Provost

SR1 College Preparatory and STEM Academy; Canton (MS); On-site; USD 85,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

SR1 CPSA in Canton, Mississippi is seeking a Provost to lead daily instruction, set academic vision, and advance our STEM and college-prep mission in a national search. This on-site role emphasizes building culture, equity, and program growth for scholars and families.

The Provost will oversee academic affairs, instructional excellence, and strategic partnerships, working with STEM leadership to expand college pathways and campus development while ensuring accountability and outcomes.

Qualifications

• Higher education leadership experience is strongly preferred.
• Advanced degree in STEM is ideal and teaching or leadership at the college level is beneficial.
• Experience building culture, teams, and partnerships with boards, funders, and industry partners.

Responsibilities

• Lead campus culture and student life with families and communities on-site.
• Own academic standards, curriculum, faculty development, assessment, and outcomes using evidence to drive improvement.
• Read assessment and engagement data to inform decisions and collaborate with research teams.

Skills

Data analysis

Community leadership

Education

Advanced degree

Job description

Provost · Innovator · Research-Minded Leader

SR1 College Preparatory and STEM Academy | Canton, Mississippi | National Search

SR1 CPSA IS SEARCHING FOR ITS NEXT PROVOST: A BUILDER, AN ADVOCATE, AND A CHANGE AGENT

No Mississippi license required. Just an ambitious vision. We have the scholars. We have the scores. What we need now is a Provost who matches that with a commitment to change generations.

SR1 College Preparatory and STEM Academy is conducting a national search for our next Provost, the senior academic leader who owns daily instruction and student outcomes, sets the academic vision, and leads our college-preparatory and STEM mission from the front. The Provost reports to the Vice President, under the Executive Director, and works alongside our research and STEM leadership. This role calls for a leader with a clear, bold vision and a 100 percent commitment, and above all, someone who loves the process of building something great, one day and one scholar at a time.

Why this school is different

SR1 CPSA is being built as a full-service community lab school: a school that serves families like a community hub, studies what works like a research institute, and grows its own educators like a teaching hospital. Research scientists and proven instructional leaders work side by side. If you have ever wished a school were run with the rigor of a research university and the heart of a neighborhood, this is that school.

Good to great

88 percent of our 3rd graders passed the Mississippi ELA reading assessment on their first attempt, more than 10 points above the state average. We did that in four years, in Canton, Mississippi. Now we need a Provost who will lead from that strength, build the college-prep and STEM culture our scholars have already earned, and help shape SR1 CPSA's next campus and the extracurricular life, clubs, athletics, and enrichment, that will fill it.

The leader we are seeking

More than a specific title or career path, we are looking for someone whose character, values, and leadership philosophy align with our mission. The ideal Provost is a builder, advocate, servant leader, educator, and change agent, someone who sees education as more than operating a school and who understands that expanding educational opportunity is civil rights work. This person leads with evidence and leads with people. They make decisions like a data analyst and show up like a community leader, teaching parents and guardians alongside their children. This person has the courage to advocate for scholars and families, challenge conventional thinking, create opportunities where they do not exist, and develop young people who will lead locally, nationally, and globally.

What you will lead

• Campus culture, student life, and family leadership, on-site, every day. You set the climate every scholar and family feels the moment they arrive. You are also a community leader in the fullest sense: you help educate parents and guardians, in person and in plain language, about what their scholars are learning, how to read their progress, and how to support college and STEM readiness at home.
• Academic affairs and instructional excellence. You own academic standards, curriculum, faculty development, assessment, and outcomes, and you use evidence and data to drive continuous improvement.
• Evidence-driven decisions. You work shoulder to shoulder with our team and think like a data analyst: you read the assessment, attendance, and engagement data yourself, you ask what it is telling us about each scholar, and you make decisions from evidence rather than habit. You partner with our research and learning design staff to turn what works into classroom routines.
• STEM innovation and college pathways. Working with our Director of STEM Innovation and Partnerships, you build the programs, pipelines, and pathways that make "college preparatory" and "STEM" real at every grade level.
• Campus development and co-curricular life. You help plan and shape SR1 CPSA's next campus as it is built, and you grow the clubs, athletics, and activities that give scholars a reason to be here beyond the classroom.
• Faculty, staff, and institutional accountability. You recruit, develop, and evaluate a growing team against a high standard, and you keep the school accountable to its charter, regulatory, and governance obligations.
• Strategic partnerships and advancement. You build relationships with universities, industry, and funders, and you serve as the chief academic voice to our Governing Board.

