Position Number: D98454

Description:

The Assistant Vice President of Diversity & Multicultural Student Services serves as a division and institutional leader, helping to advance PSU's ambitious vision to be a model for what equity and justice can look like at a diverse, urban opportunity institution. The Assistant Vice President serves a critical partner to the Vice President for Global Diversity and Inclusion, bridging vision and strategy with implementation through collaboration, capacity building, execution and leadership of critical institutional initiatives and projects. The ideal candidate is a strategic thinker, partner and executor, with a deep understanding of factors that impact the retention, success and advancement of minoritized students.

The primary functions of the AVP are to lead minoritized student success through the student to career pipeline, co-lead the alignment, cohesion and development of the division. In partnership with the Vice President and Associate Vice President of GDI, will collaborate with Division directors and staff as well as critical stakeholders across campus to embed equity and justice into all campus operations. The AVP will be a critical member of the GDI leadership team and a mentor and coach to direct reports, ensuring alignment and interdependence among units and supporting the engagement and development of all GDI staff.

The AVP is joining the campus at a critical time. Dr. Stephen Percy, interim and now current President of PSU, has made racial justice the highest priority of his presidency and affirmed his deep commitment to the success of all students. President Percy hired Vice President Ame Lambert, who joined the campus in August of 2020. The campus recently held a campus wide summit entitled: A Time to Act (https://www.pdx.edu/diversity/equity-summit). Five task forces are currently in the process of using data collected during the summit and from prior recommendations to create primary priorities for the next three years. These recommended priorities will receive seed funding from President Percy's 3 year- $1.5 million racial justice fund. The fund will also support the development of an enabling infrastructure for racial justice work and a grant writer for the Division. As PSU leans into its 75th year, there is an opportunity to live our mission more fully and to take our place in the city, state and region when it comes to justice, equity and the empowerment and advancement of minoritized communities.

The Division (www.pdx.edu/diversity) comprises the Native American Student Center, Cultural Resource Centers (Multicultural Student Center, Pan-African Commons, La Casa Latina Student Center, Pacific Islander, Asian and Asian American Student Center and the Middle Eastern North African South Asian Student Center Initiative), Multicultural Retention Services, Disability Resource Center, Student Legal Services, TRIO Student Support services, TRIO Access Programs (Upward Bound and Education Talent search) and the Veteran's Resource Center, Diversity Education & Learning, Diversity Advocacy, and Equity and Compliance. The Division is staffed with passionate, committed leaders who excel in their areas of expertise and responsibility.

The urgent opportunity is to make the whole greater than the sum of its parts by identifying and elevating synergies and aligning around a common vision. After multiple years with interim leaders at senior levels, there is a strong desire for stability and the division is also focusing on becoming more integrated since its current form is an amalgamation of former parts of different areas. As such, it is exploring a variety of organizational and reporting structures to best help it achieve its co-created vision and elevate justice and equity work institutionally.

In a time of shrinking resources, clearly assessing and communicating the impact the Division is having and the financial impact of the work will be an essential function of the AVP role as creatively deploying resources and seeking alternative sources of funding.

Portland State University must increase the retention and graduation rates of its minoritized students as it leans into its opportunity mission. Supporting the success of minoritized students will be a critical part of this effort. The AVP will have the opportunity to help support a symbiotic relationship among the student support units in GDI and Student Affairs and foster strong relationships with partners across campus, serve on the leadership council of the Student first initiative (https://ondeck.pdx.edu/student-success/about-students-first), ensure that conversations about student success center the perspectives and needs of minoritized students, take into account cultural perspectives, rather than deficit thinking approach and ensure that justice tools such as an equity lens and universal design are widely adopted across campus.

A resume with an accompanying cover letter may be submitted via the Spelman Johnson website at THIS LINK

Minimum Qualifications:

• Graduate degree in a relevant field of study.
• Three years minimum as a director or manager overseeing departments that serve under-represented, first-generation, diverse & multicultural students in higher education.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Doctoral or other terminal degree in a relevant field of study.
• Demonstrated excellence working with communities of color, underrepresented populations; advancing equity initiatives.
• Have strong supervisory and leadership skills to manage a multi-departmental unit.
• Ability to effectively manage responsibilities within a large organization, through delegation, supervision, coordination, and participation.
• Ability to work collaboratively and under limited time pressures with colleagues.
• Familiarity with University funding sources, such as student fees, remissions, and grants.
• Ability to manage a complex budget with limited resources.
• Ability to creatively market education and training programs.