Chair and Executive Director - Associate or Professor in Social Work

Chair and Executive Director
- Associate or Professor in Social Work

Job Title:

Chair and Executive Director
- Associate or Professor in Social Work

Working Title:

Chair and Executive Director in Social Work

Department Name:
College of Social Work

Work Location:

Lexington, KY

Type of Position:
Faculty

Position Time Status:
Full-Time

Tenure Track Status:
Tenure Track

Required

Education:

An earned doctorate in Social Work from an accredited institution An earned Master of Social Work degree from a CSWE-accredited program

Required Related

Experience:

A record of teaching, scholarship, and service commensurate with appointment at the rank of Associate Professor or Professor with tenure. Strong potential for securing external funding and producing high-quality scholarship. Ability to foster, develop, and/or maintain positive professional relationships with local, state, federal, and private social work focused agencies/organizations/associations.

Job Summary:

THE UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY, COLLEGE OF SOCIAL WORK (CoSW) is a renowned leader in higher education. Our mission is clear:
Through rigorous research, excellence in instruction, and steadfast service, the CoSW works to improve the human condition. Always, in all ways. As the state's flagship university, CoSW is committed to actualizing our mission through innovative, accessible academic programming. CoSW is home to several undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral programs, including:
Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice (traditional and online), Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice (traditional and online), Bachelor of Arts in Social Work (traditional and online), Master of Science in Criminal Justice (online), Master of Social Work (hybrid and online), Doctorate of Social Work (online), Ph.D. in Social Work (traditional), and multiple certificate programs. In addition to Lexington's main campus, we have a satellite campus at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas.

The Chair and Executive Director of Social Work Programs serves as the chief academic and administrative leader for the College's social work educational enterprise. The Chair provides visionary leadership and strategic oversight for all aspects of the College's social work programs, including the Bachelor of Arts in Social Work, Master of Social Work, Doctorate of Social Work, Doctor of Philosophy in Social Work, and related certificate programs.

Reporting directly to the Dean and serving as a member of the College leadership team, the Chair and Executive Director advances the College's strategic vision through academic leadership, faculty development, student success, community engagement, operational excellence, and organizational growth.

Primary responsibilities of this position include but are not limited to:

• Leads Strategic Growth and Innovation
• Guides academic innovation and program growth across modalities
• Uses workforce, enrollment, and market data to inform planning
• Identifies opportunities for new educational initiatives
• Advances Faculty Success
• Recruits, mentors, supervises, and evaluates faculty and instructional personnel
• Supports promotion, tenure, annual review, and workload planning
• Supports faculty leadership development
• Promotes a collaborative faculty culture
• Promotes Academic Excellence
• Oversees BASW, MSW, DSW, PhD, and certificate programs
• Supports curriculum innovation
• Ensures compliance with CSWE and SACSCOC
• Promotes instructional quality across all modalities
• Supports Student Success
• Partners with admissions, advising, practicum, recruitment, and student success
• Advances recruitment, retention, persistence, and graduation initiatives
• Strengthens Community Impact
• Develops relationships with agencies, alumni, professional organizations, and community partners
• Supports fundraising and workforce partnerships
• Expands community-engaged scholarship and education
• Manages Resources for Organizational Success
• Oversees personnel, budgeting, operational planning, and resource allocation
• Collaborates with College leadership to advance strategic priorities

The University's mission involves three primary functions across our faculty cohort: instruction, research, and service. Each year, various ranking faculty work with the Office of the Dean to delineate their distribution of effort (DOE). This DOE outlines how faculty will spend their time. In general, DOE for faculty members in the Regular Title Series typically includes allocations in the areas of instruction, research, and service.

The DOE for the Chair and Executive Director is subject to negotiation but we anticipate roughly 70% Administration, 25% research and 5% service. Of course, the DOE can fluctuate depending on an array of factors (e.g., grant funding, new course development, service to the college, etc.). It is expected that work in this faculty appointment, including but not limited to course instruction, office hours, administrative meetings, and attending college-wide events such as faculty meetings, will occur on-site.

Employment at UK is subject to fund…