Position Description

The Assistant/Associate Director will provide programming, support, and resources for students with identities historically marginalized within higher education including those identifying as Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color (BIPOC). Early priorities include a comprehensive review and assessment of existing programs and initiatives followed by the development and implementation of a plan to meet current student needs. Specific responsibilities and areas of focus include:

Student Support

• Provide vocal, visible, proactive, and sustained outreach to BIPOC students and those with identities historically marginalized on campus and within higher education.
• Develop strong connections to individual students and identity-based student groups.
• Provide student support and appropriate referrals to campus and community resources.
• Encourage student participation in campus leadership and personal enrichment opportunities.
• Develop peer and other mentoring curricula supported by robust training.

Intercultural Center (IC)

• Establish and regularly convene a student advisory group focused on the continuous improvement and evolving student needs of the IC.
• Coordinate efforts and resources to ensure the upkeep, access, and success of the IC as a gathering and meeting place, as well as a refuge for those with marginalized identities to be centered and celebrated, and at times to simply “be.”

Programming

• Establish and regularly convene student advisory group(s) to ensure ISL and IC programming efforts continue to center the voices, needs, and experiences of BIPOC students.
• Employ a developmental approach to programming to ensure multiple educational entry points for students with different perspectives, needs, and experiences.
• Engage and promote strengths-based and culturally responsive programming.
• Provide programming both directly and through collaboration with campus partners.
• Implement programs which help students who have been marginalized understand, successfully navigate, and effectively dismantle inequities and systemic barriers to success and happiness.
• Address student needs in the context of evolving local, national, and international issues.

Collaboration and Partnerships

• In collaboration with colleagues across campus, identify and address institutional structures, practices, and policies that inhibit sense of belonging, academic and social success, retention, and/or overall satisfaction for BIPOC students and other marginalized students.
• Assist with strategies for communication which effectively engages parents and families representing a wide array of backgrounds and languages.
• Develop strong collegial relationships with peers doing similar work at other colleges and universities to develop partnerships and stay abreast of trends and issues nationally.
• Collaborate with appropriate community, state, regional, and national partners.

Assessment and Learning

• Regularly assess and understand the needs of BIPOC students and other marginalized student voices, and use this process to inform office, division, and institutional priorities and action.
• Plan, implement, and report on annual assessment projects designed to understand and improve student learning, as well as office programs, goals, and operations.
• Collaborate with the Office of Institutional Research on efforts that provides reliable data and information to guide institutional planning and decision making.

Administrative

• Provide collaborative leadership, vision, and direction within the office.
• Recruit, supervise, and support paid student staff, as well as student and other volunteers.
• Oversee and provide for the daily operations of the Intercultural Center (IC).
• Responsible for budget management including general, restricted, and agency accounts.
• Serve on committees, projects, and other work assignments within and beyond the division.
• Other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

The ideal candidate will hold a Master’s degree in higher education, student affairs, or a related discipline, and be able to demonstrate success in working with college students in multicultural or intercultural student life/affairs areas.

The successful candidate will also demonstrate many of the following:

• A genuine fondness and respect for students, including the ability to respond compassionately
• An appreciation and understanding of, and the ability to successfully apply, student development, identity development, and strengths-based theories in work with college students
• Strong programming and facilitation skills with a record of collaboration
• Demonstrated leadership, supervisory, assessment, and budgetary experience
• Strong written, verbal, and digital communication skills
• A sense of humor
• Appreciation for the context of a residential liberal arts campus and its impact on students

Selection Process

Review of applications will begin April 10, 2024 and continue until position is filled. Questions and nominations can be directed to

Brian T. Dietz, Ph.D.
Associate Dean of Students, Kalamazoo College
phone: 269-337-7209
e-mail: brian.dietz@kzoo.edu

Benefits

• Dental insurance
• Employee assistance program
• Employee discount
• Flexible spending account
• Health insurance
• Life insurance
• Paid time off
• Parental leave
• Retirement plan
• Vision insurance

About Kalamazoo College

Kalamazoo College is a selective, nationally known liberal arts college offering students a personalized, integrated undergraduate experience known as the K-Plan that interweaves a traditional liberal arts curriculum with individualized research and experiential educational experiences in both domestic and international settings. Founded in 1833, Kalamazoo College is one of 40 dynamic Colleges That Change Lives, a group of 40 colleges that excel at developing potential, values and initiative, and provide the foundation for success beyond college. The campus is located midway between Chicago and Detroit in Kalamazoo, Michigan, a metropolitan community of 225,000 that supports four college and university campuses along with numerous civic arts and cultural associations. Thirty-five miles from Lake Michigan, the area offers many opportunities for outdoor activities.

Kalamazoo College encourages candidates who will contribute to the cultural diversity of the College to apply and to identify themselves if they wish. An equal opportunity employer, Kalamazoo College is committed to equal rights, equal opportunities, and equal protection under the law. Please be invited to review our full EEO statement by visiting https://www.kzoo.edu/about/nondiscrimination-policy/. Kalamazoo College is an E-Verify participating employer. Please select Notice and Rights for more information.