Director of Student Lifecycle Technology

26927BR

Enrollment Mgmt Services

Position Overview

Enrollment Management (EM) is a key partner in helping the institution meet its mission and strategic goals. EM is comprised of the following units:  EM Shared Services, Enrollment Marketing, Financial Aid & Scholarships, Graduate Admissions, Student Lifecycle Technology, Undergraduate Admissions, and the University Registrar. We are committed to working in an intentional, data-informed, forward-looking, and collaborative manner to implement a comprehensive enrollment strategy.

The Student Lifecycle Technology division will bring together systems and people currently in separate units across Enrollment Management.  The position will oversee the strategy and administration of the university’s instances of Slate CRM, PeopleSoft Campus Solutions, and other tools used to support enrollment.  The director will have the opportunity to shape the new combined organization and have a significant impact on the university and Enrollment Management. 

The Director reports to and serves at the pleasure of the Vice Provost for Enrollment Management.  Operating within an enrollment management model, this position will initiate, develop, plan, strengthen and implement innovative processes, technology enhancements and best practices with a continuous improvement mindset to facilitate student recruitment, retention, and graduation. The director is a highly visible department leader, supporting an extensive group of internal and external stakeholders.  Beyond the internal offices within EM, external stakeholder include, but are not limited to: Academic Affairs, Academic Success, Financial Services, Jayhawk Global, Information Technology, Marketing, and Student Affairs.  The unit provides support to both the Lawrence and KU Medical Center campuses, including their various branch campuses.  The incumbent must have strong communication, team-building, data management, and technology support skills.

The position is vital to supporting the University’s strategic plan, Jayhawks Rising.  The unit has a broad reaching impact, beyond recruitment, and oversees enrollment support technologies from student inquiry through graduation.  KU has experienced significant enrollment growth the past two years and is interested in sustaining that growth despite forecasted demographic shifts, college going rate declines, and high school graduate headcount reductions.  Modernizing the enrollment support technology infrastructure is vital to achieving this goal.  The PeopleSoft Campus Solutions and Slate CRM teams were recently integrated to ensure a holistic systems, data, and support infrastructure.  The director will have the opportunity to shape this newly merged organization to achieve these key priorities: redefine appropriate system of record throughout the student lifecycle, optimize data integration between multiple systems, implement new third party platforms to ensure holistic support for student recruitment and enrollment processes, and recommend strategies for deploying AI to support students, faculty, and staff.

Job Description

As the state’s flagship institution, the University of Kansas is a major comprehensive research and teaching university that serves as a center for learning, scholarship and creative endeavor. A Carnegie-classified R1 Doctoral University, KU is one of only 69 in the U.S. and the only state university in Kansas to hold membership in the prestigious Association of American Universities (AAU).

KU enrolls more than 29,000 students taught by over 3,300 faculty across 14 schools on five campuses. Its diverse elements are united by a mission to educate leaders, build healthy communities, and make discoveries that change the world.  KU’s residential campus located in Lawrence, KS is in the center of a vibrant and culturally-rich community — a quintessential college town. Visitors, students and new employees from outside the area enjoy discovering the many wonders of Lawrence, including a thriving downtown, diverse local and regional events, area lakes, vibrant arts and music scenes, and an indelible history.  Home to nearly 95,000 people, Lawrence is located 45 minutes west of Kansas City and 30 minutes east of Topeka, the state capital. Along with the music, arts, culture and sports experiences offered at KU and in Lawrence, the short drive to Kansas City provides quick access to historic jazz clubs, museums, world-class music and theatre venues, and professional sports teams.

It is highly preferred that the incumbent be in-person, with the opportunity to transition to hybrid after successful completion of the probationary period.  A remote work arrangement will be considered for a candidate that meets a high number of qualifications and demonstrates prior success engaging with leaders, stakeholders, and staff from a distance.  Reimbursement of relocation expenses is available.  The University of Kansas offers generous time off, retirement matching, medical/dental/vision coverage, wellness incentives and tuition reimbursement.

