Program Chair, Special Education (Licensure Programs)

If you’re passionate about building a better future for individuals, communities, and our country—and you’re committed to working hard to play your part in building that future—consider WGU as the next step in your career.

Driven by a mission to expand access to higher education through online, competency-based degree programs, WGU is also committed to being a great place to work for a diverse workforce of student-focused professionals. The university has pioneered a new way to learn in the 21st century, one that has received praise from academic, industry, government, and media leaders. Whatever your role, working for WGU gives you a part to play in helping students graduate, creating a better tomorrow for themselves and their families.

The salary range for this position takes into account the wide range of factors that are considered in making compensation decisions including but not limited to skill sets; experience and training; licensure and certifications; and other business and organizational needs.

At WGU, it is not typical for an individual to be hired at or near the top of the range for their position, and compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case. A reasonable estimate of the current range is:
 

Grade: Professional 313

Pay Range: $119,400.00 - $185,100.00

Job Description

This role helps disrupt higher education by providing relevant, high quality, innovative programs. This role is a dynamic and future-thinking leader who provides input on the vision, strategy, and roadmap to achieve this exciting and transformative mission. Ensures the integrity, academic excellence, student success, national reputation, and continuous improvement of assigned educational programs through leadership, influence, innovation, partnerships, and the advancement of the discipline. This position exhibits the highest level of expertise and knowledge in assigned program(s) and field area(s). They help ensure our programs are of the highest quality by providing the most relevant and current content, experiences, and skills, blending industry-based, durable knowledge and academics. Provides domain-level leadership to cross-functional faculty teams, design stakeholders, assessment managers, academic analysts, etc., and must have in-depth knowledge of the organization’s goals. Responsible for student success and course performance outcomes, both academic and business. Skillfully plans curriculum and analysis, faculty development, data gathering and reporting, and developing internal and external relationships. This position is responsible for communicating relevant information to stakeholders while “owning” the courses, success measures, and student outcomes across the entirety of the program. Works with college level leadership to help establish operational objectives and to positively impact student outcomes and program quality, potentially leading to growth opportunities in or adjacent to the programs they oversee.

 

Essential Functions and Responsibilities:

• Provides weekly, monthly, quarterly, yearly, and ad hoc reporting related to student success metrics that speak to quality, continuous improvement process review, and program analysis

• Participates as an interdepartmental influencer, effective change leader, accountability partner, and curriculum manager within the various meetings and functions of the position

• Works in concert with faculty and leadership to ensure multiple items are reviewed and addressed entirety of the programs while ensuring curricular matrices are also enabled

• Identifies and enlists employers and industry representatives to serve on program advisory committees

• Creates, measures, and communicates outcomes assessments

• Ensures courses of study clearly outline student learning objectives, outcomes, competencies, and assessments

• Responsible for course playbooks, faculty readiness, learning guides, and implementation.

• Responsible for accreditory and (potentially) approval matters in data gathering, reporting, and other work with Accreditation and Compliance stakeholders to ensure program quality

• Monitors and updates all course information including syllabus descriptions, etc., to ensure clearly defined expectations

• Develops and refines a shared, comprehensive, instructional course delivery method to include defined and designed cohort sessions to provide consistent expert support for complex, challenging competencies

• Sets requirements for faculty quality and sufficiency

• Provides feedback for performance evaluations

• Solicits faculty perspective and insights through regular meetings, as well as provide updates to faculty on program, department and college concerns

• Participates through ongoing involvement in external professional, regulatory and/or accreditation organizations and professional certifications

• Provides subject matter expertise to program, course and assessment design and development; supporting new and revised curriculum proposals. Participates in ongoing curriculum assessment plan for department and continuously monitors program and course success and executive level reporting.

• Leads matrixed cross functional teams across multiple departments to achieve expected outcomes

• Works with cross functional teams to ensure program and course content is relevant to workforce needs, rigorous, responsive, and aligns to defined student competencies

• Integrates the curricula and operations of the department with those of the program

• Coordinates outreach and research on the development of additional degree programs and certificates

• Represents WGU at the domain level, helping to cultivate positive public perception while maintaining working relationships with colleagues at area transfer institutions to identify and communicate opportunities for expanding articulation opportunities and potential gaps

• Reviews and monitors student and course feedback to ensure the student voice is represented and provides recommendations for content improvement

• Partners with design and development to plan regular and substantive faculty-student interactions and community of care support at program and course level.

• Communicates with stakeholders across multiple teams and departments, providing a bridging function across all program management and support teams.

• Performs other job-related duties as assigned.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• In-depth knowledge of program curriculum requirements as well as the science of learning and teaching concepts in program efficacy

• Working knowledge of accreditation and regulatory standards

• Ability to work effectively in a highly matrixed organization

• Ability to build relationships and influence at all levels, both internally and externally

• Ability to be an agent of change in a rapidly changing environment

• Proven ability to analyze data to identify trends and drive innovation

• Sound judgement and decision-making skills.

• Strong oral and written communication skills.

Job Qualifications:

Minimum Qualifications: 

• Master's degree in education or a related are from an accredited institution. 

• Proven track record of successful faculty development and program leadership within program curriculum as well as general practices across higher education.  

• 5 years of demonstrated teaching excellence in a variety of courses at the post-secondary level in an online context. 

• 2 years of leadership or supervisory experience. Leadership and supervisory experience in a post-secondary institution preferred. 

• Experience in curriculum design, implementation, and oversight. 

• Comfort with data, analysis, and reporting both verbally and in documented formats 

Preferred Qualifications: 

• Minimum of 6 years experience in K-12 system in a combination of teaching and leadership roles 

• Doctorate degree in education or a relevant area from an accredited institution 

• Experience in higher education  

• Experience in developing online education programs and/or developing and scaling rapidly changing organizations/programs 

• Experience in developing curriculum and/or high-stakes assessments  

• Demonstrated success in change management, and bringing order and structure to complex situations

Physical Requirements:

Prolonged periods sitting at a desk and working on a computer.

Travel:

This position requires occasional travel of up to 20%, including required attendance at designated company summits (typically one to two per year). Additional travel may include conferences, visits to company locations, and other business-related events as needed. Additional travel may be assigned as needed to support business requirements.

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Position & Application Details

Full-Time Regular Positions (classified as regular and working 40 standard weekly hours): This is a full-time, regular position (classified for 40 standard weekly hours) that is eligible for bonuses; medical, dental, vision, telehealth and mental healthcare; health savings account and flexible spending account; basic and voluntary life insurance; disability coverage; accident, critical illness and hospital indemnity supplemental coverages; legal and identity theft coverage; retirement savings plan; wellbeing program; discounted WGU tuition; and flexible paid time off for rest and relaxation with no need for accrual, flexible paid sick time with no need for accrual, 11 paid holidays, and other paid leaves, including up to 12 weeks of parental leave.

How to Apply: If interested, an application will need to be submitted online. Internal WGU employees will need to apply through the internal job board in Workday.

Additional Information

Disclaimer: The job posting highlights the most critical responsibilities and requirements of the job. It’s not all-inclusive.

Accommodations: Applicants with disabilities who require assistance or accommodation during the application or interview process should contact our Talent Acquisition team at recruiting@wgu.edu.

Equal Employment Opportunity: All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to any protected characteristic as required by law.