Senior Vice President, Student Experience

Community College of Philadelphia; Philadelphia (Philadelphia County); On-site; USD 180,000 - 250,000; Full time

Job summary

Community College of Philadelphia is seeking the inaugural Senior Vice President for Student Experience to unify enrollment management, student support, and retention under a single strategic vision. The SVP will lead cross-campus collaboration, drive data-driven initiatives, and advance equitable student outcomes across all programs.

Reporting directly to the President, the SVP will partner with academic and administrative leaders to remove barriers to completion, deploy technology effectively,

Qualifications

• Master’s degree in Higher Education Administration or related field required.
• Doctorate in Higher Education preferred.
• Minimum of ten years of executive leadership in higher education.
• Experience leading strategic enrollment management initiatives.
• Experience with student success technologies, CRM, or predictive analytics.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic vision for enrollment, admissions, financial aid, and student support.
• Lead cross-campus collaboration to align policies with student outcomes.
• Develop and execute enrollment and retention strategies.
• Advise president and partner with external partners on student success.

Skills

Leadership

Enrollment management

Student success

Strategic planning

Data-driven decision making

Education

Master’s degree in Higher Education Administration

Doctorate in Higher Education Administration (preferred)

Tools

CRM platforms

Predictive analytics

Budget management software

Job description

Community College of Philadelphia (CCP) seeks a dynamic and human-centered systems thinker and collaborative student success champion to serve as the inaugural Senior Vice President for Student Experience (SVP). The SVP will serve as the College’s senior-most executive responsible for leading institution-wide student experience and enrollment management functions. Joining CCP on the heels of significant institutional activity, including the institution’s 60th anniversary, recent Carnegie Community Engagement Classification designation, and an ongoing efforts to strengthen and align the organizational leadership structure, the incoming SVP will be uniquely positioned to break down administrative siloes, align policies and procedures to maximize student impact, and enact a student experience strategy that revolutionizes support systems and outcomes for all students while maintaining CCP’s longstanding commitment to economic mobility and access.

Founded in 1965, Community College of Philadelphia is the largest and only public open-admission higher educational institution in Philadelphia. Originally conceived as a local, affordable alternative to four-year institutions, the College has evolved into a comprehensive center for workforce development, preparation for foundational bachelor's degrees, and community learning. Committed to fulfilling the promise of higher education for all Philadelphians, CCP is currently home to over 10,600 full-time equivalent students and has provided educational access to over than 700,000 Philadelphians during its six-decade history.

Reporting directly to President Dr. Alycia Marshall and serving as a member of the Cabinet and Executive Leadership Team, the SVP will provide strategic vision, leadership, and oversight for enrollment, admissions, financial aid, registration, student programs, and student support services. Tasked with developing and executing comprehensive enrollment and retention strategies, the SVP will lead efforts to attract, enroll, retain, support, and graduate students while ensuring an exceptional and inclusive student experience. This leader will partner across the institution to remove barriers to student success, improve student engagement and persistence, and align services with the College’s mission and strategic priorities with a keen commitment to equitable student outcomes.

Community college of philadelphia

Community College of Philadelphia is the largest public institution of higher education in Philadelphia and the sixth largest in Pennsylvania. With growing enrollment since 2021, the College is now the highest-enrolled community college in Pennsylvania. Consisting of three regional centers, in addition to the Main Campus, CCP is an open-admission institution that provides the key academic resources and support services needed to help students achieve and exceed their academic goals across their lifetimes.

CCP is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education and grants associate’s degrees in arts (A.A), Science (A.S.), and Applied Science (A.A.S.). The College offers more than 100 degree and certificate programs in Business, Entrepreneurship, and Law; Creative Arts; Design; Construction and Transportation; Education and Human Services; Health Care; Liberal Arts and Communications; and Science and Technology. A variety of day, evening, and weekend classes, as well as credit and noncredit courses, are available for full and part-time students. Online and hybrid modalities are available and coupled with comprehensive academic support services.

Over the last ten years, significant renovation projects have concluded throughout the College, many of which were supported through grant funding and other partnerships. Highlights include a new state-of-the-art nursing simulation lab, updated biology labs, new and integrated enrollment services offices and a modern new library and learning commons with tech-enabled group study rooms and a dedicated family study space for parents.

The College’s newest regional center, the Career and Advanced Technology Center, officially opened in August 2022. The CATC doubles the capacity of the College's Transportation Technology programs and serves as a hub for career and technical training. Ongoing renovations to libraries on all CCP campuses will establish a state-of-the-art learning commons equipped with the technological advancements needed to meet the needs of future students.

CCP has a significant economic impact on the City of Philadelphia, generating $1 billion in annual economic activity, supporting more than 4,370 jobs, and adding $30 million to local and state tax revenues.

