Who We Are
With three campuses along Colorado’s Front Range, Front Range Community College is the state’s largest community college. We enroll close to 28,000 students annually from our diverse service area, which offers a variety of cultural and recreational activities.
Each year approximately 5,000 FRCC students transfer to four-year universities. FRCC offers more than 36 career training programs that prepare students for immediate employment and rewarding careers. Last year, more than 5,000 high school students took concurrent enrollment classes with us, earning college credit without having to pay college tuition. And we were recently ranked as one of the “Top Online Colleges” in the country by Newsweek.
One of FRCC’s main goals is to offer educational excellence for everyone. The college’s strong commitment to student success means we start by creating an inclusive and equitable environment—one where both students and employees feel they belong and are supported. FRCC’s focus on diversity, equity and inclusion is woven into the fabric of our college conversations and decision-making processes. We are actively seeking to hire a workforce that reflects the diversity of our student body.
The college is also an emerging Hispanic Serving Institution. For us, becoming an HSI is an intentional commitment to being a college where our Latinx (and other historically marginalized) students thrive.
FRCC employees and leaders work hard to create a culture of collaboration, innovation and pride. We’re looking to hire people who share these values—along with our commitment to student success, equity and excellence.
Who You Are
As the Dean of Access and Student Connections, you will play a vital leadership role, reporting to the Vice President of Enrollment Management and Student Success (EMSS). You will shape policies and processes to enhance access to higher education and support degree attainment for a diverse student population. You will lead a wide range of programs, services, and departments related to student recruitment, re-engagement, admissions, onboarding, career services, and enrollment communications.
You will provide leadership to the departments within Access and Student Connections, which include New Student Recruitment, Re-Admit/Reengagement, Admissions Operations and Processing, Orientation and Onboarding, Career Services, Enrollment Communications (Student Communications), and College Information Services for both new and current students (Wolf Central / Welcome Centers).
Your responsibilities will include managing and evaluating services that drive student recruitment and retention, fostering an inclusive and collaborative culture, and ensuring students have access to the resources they need for success through the Guided Pathways model. You’ll provide strategic leadership with a focus on admissions, recruitment strategies, and best practices in student support. As a member of the EMSS Senior Leadership Team, you’ll collaborate to achieve college-wide goals for recruitment, retention, and enrollment.
In this role, you will have approximately six (6) direct reports, including an administrative assistant, and will lead five (5) teams comprising around 40 staff members, along with additional part-time and student employees.
This position does have the opportunity to work remotely occasionally but does require a strong on-campus presence and will need to travel to all three FRCC campuses.
Please note: You need to be a Colorado resident on your first day of employment.
SALARY: $104,550 - $109,777 annually
BENEFITS: Please click here to find more information about APT & Faculty Benefits
SELECTION PROCESS: Position will remain open until filled with a priority deadline of October 20, 2024. This posting may be used to fill multiple or similar positions.
Preliminary screening will be made on the basis of completed application package submitted by candidate. In your application, please include a resume and cover letter that specifically addresses how your background and experience align with requirements, qualification and responsibilities of the Dean of Access & Student Connection.
Primary Duties
Strategic Enrollment Management:
- Collaborate with the VP of Enrollment Management and Student Success (EMSS) and senior leadership to create and implement a data-driven Strategic Enrollment Management Plan that aligns with the College’s mission. This includes developing a comprehensive recruitment plan, integrating financial aid and marketing strategies, and optimizing the use of technology to enhance outreach and student support.
- Lead efforts to align Admissions, Recruitment, Orientation, and Career Services with best practices, focusing on Guided Pathways, while fostering a culture of trust and transparency with faculty and staff. Partner with key stakeholders to increase matriculation rates of high school students earning college credits, and continuously improve New Student Orientation to ensure successful onboarding and retention.
- Collaborate with Enrollment Communications to create targeted campaigns and work with Equity and Inclusion to promote diversity and address barriers faced by underrepresented students. Manage data collection and reporting to support strategic decision-making and ensure compliance with fiscal and operational constraints.
- Represent the College at state and national levels as needed.
Operations Planning & Implementation:
- Provide strategic leadership for student retention and engagement programs, streamlining operations to remove barriers to student success. Set goals and key performance indicators for departments under supervision, ensuring compliance with external requirements and program effectiveness.
- Work with the college community to develop innovative programs that enhance student retention and engagement. Communicate policy and procedural changes across the campus, gathering stakeholder input before implementation.
Leadership:
- Build and lead a high-performing, inclusive leadership team, ensuring collaboration and trust. Oversee the hiring, supervision, and professional development of leaders in Admissions, Career Services, Orientation, Wolf Central, and Enrollment Communications. Collaborate with HR to implement staff training and development initiatives, while promoting diversity in recruitment and retention efforts.
- Implement change management strategies to support staff through new initiatives, fostering data-driven, care-centered, and equity-minded decision-making. Manage budgets for programs, ensuring alignment with institutional priorities and effective resource allocation.
Required Competencies
- Commitment to Values: Demonstrates leadership and collaborative behaviors and actions that support FRCC values.
- Student Success Focus: Demonstrates behaviors and actions that support a student-first culture.
- Equity, Inclusion and Diversity: Champions equity through reducing or eliminating barriers within departmental practices, policies and processes. Uses an equity lens to guide decisions.
- Change Catalyst: Ability to encourage others to seek opportunities for different and innovative approaches to addressing problems and opportunities.
- Communication: Communicates effectively with many types of individuals clearly and persuasively.
- Consensus Building: Ability to bring about group solidarity to achieve a goal.
- Leadership: Ability to influence others to perform their jobs effectively and to be responsible for making decisions.
- Strategic Planning: Ability to develop a vision for the future and create a culture in which the long-range goals can be achieved.
- Team Building: Ability to convince a group of people to work toward a goal.
- Collaboration: Ability to connect stakeholders from across areas to develop and support cohesive enrollment initiatives.
- Collaboration: Ability to connect stakeholders from across areas to develop and support cohesive enrollment initiatives.
- Cultivating Relationships: Leads efforts to engage in and support collaborative efforts across divisions when job processes are integrated and to strategically focus on way to support student success.
- Project Management: Leads project teams for development of new processes and other strategic initiatives.
Qualifications
Required Education/Training & Work Experience:
- Master’s degree from an accredited institution.
- Significant higher education experience in student admissions and recruitment, college information services (one-stop-shops), or Career Services. Experience implementing programs and a proven track record of achieving enrollment goals and/or retention targets.
- Supervisory experience with staff at an assistant director level or above and a proven track record of collaborative leadership.
- Record of successful decision-making, data analytics, budget management and goal achievement.
- Demonstrated record of student success innovation and initiatives.
- A leadership record with a strong commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.
Welcoming. Respectful. Inclusive. Together, we are FRCC.