Counseling Instructor

Bakersfield College is seeking a full‑time, tenure‑track faculty member for Veteran Services and Credit for Prior Learning (CPL).

If you are highly motivated, eager to engage a diverse student body, and passionate about teaching and learning, we encourage you to submit an application.

We are recruiting faculty with demonstrated excellence in their field who embrace the instructional values of access, sound pedagogy, creativity, and innovation. We seek candidates with a continual drive to learn and improve teaching strategies, and who are willing to participate in committees, campus events, and other collegiate endeavors. Diversity is a core value, and we encourage applicants who demonstrate an intellectual mindfulness to contribute to diversity, equity, and inclusiveness.

Veteran Services is dedicated to supporting veterans, active‑duty service members, reservists, National Guard members, and eligible dependents as they pursue their educational and career goals. Through comprehensive academic support, educational benefits assistance, transition services, and community engagement opportunities, we foster a welcoming student‑centered environment that promotes success, persistence, and completion. We serve as a central hub where military‑connected students can access resources, build connections, and navigate higher education with confidence.

• Provide comprehensive academic, career, transfer, and personal counseling services to veteran and military‑connected students, including development of individualized education plans aligned with degree completion, transfer objectives, educational pathways, Department of Veteran Affairs requirements, and the effective application of military and prior learning experiences.
• Lead the implementation, training, and continuous improvement of Credit for Prior Learning (CPL) and Mapping Articulated Pathways (MAP) initiatives, ensuring alignment with California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office guidance, institutional policies, and statewide best practices.
• Evaluate and interpret student veteran and military‑connected student transcripts, including Joint Services Transcripts (JST), military training, workforce experience, industry certifications, and other forms of experiential learning to determine potential CPL opportunities and support equitable awarding of academic credit.
• Collaborate with faculty, instructional departments, evaluators, articulation officers, counselors, the Admissions & Records department, and other administrators to develop, review, and maintain CPL and military course articulations at the college to support student access, persistence, and completion.
• Facilitate and support the creation, submission, and maintenance of CPL exhibits, MAP documentation, and related curriculum materials necessary for institutional compliance and statewide MAP initiatives.
• Confer with students, faculty, staff, and external stakeholders regarding CPL and MAP processes, respond to inquiries submitted through the MAP CPL Search Portal, provide guidance on eligibility and procedures, and assist students in navigating the credit evaluation and petition process.
• Integrate CPL awareness and screening into counseling and educational planning practices by collaborating with the Dean of Counseling, counseling faculty, and student services professionals to ensure veterans and general students are informed of opportunities to maximize prior learning and reduce unnecessary unit accumulation.
• Support the CPL Coordinator through ongoing communication and collaborative engagement with campus governance and operational groups, including Academic Senate, Guided Pathways, Curriculum Committee, Student Services, instructional departments, counseling, evaluators, and articulation personnel, to promote awareness, transparency, and advancement of CPL and veteran student initiatives.
• Provide counseling and support services to active‑duty service members, veterans, reservists, National Guard members, and military‑connected students, assisting with academic planning, transition support, educational benefit awareness, referrals, and…