Description

Mesa Community College invites applications for an innovative, student-centered, and results-oriented leader to serve as its first Dean of Retention and Completion. This inaugural role is responsible for designing, launching, and institutionalizing a comprehensive, college-wide retention and completion program that supports students from entry through credential completion and transfer. This role collaborates with executive administration, Student and Academic Affairs Deans, and leaders across divisions and departments to ensure seamless transitions, a shared service philosophy, and aligned staff and faculty expectations across key academic and support services to improve retention and completion college rates.

This is a foundational position for a leader who will build the program from the ground up—establishing vision, structures, processes, metrics, strategies, partnerships, and continuous improvement of systems—while leading sustained, college-wide change aligned with the mission of an open-access community college that improve persistence, completion, and equitable outcomes for community college students. The inaugural dean is a senior Student Affairs leader will serve as a strategic architect and change leader, aligning academic and student support efforts to ensure students are supported from onboarding through credential completion and transfer. This role is central to strengthening the college’s long-term enrollment stability, and advancing the institutional effectiveness and student success in alignment with guided pathways, Strategic Enrollment Management (SEM), case-management models, and Higher Learning Commission (HLC) expectations for evidence-based decision-making, cross-functional collaboration, and continuous improvement.
 

Requirements

Master’s Degree from a regionally accredited institution in education, student personnel, higher education administration, counseling, social work, student affairs, organizational behavior or field related to area of assignment and four years of progressively responsible management and/or leadership experience in student retention, academic advising, or student support services with demonstrated success with improved retention and degree completion that includes two years of supervisory experience.

Examples of student affairs academic support management/leadership experience includes:  program management, project management, budget development and management related to programs or projects, staff supervision, policy development, administration, evaluation and compliance.    

No degree equivalency.