared governance principles, policies, and practices

Applications are invited from experienced higher education professionals who can effectively and energetically set ambitious strategic goals with optimism, decisiveness and accountability at a transformative time in the College’s history.

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WHO WE ARE

Mission Bennett College prepares women of color through a transformative liberal arts education to lead with purpose, integrity, and a strong sense of self-worth. Bennett provides educational access to students while promoting inquiry, civic engagement, social justice, lifelong learning, and equity for all.

VisionBennett College is renowned for its intimate, engaging learning community that produces phenomenal women scholars and global leaders.

PhilosophyBennett College’s undergirding philosophy is that a high-quality college experience should provide its women students with strong academic and co-curricular programs that encourage their personal development, endorse life-long learning, and prepare them to meet the needs of an ever-changing society. Bennett College values and respects every member of its community. As a United Methodist Church-related institution, the College believes that education should be related to humanitarian ends.

MOMENTUM The next VPAA at Bennett College will enter an exciting journey – an opportunity to reimagine and reinvent the roles of the liberal arts in the 21st Century preparation of women of color who aspire to leadership in social justice, civil rights and social mobility. The opportunity is to help solidify the role of the liberal arts in a modern and VUCA world. While many point to STEM as the panacea for surviving in a VUCA present and future, President Walsh likes to point out that both the present and future belong to those who are able to describe the kinship between the liberal arts and STEM. How do we take the best of each and influence the other in our quest to know what it means to be human? Those who know how to do that will not just be prepared to survive, navigate and thrive in a VUCA world but also lead with vision. We are here to prepare women of color to be visionary leaders in the 21st Century.

We have much we can build on.

• The Bennett Board of Trustees is reimagining and reengineering itself by undertaking a comprehensive self-assessment for intentional organizational improvement in effective governance and strategic leadership.

• The Department of Social Work has recently been reaffirmed by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE).

• Our smallness is our strength: Our enrollment is 298 students, including 88 entering freshwomen, transfer, and readmitted students. The student to faculty ratio is 7:1. This smallness in a time of radical transformation allows for a nimbleness and ability to quickly prototype new approaches to enhance the student learning experience to prepare them for the 21st century.

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• We have faculty who are doing interesting and leading-edge research, including two who have recently received NSF grants.

• We have a strong Global Studies Program that includes opportunities for students to go abroad and for international faculty and students to visit our campus.

• The #StandWithBennett campaign netted $9.5 million in 60 days. The campaign was bolstered by the prayers and dollars of its Belles, as its students and alumnae are known. And it was fueled by a variety of donors, from churches to pop stars and higher education institutions. Among them was North Carolina’s High Point University, another private United Methodist Church-affiliated school, that pledged support for Bennett and donated nearly $1.5 million.

• President Walsh convened a finance summit on her second day after officially becoming president. The summit brought together national and local experts to plan innovative ways to implement a 5-year financial model recommended in a final report by the Bennett Reengineering Committee.

• There is ongoing development of a new enrollment management plan to strengthen recruitment efforts, add more targeted recruitment strategies for spring and minimesters and focus on increasing transfer students.

• The College is undergoing an institutional self-assessments of campus departments, including business and finance, enrollment management, information technology and facilities to develop stabilization plans for each area.

• We are strengthening collaborations with peer institutions to tackle common challenges that we face in today’s rapidly changing higher education landscape and to increase educational opportunities for our students.

PRIORITIES AND OPPORTUNITIES

Institutional StabilizationSince 2010, the college has seen a steep decline in enrollment and years of annual budget deficits. In December 2015, the SACSCOC — the accrediting agency for about 800 Southern schools — warned Bennett about its financial situation. A year later, the commission put Bennett on probation, the more serious of the two sanctions. The commission was concerned that Bennett lacked sufficient financial resources to keep its doors open over the long term. The College was determined to be in compliance with all other standards contained in the Principles of Accreditation and Quality Enhancement.

Bennett College is not sitting still. As a United Methodist Church-affiliated college, the College is seeking accreditation from Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools (TRACS), which is authorized by the US Department of Education as a nationally recognized institutional accrediting agency.

