Senior Vice Provost for Academic Programs and Initiatives

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Job description

Location: Raleigh, North Carolina

Essential Job Duties:
As a member of the Provost’s leadership team, the Senior Vice Provost for Academic Programs and Initiatives advises the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost on opportunities and challenges affecting the university’s academic portfolio and helps translate institutional priorities into sustainable opportunities and initiatives.

In this role, you will provide strategic leadership across a diverse portfolio of academic programs and initiatives-connecting people, priorities, and resources to strengthen the portfolio and identify opportunities for continued growth and evolution. Success in this role will come through building relationships across organizational boundaries and bringing together diverse perspectives and expertise to advance initiatives that support the university’s academic priorities. Working closely with central administrative partners, including University Data and Analytics, Enrollment Management, and Institutional Effectiveness, you will use program performance, enrollment trends, and institutional metrics to inform strategic decisions and identify opportunities across the academic portfolio.

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership and Educational Direction:

  • Provides executive leadership for the Office of Academic Programs and Initiatives (OAPI), and establishes a vision and priorities aligned with NC State’s institutional goals and land grant mission.
  • Plays a central role in collaboratively shaping the future of NC State’s educational portfolio, identifying emerging opportunities and advancing new models.
  • Advises the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost on trends, opportunities, and challenges affecting the university’s educational portfolio.
  • Champions cross-university collaboration and initiatives that expand opportunities, strengthen learner pathways, and increase institutional impact.

Portfolio Leadership and Oversight:

  • Provides strategic and fiscal oversight for OAPI’s portfolio and supervises senior leaders responsible for its constituent units and functional areas.
  • Fosters collaboration and shared direction across constituent units and functional areas, strengthening connections across the broader educational enterprise.
  • Evaluates opportunities for growth, innovation, collaboration, investment, and realignment across the OAPI portfolio.
  • Cultivates a culture of excellence, accountability, professionalism, and continuous improvement.

Academic and Educational Advancement:

  • Works collaboratively with colleges, academic and administrative leaders, faculty, and university partners to strengthen and evolve NC State’s academic and educational portfolio.
  • Identifies opportunities to develop new programs, pathways, credentials, partnerships, and educational models responsive to learner, workforce, and societal needs.
  • Promotes alignment among academic programs and broader educational initiatives, advancing interdisciplinary programs, pathways, credentials, and other initiatives in collaboration with university and external partners to expand access, strengthen student success, and advance NC State’s land-grant mission.

Academic Portfolio Assessment and Decision Support:

  • Uses enrollment, financial, workforce, market, student success, and other institutional data to evaluate the health and competitiveness of NC State’s academic portfolio.
  • Actively engages in assessing the effectiveness, sustainability, and strategic alignment of academic programs and educational initiatives.
  • Identifies opportunities to optimize the academic portfolio in partnership with colleges and university leadership and develop executive-level recommendations for program investment, restructuring, expansion, discontinuation, and consolidation.

External Engagement and Institutional Impact:

  • Helps to position NC State as a national leader in innovative academic programming and land-grant education.
  • Cultivates relationships with external partners, professional organizations, peer institutions, employers, and other stakeholders to identify opportunities for educational innovation and workforce engagement.
  • Uses data, evidence, and stakeholder perspectives to assess portfolio effectiveness, inform priorities, and guide continuous improvement.

If you enjoy bringing people together, building trust across organizational boundaries, listening to different perspectives, and communicating with clarity, this role offers the opportunity to shape the future of NC State’s academic portfolio, navigate complex opportunities across the university, and use data, relationships, and sound judgment to turn institutional priorities into sustainable initiatives.

Minimum Experience/Education:
A post baccalaureate degree and a minimum of ten years experience in higher education is required; and Preference will be given to candidates with a doctoral degree, or terminal degree in their field.

Required Qualifications:

  • Knowledge of academic governance, organizational structures, and decision-making processes within colleges, universities, or higher education systems.
  • Experience in college, university, or system-level administration, with responsibility for advancing institutional priorities, programs, or initiatives.
  • Demonstrated ability to analyze information, solve complex problems, attend to details, and manage competing priorities across concurrent initiatives.
  • Experience leading cross-functional teams and managing complex, multi-stakeholder projects from planning through implementation.
  • Ability to communicate clearly, build relationships, and cultivate collaborative partnerships across academic and administrative units and with a range of university constituents.

Preferred Qualifications:

  • Earned doctorate with appointment at Associate or Full Professor eligible for tenure in a related department.
  • At least five years of progressively responsible experience at the college, university or system level in academic administration, planning or strategy

Required License or Certification:
N/A

AA/EEO Statement:
NC State University is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive equal opportunities for employment without regard to age, color, disability, gender identity, genetic information, national origin, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, and veteran status. The University encourages all qualified applicants, including protected veterans and individuals with disabilities, to apply. Individuals with disabilities requiring disability-related accommodations in the application and interview process are welcome to contact 919-513-0574 to speak with a representative of the Office of Equal Opportunity.

If you have general questions about the application process, you may contact Human Resources at (919) 515-2135 or [email protected].

Final candidates are subject to criminal & sex offender background checks. Some vacancies also require credit or motor vehicle checks. Degree(s) must be obtained prior to start date in order to meet qualifications and receive credit.

NC State University participates in E-Verify. Federal law requires all employers to verify the identity and employment eligibility of all persons hired to work in the United States.

How to apply

Join the Pack! A community with nearly 8,000 faculty and staff, and 30,000 students. NC State is one of the largest employers in North Carolina, offering a large range of career opportunities. Visit us at https://jobs.hr.ncsu.edu/.

Since the day of its creation – March 7, 1887 – NC State has been moving forward. It moved forward in 1889, when the first class of 72 students enrolled. A clear mission propelled the land-grant college: to open the doors of higher education to all of North Carolina, and to transform the state by developing and dispersing an understanding of agricultural and mechanical sciences.