Position Responsibilities
Leadership (35%):

• Directs overall system functionality for PeopleSoft Campus Solutions, Slate CRM, and other systems used to recruit, enroll, manage records, and support the student lifecycle (collectively referred to as Enrollment Systems).
• Establishes and communicates a vision for student technologies directly related to recruitment, retention and graduation efforts.
• Establishes goals, policies, and processes for the unit that are consistent with those of Enrollment Management and the University.
• Supervises functional managers and/or senior analysts.
• Serves as the functional strategist and data expert for recruitment and enrollment systems.

System Management (30%):

• Serves as a functional project director in the planning and implementation of system projects by utilizing appropriate project management tools for resource requirements/coordination, task planning, timeline tracking and reporting to executive leadership.
• Develops proposals for future growth and development of technology to enable student recruitment, enrollment, records management, etc.
• Utilizes knowledge of current business practices, requirements, operational needs, and system functionality to assess the fit between software and business practices for present and future needs/requirements.
• Oversees the development of policies and processes related to enrollment systems, including the design and assignment of security roles to enable completion of user job functions, while maintaining compliance.
• Regularly assesses processes and functionality to ensure they meet the needs of students and unit-level users across campus.
• Partners with Information Technology to prioritize development activities, develop system integration, troubleshoot performance issues and job failures, etc.

Strategic Partnerships & Governance (30%):

• Advances critical campus initiatives, with particular emphasis on those identified in the University strategic plan: Jayhawks Rising.
• Develops and maintains effective on-going relationships with campus departments, stakeholders, and other KU functional systems administrators.
• Develops and leads a governance structure to identify the goals/needs of campus units.  Prioritizes enhancements and configuration activities through a transparent process that incorporates the feedback of critical campus partners reliant on the Enrollment Systems.

 Other duties as assigned by the Vice Provost for Enrollment Management (5%)

Required Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree and seven years of experience OR Master’s degree and five years of experience overseeing system configuration, integration specification, and administration of a large-scale software platform.

Five years of supervisory experience demonstrating progressive leadership responsibility.

Three years of project management experience.

Three years of experience building SQL queries to support reporting, quality assurance testing, and data validation.

Strong written communication skills as evidenced by application materials.

Preferred Qualifications

Experience with several modular areas of PeopleSoft campus Solutions.

Experience supporting the configuration of and integration with a CRM platform, preferable a Slate instance used for recruitment.

Experience developing a governance model that prioritizes divergent requests from stakeholders.

Ability to lead teams through competing and rapidly changing priorities and deadlines.

Experience managing a mixed location workforce (onsite, hybrid, remote, different time zones, etc.).

Contact Information to Applicants

Casey Wallace
[email protected]

Additional Candidate Instruction

Please submit a cover letter addressing how you meet the required and preferred qualifications and a complete resume, including a list of 3 professional references.  The Duffy Group is assisting the University of Kansas in recruiting for this position.  You may be contact by someone affiliated with the Duffy Group for initial information concerning your application materials.

First review of applicants will begin February 16, 2024 and will continue until position is filled.

Application Review Begins

16-Feb-2024

Anticipated Start Date

01-May-2024

Primary Campus

University of Kansas Lawrence Campus

Employee Class

U-Unclassified Professional Staff

Job Family

Administrative/Management-KUL

Work Location Assignment

On-Site

Disclaimer

The University of Kansas prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, ethnicity, religion, sex, national origin, age, ancestry, disability, status as a veteran, sexual orientation, marital status, parental status, gender identity, gender expression, and genetic information in the university’s programs and activities. Retaliation is also prohibited by university policy. The following person has been designated to handle inquiries regarding the nondiscrimination policies and is the Title IX coordinator for all KU and KUMC campuses: Associate Vice Chancellor for Civil Rights and Title IX, [email protected], Room 1082, Dole Human Development Center, 1000 Sunnyside Avenue, Lawrence, KS 66045, 785-864-6414, 711 TTY.