Program Director - PBL, Excelerate and Empowered

Overview

Lead innovative learning experiences that connect students, faculty, and communities through real-world projects. Utah Valley University is seeking a Program Director to join our Project-Based Learning team and lead the growth of high-impact, applied project-based learning programs and initiatives, including UVU’s Excelerate and Empowered Professionals of Tomorrow programs. This role provides both strategic and operational leadership while supporting students, faculty, and project clients in designing and delivering meaningful, real-world project-based experiences that strengthen student success, professional development, and community engagement.

You will guide program vision and operations, collaborate across campus and with external partners, and play a key role in expanding UVU’s Project-Based Learning ecosystem. This position blends leadership, collaboration, and hands-on engagement within a fast-growing, student-centered learning environment.

If you’re excited to lead applied experiential learning programs, support student and faculty success, and build real-world impact through education, we’d love to hear from you.

• Leads the overall planning, coordination, and execution of UVU’s PBL summer programs, including Excelerate, Empowered, and other related initiatives. Provides direction and oversight to ensure alignment with institutional goals, student success outcomes, and engaged learning priorities. Initiates, facilitates, and oversees faculty collaboration, student mentorship structures, and external partner engagement to drive project and program success. Creates this vision and guides the design and delivery of program operations, including student recruitment planning, course coordination, mentoring events, and development of key program components.
  
  Leads staff in developing systems, manuals, and processes that support consistent program operation and scalability. Directs the organization of professional training sessions, career readiness workshops, and project-based learning seminars to enhance participant experience. Supports faculty and project collaborators in building meaningful project partnerships that enrich student learning. Resolves challenges and facilitates solutions across internal departments and community partnerships to ensure student success and project alignment.
  
  Supervises and mentors program staff and student employees, fostering a collaborative culture that advances innovation, accountability, and excellence.
• Builds and sustains strong partnerships across UVU departments, colleges, and external organizations to strengthen project-based learning opportunities and enhance program visibility. Develops and maintains systems for partner communication, student enrollment tracking, project documentation, and course coordination. Ensures accurate, timely maintenance of databases for student participants, courses, projects, partners, and contacts. Cultivates ongoing communication and collaboration with students, faculty, industry partners, and community organizations to promote program participation and deepen relationships.
  
  Represents UVU’s PBL programs in meetings, events, and collaborative efforts, serving as a liaison between internal and external stakeholders. Identifies and addresses participation or partnership challenges to strengthen collaboration and enhance overall program impact. Coordinates across units to promote program visibility and connect PBL initiatives to institutional marketing, recruitment, and engagement goals.
• Directs program evaluation in line with overarching PBL vision and direction. Creates avenues for impact reporting to ensure data-informed decision-making and continuous program improvement. Leads the collection, analysis, and interpretation of program data from students, mentors, and faculty to evaluate outcomes and identify trends. Prepares reports, project summaries, and presentations that highlight the success of student projects, partner collaborations, and program growth.
  
  Uses data to inform strategy, communicate program value, and guide improvement of operations, systems, and partnerships.
• Other duties as…