Retention Specialist

All applicants must be authorized to work in the United States without sponsorship.

We do not accept references or other application materials from outside credential management organizations. Application materials and references must be submitted through our applicant tracking system.

At Peru State College, the Retention Specialist (RS) serves as a vital part of the campus-wide team of passionate, student-centered, higher education professionals dedicated to helping students overcome obstacles and realize success. This role is a high student contact position responsible for retention programs and services focused on the first-year experience and at-risk student populations. The position provides programmatic leadership for the Peru Academic Liaison (PALs) program, at-risk student identification and intervention, and teaches one section of the College Success course.

The position supports inclusion programming and provides success coaching to students on academic probation. The RS will provide leadership with the retention management software (Bobcat 360) including training, coordination, and best practices for implementation. This position coordinates sexual violence and sexual harassment awareness programming for students as well as providing support for the Title IX Coordinator in a designee role.

The RS will work collaboratively with faculty and staff to identify and address amendable obstacles to student success. As needed, supervises proficiency/evaluation testing, supervising peer mentors/peer tutors for students needing support in with language barriers or remedial education in math or English. Advises and assists students in determining proficiency in college level courses. The RS reports to the Vice President for Enrollment Management and works with a variety of internal and external constituencies.

Due to the importance of the RS being a high visibility, high student contact position, the RS will have occasional evening and weekend work. This position is exempt with regard to FLSA overtime provisions. This position is covered by the NSCPA bargaining unit.

• Provide programmatic leadership for first year experience and at-risk student identification and intervention programs
• Provide academic advisement services for first-year probation students in collaboration with other professional staff in the CATS building
• Work directly with retention software for retention purposes: academic updates, referrals, communication with appropriate stakeholders for students’ success, and communication to campus on software initiatives and changes
• Lead efforts to develop and implement a comprehensive and cohesive first year experience program in collaboration with a variety of offices and academic schools on campus
• Plan and facilitate Welcome Week programming annually with a focus on effective transition practices for incoming students
• Teach section of College Success each fall with a focus on career development and retention
• Lead efforts to assist students through college withdrawal process and provide support as needed
• Will provide support for campus Business office to support collectively the persistence and retention of students through this office
• Conduct pertinent retention assessments, e.g. qualitative focus groups, and assemble retention statistics for dissemination to key stakeholders
• Design and implement ongoing awareness programming and support for sexual violence and sexual harassment topics to students to meet federal compliance standards. Programming will include online training for all new and current students, curriculum infusion, in-person programs, and passive programming through posters and communications to students
• Serve as Title IX Designee under the direction of Title IX Coordinator

Bachelor’s degree and related work experience.

A master’s degree, preferably in a field related to higher education, human development, learning theory, guidance and counseling, psychology, or related field is strongly preferred, as is a minimum of two years of experience working within retention programming, academic support, or student…