Assistant Provost for Academic Affairs

American National University, Inc.; États-Unis; À distance; USD 120 000 - 170 000; Plein temps

Résumé du poste

American National University, Inc. seeks the Assistant Provost for Academic Affairs, a senior system officer responsible for faculty administration across all institutions.

The role covers workforce planning, recruitment, credentialing, appointment, onboarding, development, evaluation, retention, and separation for full-time, adjunct, and clinical faculty. This position consolidates Faculty Affairs, applies credentialing standards, and partners with institutional leadership.

Qualifications

• Graduate degree from an accredited institution; doctorate strongly preferred.
• Minimum of seven years of progressive higher education leadership experience, including responsibility for faculty hiring, evaluation, or development.
• Demonstrated experience in distance education.
• Experience supervising academic leaders such as deans, chairs, or department heads.

Responsabilités

• Oversee system-wide faculty workforce planning and recruitment across institutions.
• Own faculty credentialing, appointment, and related compliance across all programs and modalities.
• Lead onboarding, development, and mentoring for faculty across the system.
• Manage faculty evaluation, performance, retention, and separation processes.
• Partner with institutional leadership to align academic staffing and credentialing with strategic goals.
• Coordinate teaching assignments, workload standards, and scheduling across campuses.
• Drive faculty governance, policy, and culture; ensure data reporting for accreditation and regulatory needs.
• Provide data and reporting on faculty capacity, credentialing status, evaluation results, and retention.

Connaissances

Faculty recruitment

Credentialing

Faculty development

Evaluation & retention

Distance education

Data reporting

Strategic planning

Cross-institution leadership

Formation

Graduate degree

Doctorate preferred

Description du poste

Location: Remote (Main Campus in Salem, VA)

Reports to: System Provost

Direct Reports: Faculty Affairs staff across system institutions

FLSA Status: Exempt

Position Summary

The Assistant Provost for Academic Affairs is the senior system officer responsible for faculty administration across all institutions in the system. The position owns the full faculty lifecycle (workforce planning, recruitment, credentialing, appointment, onboarding, development, evaluation, retention, and separation) for all full-time, adjunct, and clinical faculty across every program, institution, and modality.

The position consolidates the faculty administration function previously performed separately at each institution. It applies the university's credentialing standard, a faculty file architecture, and an evidence pipeline across the system, eliminating the duplication and divergence risk inherent in parallel institutional offices.

Academic deans and program directors report to the Chief Academic Officer. The Assistant Provost for Academic Affairs exercises functional authority over faculty administration carried out through those leaders, holding line authority over system faculty affairs staff. Each institution's Chief Academic Officer sets the academic and disciplinary qualification standards that faculty must meet and retains decision rights over curriculum, learning outcomes, and assessment. The Chief Academic Officer owns what is taught and how it is measured, but the Assistant Provost for Academic Affairs owns the administration of who teaches it and how they are prepared, supported, and evaluated. The position serves as a member of the Provost's leadership team.

Key Responsibilities and Duties

System Faculty Workforce Planning and Recruitment

• Maintain a rolling faculty staffing plan by institution, program, term, and modality that projects instructional need against enrollment forecasts, course schedules, and student-to-faculty ratio requirements.
• Serve as the primary leader for faculty recruitment across all institutions and programs, including sourcing strategy, position postings, candidate pipelines, and talent partnerships with professional associations.
• Own the faculty hiring process: screening, interviewing, reference and background verification, offer development, and contracting.
• Partner with the Chief Financial Officer on faculty compensation structures, adjunct pay rates, contract templates, and budget alignment for instructional labor at each institution.
• Build and maintain an adjunct and clinical faculty bench sufficient to cover course cancellations, enrollment surges, and program growth without lapses in credentialed coverage.
• Identify opportunities to share qualified faculty across institutions where programmatic and accreditor requirements permit.
• Track and report time-to-fill, offer acceptance, and first-term retention metrics for all faculty hires.

Faculty Credentialing and Appointment

• Own the faculty credentialing function system-wide, ensuring every instructor of record meets or exceeds institutional, accreditor, programmatic, and state licensure qualification standards for each assigned course (as applicable).
• Apply the academic and disciplinary qualification standards set by each institution's Chief Academic Officer consistently and verifiably.
• Maintain complete and audit-ready faculty files, including transcripts, licenses and certifications, credentialing rationales, contracts, evaluations, and professional development documentation.
• Administer the faculty appointment, reappointment, and rank processes in accordance with institutional policy.
• Review and recommend credentialing exceptions and tested-experience justifications for approval by the relevant institutional Chief Academic Officer.
• Produce faculty rosters, credential matrices, and qualification evidence required for accreditation self-studies, substantive change applications, state authorization, and programmatic reviews at every institution.