The Role of the Senior Vice President For Student Experience

The inaugural Senior Vice President for Student Experience must be a modern student affairs and enrollment leader who can integrate recruitment, retention, student support, workforce pathways, technology, and cross-campus collaboration into a seamless student success strategy that advances CCP’s mission of economic mobility and access. As the President’s chief advisor on student affairs, enrollment management, and student success initiatives, the SVP will provide strategic leadership and cultivate the College’s student experience vision. A keen collaborator, the SVP will partner across CCP to establish institutional enrollment, retention, persistence, and completion goals and strategies and cultivate accountability metrics and a culture of data-driven continuous improvement.

Enrollment Management and Student Success will report up through the SVP, and the newly integrated student experience division will include an Associate Vice President for Enrollment Management, an Associate Vice President for Student Experience/Dean of Student Retention, an Associate Vice President for Student Experience/Dean of Students, and the Executive Director for the Octavious Catto Scholarship. The SVP will recruit, develop, and mentor the division’s senior leadership and foster collaboration across academic and administrative units to advance a holistic, cohesive, and student-centered enrollment and retention strategy that promotes a welcoming and inclusive campus environment.

CCP is deeply connected with the City of Philadelphia, and the SVP will represent the division within the community, deepening existing and identifying novel governmental, educational, and professional partners to advance co-curricular programming, career opportunities, and workforce development opportunities in the region and beyond.

Key Opportunities and Challenges for the Senior Vice President

Unite the College around the full student journey

The new SVP will have the opportunity to bring academic success, enrollment, advising, counseling, admissions, retention, and student support into closer alignment around the full life cycle of the student. This work will build on the commitment of colleagues who care deeply about students and are already working to build bridges across the College. As a member of the President’s Cabinet, the SVP will advocate for the student experience at the most senior level of the institution, ensuring that students’ needs and success remain central to College-wide conversations and decisions. Through strong relationships with faculty, academic leadership, and administrative teams, the SVP can help create a more connected student experience and turn a shared passion for student success into coordinated action across the institution.

Champion a college-wide commitment to retention

Retention is a central priority and an opportunity to strengthen how CCP identifies students’ needs, assesses risk, and connects students with the proper supports to help them succeed. The SVP will use enrollment trends, assessment, evaluation, and an understanding of the student pipeline to inform recruitment, remediation, foundational learning, and other student-success efforts. This leader will also help students and their families see clear and digestible pathways into CCP, through their programs, and toward transfer or the workforce. The College is seeking a leader who can demonstrate not only experience in retention and enrollment, but also effectiveness in improving outcomes.

Create a seamless infrastructure for student success

CCP envisions a student experience in which students can seamlessly find the resources they need, when they need them, without navigating multiple stops to reach the right office. The SVP will have the opportunity to integrate siloed processes, make systems more user-friendly, and strengthen communication, customer service, and warm handoffs across departments. The College is also considering how technology and AI might address everyday questions so staff can focus their time on more complex student-success needs. This work will require a creative and entrepreneurial leader who can translate recognized challenges into practical systems that work for students and employees.

Elevate holistic support through strategic and accountable leadership

Students increasingly need wraparound support not only educationally, but also with housing, transportation, food, mental health, and other life issues that affect their classroom experience. CCP has strong offices, services, and people committed to meeting those needs, including the Catto Scholarship model, but there is a call to extend effective supports to a broader range of students, including part-time and noncredit students. The SVP will need to lead change incrementally, redesign settings, hold leaders accountable, and balance passion for student success with compliance and institutional policy. This will also require trusting capable team members, allowing them to do their jobs, and advocating for the work and resources that enable them to serve students effectively. The ideal candidate will possess the following qualities and qualifications:

• Master’s degree from an accredited institution in Higher Education Administration, Student Affairs, Educational Leadership, Business Administration, Public Administration, or a related field required.
• Doctorate in Higher Education Administration, Educational Leadership, or a related field preferred.
• Minimum of ten years of progressively responsible leadership experience in higher education.
• Experience leading strategic enrollment management initiatives.
• Experience implementing student success technologies, CRM platforms, or predictive analytics.
• Demonstrated success improving retention, persistence, graduation, and student satisfaction.
• Significant executive leadership experience in enrollment management, student affairs, or student success.
• Demonstrated success leading enrollment growth, student retention, and organizational transformation.
• Experience managing complex budgets, strategic planning, and organizational change.
• Experience collaborating with executive leadership, governing boards, and external partners.
• Comprehensive knowledge of enrollment management, admissions, financial aid, registration, and student affairs administration.
• Thorough understanding of student success strategies and best practices.
• Knowledge of federal and state regulations related to student records, financial aid, accessibility, and higher education compliance.
• Strong strategic planning, organizational leadership, and change management skills.
• Excellent analytical skills with the ability to interpret enrollment, retention, and student success data.
• Outstanding interpersonal, communication, and relationship-building skills.
• Ability to lead through collaboration and influence across multiple organizational divisions.
• Strong financial management and budget oversight experience.
• Demonstrated commitment to student success, equity, innovation, and service excellence.