Assistant Vice Provost for Accreditation & Accreditation Liaison Officer

Position Summary

The Assistant Vice Provost for Accreditation & Accreditation Liaison Officer (AVP/ALO) provides strategic leadership and day to day operational oversight for the Office of Accreditation, Licensure & State Authorizations (ALSA). This position directs all institutional and programmatic accreditation activity, oversee state authorization and licensure compliance across every state in which the institution operates, and serves as the institution's official liaison to its institutional accreditor and to all programmatic accrediting and approval agencies. The AVP/ALO manages a team of functional Coordinators covering Accreditation, Licensure, and State Authorizations, reports to the Vice President for Academic Affairs, and serves as a key advisor to the Executive Cabinet on accreditation, licensure, and regulatory compliance matters.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

General Oversight

• Responsible for all functions of ALSA, including regulatory compliance, planning, and budget for the office.
• Leads and manages all institutional and programmatic accreditation efforts across the institution's campuses and modalities.
• Responsible for all state authorization and reauthorization efforts to ensure compliance across all states in which the institution operates.
• Responsible for institutional licensure compliance activity, including audits and disclosures across applicable state licensing boards.
• Serves as advisor to the Executive Cabinet on changes affecting accrediting bodies and state and local approving entities.
• Prepares accreditation affairs updates, including quality enhancement plans, process development, compliance certification, assessment, analysis, and reporting.
• Promotes institutional policies and procedures in compliance with local, state, and federal rules and regulations; advises personnel on regulatory strategy, areas of regulatory concern, and new regulatory developments.
• Monitors U.S. Department of Education (ED) policy and regulatory changes to ensure ongoing institutional compliance.
• Monitors state authorization and licensure changes across all states in which the institution operates.
• Develops short- and long-range plans, conceptual designs, and documentation related to accreditation, assessment, licensure, and state authorization.
• Reviews activity, operations, and forecast data to determine progress toward institutional goals and objectives.
• Confers with administration and leadership to review achievements and discuss changes in goals or objectives resulting from current status and conditions.
• Serves as a member of institutional committees related to assessment, accreditation, and compliance, including, taking a leadership role as appropriate.
• Manages ALSA staff, including approval of staff time and leave, budget reconciliation, and professional development.
• Coordinates all mock site visits and all accreditor site visits across institutional and programmatic accreditation activity.
• Maintains a comprehensive timeline of all accreditation activities across all programs.
• Compiles and submits reports required by institutional leadership and by state, local, and federal regulatory and accreditation agencies.
• Acts as liaison between all offices on campus and accrediting, licensing, and state authorization agencies.
• Participates in professional training, conferences, and conventions relevant to accreditation, licensure, and regulatory compliance.

Institutional Accreditation & Accreditation Liaison Officer (ALO)

• Serves as the official liaison between the institution and WSCUC, its institutional accreditor.
• Leads and manages the institution's relationship with WSCUC, including reaffirmation, annual reporting, substantive change, and Substantive Change Committee activity.
• Serves on WSCUC Peer Review Teams as member and Assistant Chair.
• Serves on the WSCUC Substantive Change Review Committee.
• Serves as the key resource in planning the institution's reaffirmation process.
• Serves as the focal person on campus for the collection and dissemination of information about institutional accreditation, responding to inquiries and making appropriate information available to campus stakeholders.
• Reviews and approves all self-studies for institutional accreditation prior to submission.
• Identifies substantive changes that trigger additional state notifications or applications (for example, DC HELC, IBHE, THECB, and BPPE) and coordinates the corresponding filings.
• Maintains WSCUC accreditation handbooks, guidelines, self-studies, institutional reports, evaluation team reports, schedules of evaluations, and copies of all related correspondence.
• Organizes follow-up reports requested by WSCUC.
• Prepares and submits the institution's Annual Report to WSCUC.
• Notifies WSCUC in advance of planned substantive changes and oversees their submission.
• Develops and delivers institution wide training on WSCUC standards and criteria.

Programmatic Accreditation

• Directs a portfolio of more than 30 concurrent programmatic accreditation relationships, spanning accreditors that may include APA, ABAI, CACREP, COCA, COAMFTE, CCAPP, CEPH, CTC, MPCAC, NASP, ACOTE, and ARC-PA.
• Oversees all phases of the programmatic accreditation lifecycle, including intents, self-studies, applications, annual reports, interim and special reports, substantive changes, and mock and accreditor site visits.
• Supports the development of all programmatic accreditation and approval applications, including for new program launches.
• Reviews and approves self-studies and other substantive submissions for institutional and programmatic accreditation prior to submission.
• Serves as the secondary liaison between the institution and all programmatic accreditation and approval agencies.
• Serves as the focal point on campus for the collection and dissemination of accreditation related information and responds to inquiries from campus stakeholders.
• Identifies and details the academic and institutional work needed between site visits to position the institution for future accreditation requirements.
• Research has been researched into all new proposed accreditors for planning purposes.

State Authorization

• Oversee the tracking, preparation, and submission of all state authorization applications, renewals, and annual reports across all states in which the institution operates.
• Tracks state regulatory changes on a monthly basis and communicates relevant developments to institutional leadership.
• Provides return on investment (ROI) recommendations to leadership when state regulations change, informing decisions on continued state authorization.
• Oversee the institution's annual state authorization audit.
• Oversee all new program applications, and exemption applications where applicable, for state authorization purposes.
• Oversee the institution's participation in the annual state authorization Gap Analysis conducted in collaboration with The System Office.
• Maintains the institution's membership with the State Authorization Network (SAN).
• Maintains a tracking document for all state authorization activities.
• Directs the assignment and oversight of state portfolios among the ALSA team.

Licensure

• Overseas institutional licensure compliance, including the mid-year and annual licensure audits.
• Stays current with licensure changes across all states in which the institution operates.
• Reviews all licensure related disclosures prior to submission.
• Communicates licensure related regulatory changes to leadership and to academic programs as needed.
• Serves as the secondary point of contact for state licensing board activity, with programs serving as the first point of contact, and validates all communications and submissions to state licensing boards.
• Coordinate with Program Chairs, Deans, Administration, and System leadership on licensure related matters.
• Oversees preparation of student licensure related disclosures and denial communications as needed.

Supervisory Responsibilities

Carries out supervisory responsibilities for ALSA Coordinator staff in accordance with institutional objectives, policies, and applicable employment law, including hiring, performance management, workload assignment, and professional development.

Qualifications

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Minimum Education Required

Doctoral degree or professional terminal degree.

Minimum Experience Required

• Five or more years of progressively responsible academic administrative experience specific to regulatory and compliance areas.
• Direct experience with institutional (specifically WSCUC) and programmatic accreditation (specifically those listed above) in higher education.
• Direct experience and knowledge of state authorization requirements, including both NC-SARA and non-NC-SARA (direct, state by state) authorization nuances.
• Direct experience and knowledge of licensure regulations and state licensing boards.
• Knowledge of regulatory and compliance processes affecting higher education.
• Presentation experience.
• Excellent writing, verbal, research, organizational, and analytical skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Direct experience serving on an institutional accreditor's peer review teams.
• Experience managing multiple concurrent programmatic accreditation relationships.
• Experience with direct, state by state authorization processes and the State Authorization Network (SAN).
• Experience providing written oral reports on assessment plans, strategies, and results.
• Experience conducting faculty and staff seminars and workshops on accreditation, assessment, evaluation, and related topics.
• Proficiency with quantitative and qualitative research methods.
• Higher education teaching experience.

This job description reflects the general nature and scope of work performed and is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all duties, responsibilities, and qualifications required.