What we are looking for

• Higher education leadership, strongly preferred but not required. We strongly prefer candidates who have led in higher education as a dean, department chair, vice provost, or program director and who want to build a college-going culture from the ground up. Strong K-12 leaders are also welcome. A traditional higher education background is not required for the right individual, and a Mississippi Administrator License is not required.
• A demonstrated commitment to civil rights and social impact. We are equally interested in leaders with experience in, or a deep personal commitment to, civil rights, social justice, advocacy, community advancement, or public service focused on expanding educational opportunity.
• An advanced degree from a competitive college or university, ideally in a STEM discipline, and experience teaching or leading at the college level. A research background is a plus.
• A clear record of raising outcomes and removing barriers, especially for first-generation, underserved, or underrepresented students, and the courage to stand up for scholars and families when it matters.
• Fluency in current and emerging STEM trends and the innovative thinking to bring new approaches, not just what has already been tried.
• Experience building culture, teams, and partnerships, including leading faculty and staff, shaping student life, and working with boards, funders, and industry partners.
• A builder's character: an entrepreneurial mindset, intellectual curiosity, resilience, humility, courage, compassion, and accountability. You are comfortable helping build an institution that is still growing rather than managing existing systems.
• Two instincts in one leader. You are as comfortable in a spreadsheet as you are at a kitchen table. You use data to make decisions and to see each scholar clearly, and you can sit with a family and explain what the numbers mean in a way that builds trust and gives parents and guardians real tools to help.
• A global perspective. You believe Mississippi scholars can compete, lead, innovate, and contribute on a national and global stage, and you can build relationships with universities, businesses, government agencies, community organizations, foundations, and international partners.
• A total, undivided commitment. This is a full-time, on-site role, and SR1 CPSA is the whole job.
• Real presence in the greater Canton and central Mississippi area. You do not have to live in Canton itself, but you do need to be part of the central Mississippi community.

We are deliberately widening this search beyond Mississippi and beyond the traditional K-12 pipeline. The right Provost may come from higher education, from K-12, from civil rights, social impact, community leadership, advocacy, public service, STEM, research, or another mission-driven field. What matters most is that you believe in this mission and have the vision, courage, and determination to help take SR1 CPSA to a national and global level of impact.

The honest part

We think of ourselves as a startup that happens to be a school. That means the work is demanding, the pace is fast, and the structure is still being built. We need a Provost who is all in: on campus, in the community, and invested in growing this school as their main professional pursuit. Getting in is hard by design. The people who are in take pride in it.

Compensation

Compensation starts at a base of $85,000, with permanent growth steps and incentives tied to evidence-based student growth, enrollment growth, partnerships and grants, and knowledge gain. Together these bring total compensation potential to $120,000 in year one, with growth each year after. Your pay grows by growing the success of the school and the community.

More than a job

We are not looking for someone to maintain a school. If you want a seat to hold, this is not the job. If you want to build an institution, help build the campus and everything around it, develop future leaders, expand educational opportunity, and leave a lasting impact on scholars, families, Mississippi, and the world, and you plan to stay and see it through, let us talk.

www.sr1cpsa.org | 601.206.4544 | Canton, MS

SR1 CPSA is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Creating the Future as One with a Commitment to Excellence

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