Position Title: Director, Student Affairs

Department: WIT-Student Life

Advertised Pay: Mid $80,000's

Campus Location: Washburn Tech

Application Review: Application review will begin as applications are received and will continue until the position is filled. 

Position Summary: This position serves as the lead student affairs professional for the Washburn University Institute of Technology (Washburn Tech) campuses and is responsible for the student life functions of student conduct and conflict resolution while facilitating campus leadership to provide Student Life operations. Responsible for working closely with the Dean of Washburn Tech, oversee student conduct and behavior communications with high school partners, and assist with providing Student Life perspectives on Washburn Tech campuses.

About Washburn University: Washburn University is a teaching-focused, student-centered, public institution located in the metropolitan setting of Topeka that has earned national recognition for its high-impact programs for first-generation students. Washburn has a student body of just over 7,000 students, a significant and growing number of whom are first-generation and Pell-Grant eligible. The University has created educational pathways for all students to be successful and achieve their educational goals.

Washburn is dedicated to recruiting and retaining a dynamic faculty, staff, and student body and cultivating a robust learning and working environment and curriculum. We employ more than one thousand faculty and staff on our campuses throughout Topeka and strive to offer competitive wages, an excellent benefits program, and a supportive culture and a healthy work/life balance. Washburn seeks to create an environment that reflects our core values for creating positive IMPACT: inclusion, modernization, partnership, achievement, community and transformation. In 2024, Washburn was recognized as one of the best colleges in the nation to work for, according to Great Colleges to Work For® program.

Essential Functions:
• Provides leadership and supports the planning, organizing, and coordination of Student Life strategic priorities throughout Washburn Tech campuses, while achieving institutional goals and objectives and ensuring that student life services are provided to achieve educational success.
• Serve as the lead student conduct officer for students at the Washburn Tech campuses. Meet with students, parents, and high school partners as appropriate to explain conduct processes.
• Supervise, support, and manage assigned staff to maximize employee performance and facilitate professional growth. Recruit, hire, train, schedule, and evaluate the performance and effectiveness of assigned staff. Provide appropriate feedback and professional development opportunities. Work to maintain a healthy work environment by exercising teamwork and collaboration. As a team leader, will actively promote a professional workplace of mutual respect and collegiality for all members of the institution and work to build positive and cooperative relationships with all staff, encouraging them to work toward individual and departmental goals.
• Lead communication with high school partners and Washburn Tech faculty to provide training and development (internal and external) to ensure access and awareness of Washburn Student Life programs, resources, policies, and procedures.
• Will seek input from appropriate Washburn departments and staff, including student life senior leadership, to examine facts, discuss concerns, and identify available alternatives that may apply to more complex behavior cases from the Washburn Tech campuses. Determine and issue the final dispensation of each conduct case, working to the extent possible to provide direction and support to the student to help them become a better student and individual.
• Participate in the University Behavioral Assessment Team (UBAT) and respond to emergencies, providing initial intervention and services to students in crisis.
• Collaborate with leadership of Student Life units to facilitate the delivery of services directly to students on the Washburn Tech campuses, which may include strategic planning and/or supporting programs that are crucial to the retention of students and staff.
• Provide oversight and input related to organizational realities, uphold policies and procedures, and help ensure student life operations continuously improve.
• Develop an effective relationship with leadership to create a network of support for students at Washburn Tech and provide information and support to academic leadership as appropriate.
• Systematically assess student life services using student learning outcomes and other appropriate measures to improve the effectiveness of these services.
• Assume responsibility and leadership to complete special projects/assignments as directed.
• Provide feedback to the student life senior leadership regarding activities and issues at the Washburn Tech campuses involving all Student Life Departments to facilitate onsite operational support specifically regarding how those offices are providing resources and support on Washburn Tech campuses, including, but not limited to, student accommodations and counseling services.
• Represent Student Life interests on committees, task forces, and shared governance councils as appropriate.
• Serve as an on-site resource for student life questions and staff and direct inquiries accordingly.
• Perform additional job-related duties as assigned or as appropriate.

Required Qualifications:
• Master's degree.
• Four years of progressively responsible experience with student conduct in a university or K-12 environment.
• Supervisory experience.
• Proven effective interpersonal, communication, organizational, administrative, and leadership skills.
• Demonstrated ability to manage conflict and lead collaborative efforts among multiple constituencies successfully.

Exempt, Full-time, Mon-Fri, 7:30am - 4:30pm   
Background Check Required