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And, we are looking to innovate within our existing structures. Under the new President, faculty and staff are being asked to reinvent and reimagine within a set of constraints. Others may see constraints as limiting, President Walsh sees them as a challenge and an opportunity worth taking on with the right partners and in the right circumstances. The next Vice President for Academic Affairs will have the opportunity to join Bennett’s new president in operationalizing a four-point stabilization plan in business and finance, enrollment management, information technology, and facilities.

Logistics ManagementThe stabilization agenda for the College depends on an aggressive logistics management plan that integrates an efficient and effective flow of institutional change. Accelerating performance improvements in institutional research, information technology, business operations, enrollment management, and financial processes require systems and networks that overlap in functionality and generate high quality data to drive quality decision making that adds value to the College’s strategic goals. The next Vice President for Academic Affairs will work closely with internal cross functional teams to implement and integrate key policies, procedures and activities that support the work of faculty, students, and staff.

Business and FinanceThe VPAA will work closely with the Vice President for Finance and Business Operations (VPFB)/CFO to improve fiscal effectiveness and accountability between financial and academic affairs, focusing on policies, procedures, and operations to ensure the timely and accurate processing of transactions with strong internal controls, great customer service, and maximum efficiency. The VPAA will work with the VPFB/CFO to develop financial models that include diverse academic revenue streams, such as certificate programs.

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Enrollment ManagementThe VPAA will work closely with President Walsh and her leadership team to plan and implement an enrollment strategy that has a laser focus not only on identifying, recruiting and enrolling students, but students’ persistence and success, attrition, and graduation. This will require a broad organizational alignment with institutional research, academic affairs, financial affairs and all student service units to generate data-rich strategies to inform continuous and mutually reinforcing processes that clarify:

• enrollment goals for the number and types of students who will succeed at Bennett,

• the marketing strategy and competitive positioning to recruit them,

• the financial aid-- both funded and unfunded-- required to ensure that students can afford the costs, and

• the level of support for students’ academic success.

The VPAA will work alongside the Enrollment Management Division keeping the Office of Admissions up to date on current programs as well as identifying potential new programs that will assist in growing and enhancing enrollment.

Information TechnologyThe VPAA will work with faculty to identify a vibrant approach to technology that provides opportunities for all academic departments to fully integrate information technology not only as an integral part and function of the discipline but as resource to inform the structure of academic affairs, strategic planning, and academic success strategies.

FacilitiesThe VPAA will work with business operations to develop infrastructure, environmental services and space management plans that support innovative teaching, faculty research, technology transfer, and student learning.

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LEADERSHIPSuzanne Walsh is the 19th President of Bennett College, one of two historically black colleges for women in the United States. Prior to that role, she served as the deputy director for postsecondary success with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. There, Dr. Walsh led the foundation’s efforts in institutional transformation strategies, Completion by Design, and was integrally involved in the viability and sustainability of HBCUs in the current postsecondary education environment. Dr. Walsh’s previous work also includes service at two other prominent foundations: Lumina Foundation in Indianapolis, where she managed the Making Opportunity Affordable initiative, which was aimed at increasing college productivity by bringing about fundamental change in the way higher education does business; and The Heinz Endowments in Pittsburgh, where her diverse portfolio included community colleges, universities, workforce development, tech commercialization and transfer, city/county consolidation, immigration and regional economic development.

Dr. Walsh got her start in higher education working at Cuyahoga Community College where she led efforts focused on workforce and economic development. She most recently co-authored a chapter on “Community colleges and the ladder of student success” in the newly published book, Thirteen Ideas that Are Transforming the Community College World.

Dr. Walsh’s contributions extend to her role on a number of non-profit boards including Trellis Foundation, Seattle CityClub, Carey Institute for Global Good, the Harwood Institute, Global Learning Council and the advisory board for Road Trip Nation. She is also a proud judge for Dance Your PhD.

She earned a juris doctorate and master’s in social work from Case Western Reserve University, a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University, and an associate degree in applied science from Hudson Valley Community College. Dr. Walsh has an honorary doctorate from Johnson C. Smith University.