Faculty Onboarding and Development

• Oversee faculty onboarding and new hire orientation, including systems access, policy training, course approval, and mentor assignment.
• Design, deliver, and improve the faculty professional development program, with emphasis on instructional excellence in distance education.
• Facilitate training for faculty on online pedagogy, course delivery, learning technologies, accessibility, academic integrity, and student engagement.
• Translate the curricular and assessment priorities communicated by each institutional Chief Academic Officer into faculty development programming.
• Administer the annual professional development plan requirement for all academics, verifying completion and maintaining documentation.
• Establish a faculty mentoring program pairing new instructors with experienced faculty.
• Manage the system faculty development budget and prioritize conference, credential, and continuing education investments against institutional need.

Faculty Evaluation, Performance, and Retention

• Own the faculty evaluation system, including course observation protocols, evaluation instruments, evaluation cycles, and calibration across institutions.
• Ensure every faculty member receives timely, documented, and constructive performance feedback each evaluation cycle.
• Monitor instructional quality indicators (course completion, grade distribution, student course evaluations, response time, and engagement data) and direct interventions where performance falls below standard.
• Administer performance improvement plans, corrective action, non-renewal, and separation for faculty.
• Develop and execute faculty retention strategy, including workload equity, recognition, career pathing, and exit interview analysis.

Partnership with Institutional Academic Leadership

• Partner with each institution's Chief Academic Officer on faculty capacity, credentialed coverage, and academic leadership succession.
• Convene deans and program directors across institutions regularly to align faculty practice, share instructional strategy, and surface program-level risk.
• Coach academic leaders in supervision, evaluation, difficult conversations, and faculty performance management.
• Serve as a standing member of the Academic Review Committee.

Teaching Assignments, Workload, and Scheduling

• Oversee the assignment of faculty to courses each term, ensuring credentialed coverage, workload equity, and continuity of instruction.
• Establish and enforce faculty workload standards, course load limits, and overload approval processes for full-time faculty and program leaders.
• Coordinate with the Registrar of each institution on term scheduling, section openings, and instructor-of-record assignments.
• Collect and maintain faculty assignment acceptance notices each term.
• Manage instructional continuity planning, including mid-term transitions and emergency reassignment.

Faculty Governance, Policy, and Culture

• Develop, maintain, and enforce the faculty handbook and all policies governing faculty appointment, workload, conduct, evaluation, development, and grievance across the system.
• Serve as the primary point of resolution for faculty concerns, grievances, and employment matters.
• Foster a professional culture that values teaching excellence, collegiality, and service to students.

Data and Reporting

• Maintain faculty data of record for every institution and provide faculty-related evidence for accreditation reports, state authorization filings, IPEDS submissions, and Board reporting.
• Report regularly to the System Provost and to each institutional Chief Academic Officer on faculty capacity, credentialing status, evaluation results, development completion, and retention.

Perform any other duties as assigned by leadership.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Deep knowledge of faculty credentialing requirements under institutional and programmatic accreditation.
• Demonstrated success recruiting and retaining faculty at scale, including adjunct and clinical populations.
• Ability to apply a single standard consistently across institutions with distinct accreditors, programs, and faculty bodies.
• Ability to exercise functional authority over academic units that report elsewhere, achieving consistency through clear standards and influence.
• Expertise in faculty evaluation design, instructional observation, and performance management in an online environment.
• Working knowledge of higher education employment practices, contracts, and the boundary between faculty affairs and human resources.
• Proficiency in distance education pedagogy, learning technologies, and instructional design sufficient to lead faculty development.
• Strong analytical skills, including the ability to build staffing models and interpret instructional quality data.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills, including the ability to conduct difficult performance conversations and prepare comprehensive reports.
• Ability to supervise and influence experienced, doctorally prepared academic leaders across disciplines and institutions.
• Cultural competence and a commitment to serving diverse and international student populations.

Education and Experience Requirements

• An earned graduate degree from an accredited institution; an earned doctorate is strongly preferred.
• Minimum of seven years of progressive higher education leadership experience, including direct responsibility for faculty hiring, evaluation, or development.
• Demonstrated experience in distance education.
• Prior experience supervising academic leaders such as deans, chairs, or department heads.
• Experience supporting institutional or programmatic accreditation, particularly faculty qualification standards.
• Experience operating across multiple institutions, campuses, or accrediting bodies is strongly preferred.

Key Skills/Core Competencies

• Faculty Recruitment, Credentialing, and Retention
• Faculty Development and Instructional Excellence
• Performance Management and Supervision of Academic Leaders
• Shared Governance and Collaboration

Physical Demands and Work Environment

Work is primarily sedentary and is performed in a remote-office setting:

• Extended periods of seated work at a computer workstation, with sustained use of a keyboard, mouse, and monitor.
• Frequent exchange of accurate information with students, colleagues, and external contacts by telephone, video conference, email, and in writing.
• Frequent review of detailed written material and data, on screen, and in print.
• Occasional lifting, carrying, or moving of items weighing up to 15 pounds, such as files, a laptop, or presentation materials.

Equal Employment Opportunity Statement

This university is an equal opportunity employer. We are committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.