Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs

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Job description

Dubuque, IA

Clarke University seeks a visionary, integrative, and mission-centered leader to serve as Vice President for Academic and Student Affairs (VPASA). Reporting directly to the President and serving as a member of the President’s Cabinet, the VPASA provides executive leadership for the integration of academic and student affairs, advancing a holistic, systems-based, and continuously improving approach to student learning, formation, and success now and in the future.

This role unites academic affairs and student affairs in a coherent, student-centered ecosystem grounded in the charism of the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (BVM) and informed by Clarke’s Catholic identity. The VPASA serves as a principal partner to the President; a visible champion of integrated learning across generations, contexts, and communities; and a trusted steward of faculty excellence, student success, and institutional effectiveness through evidence-based decision-making and continuous improvement.

Organizational Context

The VPASA leads a reimagined division intentionally designed to make Clarke’s mission operational and a distinctive differentiator. Central to this structure are a commitment to active and experiential learning, a Dean of Faculty, Dean of Academic Affairs, and Dean of Student Affairs reporting to the VPASA, and an integrated, data-informed student success framework. Direct reports include:

  • The Dean of the Faculty
  • The Dean of Academic Affairs
  • The Dean of Student Affairs
  • University Registrar
  • The Executive Assistant for Academic and Student Affairs

The VPASA is expected to steward this model with foresight, clarity, disciplined execution, compassion, and a systems perspective that aligns strategy, assessment, and improvement across the institution in support of long-term agility and resilience.

Key Responsibilities

Mission and Executive Leadership

  • Advance Clarke’s BVM Catholic identity and heritage through policy, practice, and culture
  • Serve as a strategic partner to the President
  • Model values-based leadership that integrates mission, academic quality, student success, and organizational performance

Academic Affairs

  • Provide executive oversight of curriculum development, assessment of student learning, and accreditation as the University’s Chief Academic Officer
  • Supervise and support the Dean of Faculty, Dean of Academic Affairs, Dean of Student Affairs, and University Registrar
  • Ensure academic quality and integrity through systematic assessment, use of evidence, and continuous improvement consistent with regional accreditation expectations

Student Affairs and Student Success

  • Provide unified leadership for advising, retention, student life, and co-curricular learning
  • Advance an integrated student success ecosystem that uses qualitative and quantitative data to improve outcomes and close equity gaps

Innovation, Integration, and Formation

  • Collaborate widely and effectively to integrate formation, vocation, and learning
  • Champion multigenerational and experiential learning models
  • Participate in strategic planning processes informed by strategic foresight, environmental scanning, and scenario-aware thinking

Institutional Stewardship and Performance Excellence

  • Collaborate with senior leadership to align goals with institutional strategy
  • Advance a culture of continuous improvement, organizational learning, and performance excellence through systems-based processes
  • Strengthen institutional agility and resilience by aligning planning, assessment, budgeting, and improvement cycles
  • Lead effectively through complexity, transition, and change with transparency and care

Candidate Profile: What Success Looks Like

The ideal candidate will demonstrate integrative leadership; deep respect for Clarke’s BVM Catholic identity; support of presidential leadership through ongoing institutional change; and the ability to translate mission, strategy, and evidence into action through holistic, systems-based approaches.

Early success will be reflected in strong relationships across faculty, staff, and students; coherent and transparent leadership; strengthened faculty morale and trust; improved student engagement and outcomes; and demonstrated progress toward institutional agility, resilience, and performance excellence.

Required Qualifications

  • Terminal degree (PhD or equivalent)
  • Tenure-eligible academic background (or prior tenure)
  • Progressive academic leadership experience (Dean level or higher)
  • Deep knowledge of academic operations, including curriculum, faculty governance, accreditation, assessment,
  • Demonstrated success in improving student retention and persistence

How to apply

The Vice President for Academic Affairs Search Committee will begin the review of applications immediately and continue work until an appointment is made. Applications must include:

  • A letter of interest addressing the key responsibilities and qualifications identified in the profile;
  • A current curriculum vitae; and
  • The contact information (email and phone) for five professional references, including their relationship to the candidate. References will not be contacted without prior authorization from the candidate.

The University is firmly committed to non-discrimination and affirmative action and it is the policy of the University to strive to afford equal opportunity to qualified individuals, regardless of their race, color, age, disability, gender, Vietnam or disabled veterans status or national origin and to conform to applicable laws and regulations.