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BENNETT FACTS Bennett College was founded in 1873 as a normal school to educate freedmen and train both men and women as teachers. In 1926, it became a four-year women’s college.

Carnegie Classification: Baccalaureate Colleges: Arts & Sciences Focus

15+ programs of study in:• Arts and Humanities

• Business

• Education

• Social Science and Psychology

• STEM

Full-time Undergraduate Enrollmentby Major – Top 5, Fall 2019

• Biology: 20%

• Business: 13%

• Journalism & Media Studies: 11%

• Psychology: 10%

• Social Work: 10%

EnrollmentFull-time undergraduate enrollment: 298

Part-time undergraduate enrollment: 9

77% of undergraduates live on campus

<1% international

Nearly 50% of full-time undergraduates come from out-of-state

53% freshwoman-sophomore retention rate

20% four-year graduation rate

32% six-year graduation rate

Student-faculty ratio 7:1

Class of 202388 Class size 98% acceptance rate 7 transfer students 3.4% international students

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Financial Aid• 99% of students receive institutional grant aid, and 100%

demonstrated financial need

• The average institutional grant aid exceeds $15,000 for the fall 2018 incoming cohort

• The average merit awards exceeded $6000 for 2017–18 and are awarded to select, highly qualified students in each class

• $7041 average federal student loans for 2017-2018

• $32,817 average total expense

Faculty and Staff32 Full-time faculty 19 Part-time faculty 61 Full-time staff 11 Part-time staff

Campus37 Buildings on more than 60 acres 7 residence halls Housing guaranteed for all four undergraduate years

Student ActivitiesMore than 30 clubs and organizations, including Bells of Distinction, Biology Club, National Pan Hellenic Council, Sisters of Entrepreneurship, Sisters of Service, Social Work Club, Student Government Association and Belles Growing Green

Volunteering and Service2302 of community service hours completed in 2018

Study Abroad and Off-Campus StudyBennett has agreements with programs in 5 countries - Egypt, Turkey, Finland, Ghana, and England. 8 of our students studied abroad in 2018.

Fundraising for Fiscal Year (FY) 201832% alumni giving rate $9,833,838 in total receipts $553,466 in commitments $8,306,901 in annual giving 7000+ living alumnae

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COMMUNITY, REGION, AND CULTUREGreensboro, North Carolina, is one of those places that’s big enough to have everything you need but small enough for you to regularly bump into people you know. People who live here love it and say they have no reason to leave. Those who do leave will often return home to Greensboro to raise their families.

Greensboro is part of the Piedmont Triad (which also includes Winston-Salem and High Point) and is nicknamed the “Gate City” with good reason: It’s a short jaunt to and from all the major cities in North Carolina. Spend a day in the Blue Ridge Mountains to the west or head east for a beach weekend.

There is no shortage of arts, entertainment, recreation, shopping and restaurants to keep locals busy. Greensboro is home to the region’s largest hospital, and it boasts 170 well-kept public parks and gardens. A broad range of neighborhoods offers a diverse array of homes to satisfy different tastes, and a strong sense of community makes North Carolina’s third-largest metro area feel like a small town where the residents are neighborly.

Greensboro is home to two research universities, four colleges and a law school. There are degrees or certification programs for nearly every profession and continuing education opportunities for students of all ages. If you’re looking for an outstanding educational experience—for your child or yourself—Greensboro gets an A+.

Meet Greensboro, NC

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Bennett CollegePOSITION PROFILE

VICE PRESIDENT FOR ACADEMIC AFFAIRS

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ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIESSpecific responsibilities for the Vice President for Academic Affairs include:

Promote and maintain a distinctive academic vision for a college that educates women of color who aspire to be leaders in their fields, civil rights, social justice and social mobility.

Lead an academic program review to identify the future direction, needs and priorities of the College’s academic programs.

Supervise all units within Academic Affairs, including the Dean of Faculty and the Executive Director for Global and Interdisciplinary Studies.

Manage the academic affairs budget (including funds from grants and contracts); allocate funds to all units within the division and require fiscal effectiveness and accountability by all unit heads.

Foster high quality, integrity, and continuous improvement of curricula, instruction, and assessment in all majors, general education and academic initiatives.

Provide leadership to division-wide efforts to increase student retention and student degree completion and to prepare students for careers and/or graduate and professional schools.

Guide strategic and operational planning and assessment within the division in support of institutional and professional accreditation and continuous improvement.

Ensure that all personnel actions pertaining to faculty, staff, and administrators within the division are administered fairly and in compliance with all relevant policies.

Provide and support effective faculty and staff development programs that meet the diverse needs of employees at different stages of their careers.

Lead faculty and administrators in developing new sources of external funding and revenue generation.

Lead efforts to establish partnerships with other educational institutions, community organizations, businesses, and others to advance the educational, service, and research programs of the college.

Interpret results of academic reports and analyses and synthesize them into business-relevant summaries for the President, her leadership team and other Bennett College stakeholders.

Other tasks and projects assigned by the President.

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EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE REQUIREMENTSA terminal degree from an accredited institution and evidence of a strong record of teaching excellence and scholarship commensurate with appointment to a faculty position at the rank of professor with tenure.

Substantial higher education administrative experience with progressive responsibility, including experience as an academic dean.

An understanding of and appreciation for the HBCU women’s college as well as an understanding of first-generation female students and their parents.

Experience in the use of logistics to prepare and support individuals and teams to organize change, successfully embrace change, and to drive organizational success and outcomes.

Significant experience with strategic and operational planning, budgeting, assessment, accreditation initiatives and the ability to effectively represent Bennett’s interest when interacting with accrediting bodies.

Successful experience in preparing and supporting individuals and teams to successfully embrace change to drive organizational success and outcomes.

QUALIFICATIONS AND CHARACTERISTICSBusiness Insight: A comprehensive understanding of public policy issues for higher education and the political savvy and nimbleness to anticipate the needs of the shifting higher education environment.

Manages Ambiguity: Demonstrated experience working in a complex environment of uncertainty, unpredictability, rapid changes and non-linearity.

Manages Complexity: The ability to process multiple positions on issues, seek means to reconcile them, and effectively explain how and why decisions are made when complete and seamless reconciliation is not possible.

Analytical Ability: Exceptional analytical skills that comprehend complex data and issues and results in accurate and actional conclusions.

Budget and Financial Planning: Proven ability in building and managing academic budgets; working with faculty in academic planning and resource allocation.

Drives Results: Skilled in using metrics to demonstrate accountability for faculty productivity, student outcomes, accreditation standards.

Cultivates Innovation: Experience in promoting innovation, including use of technology, to improve student learning and assessment of learning.

Collaborates and Drives Engagement: A collaborative and transparent leadership style that inspires and motivates faculty and staff toward a common goal by soliciting ideas and input, communicating decisions openly and supporting shared government in the academy.

Fundraising and Extramural Funding: Direct experience with and prior success in fundraising and securing grants.

Interpersonal Savvy: Exemplary interpersonal skills to lead across boundaries and to build consensus through collaboration and consultation.

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THE APPLICATION PROCESSThe Vice President for Academic Affairs Search will begin reviewing and evaluation applications as they are received and will continue to accept and review credentials until the position is filled.

To ensure fullest consideration, candidates are advised to submit their materials by November 22, 2019.

Dr. Ronald L. Carter and Dr. Richard A. Wueste of AGB Search are assisting with this search.

Nominators and prospective candidates may contact Dr. Carter at ronald.carter@agbsearch.com or at 704-930-6515 and Dr. Wueste at richard.wueste@agbsearch.com or at 540-431-5131.

Applications should be submitted electronically in Word or PDF format to: BennettVPAA@agbsearch.com.

MATERIALS MUST INCLUDE:• A letter of interest that responds to the Priorities and Opportunities and the Qualifications and

Qualities sections of this profile.

• A current CV or résumé.

• Names and contact information (telephone and email) for five references, none of whom will becontacted until a later stage of the search or without the formal permission of the candidate.

All inquiries and applications will be received and evaluated in confidence.

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Bennett College is an equal opportunity employer.

900 East Washington StreetGreensboro, NC 27401

(336) 517-2100 | www.bennett.edu

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