Director, Academic Operations and Student Services

• Location:
  
  Twin Cities
• Full/Part Time:
  Full-Time
• Regular/Temporary:
  Regular
• Job Code: 9362MD
• Employee Class:
  Acad Prof and Admin

The Director provides strategic governance, organizational design, and administrative leadership for CCAPS undergraduate and graduate academic operations and student services. Managing a multidisciplinary team of 8-9 direct reports, this role drives operational excellence and workflow efficiency across the student lifecycle using process mapping, data analytics, and AI-assisted enterprise tools. Operating with broad latitude in a complex environment, the position balances distinct undergraduate and graduate student services with academic capacity planning and fiscal sustainability.

This is a hybrid position with 2-3 required in-office days weekly. There will be other days/times, including evenings when attendance is expected at unit/college/campus level events. It is a 12-month, continuous position.

Please note, this position is not eligible for H-1B or Green Card sponsorship.

• Partner with the Director for Undergraduate Academic Advising and Student Success to develop, maintain, and continuously improve undergraduate student handbooks and onboarding frameworks.
• Oversee undergraduate degree audit system operations (APAS) and the exceptions process, using process mapping to streamline handoffs between academic advisors and central registrar teams.
• Direct undergraduate graduation clearance processes across CCAPS academic programs, integrating enterprise technology and automated checks to eliminate administrative bottlenecks.
• Provide strategic undergraduate student services input during course and curriculum development to ensure new academic offerings are suitably resourced.

• Lead the strategic coordination and execution of the graduate admissions lifecycle, establishing equitable, holistic review practices and leveraging data analytics to track funnel metrics.
• Lead the coordination of annual academic progress reviews across all terms for graduate populations (utilizing GPAS) to ensure milestone tracking and timely degree completion.
• Develop, maintain, and update graduate student handbooks, academic policies, and orientation processes tailored specifically to post-baccalaureate student needs.
• Oversee graduate degree audit systems (GPAS), exception approvals, and final degree clearance workflows for all CCAPS graduate programs.

• Design and implement data-driven enrollment forecasting models to establish course viability standards, optimize instructional capacity, and guide long-term resource allocation.
• Monitor instructional cost data alongside program leadership, ensuring alignment between course scheduling, faculty compensation costs, enrollment projections, and unit financial goals.
• Lead unit-level planning and continuous improvement for catalog, curriculum, and course scheduling using Course Dog, Asana, and People Soft, exercising daily operational decision autonomy while escalating systemic policy changes to executive leadership.
• Interpret university and college academic policies, translating them into clear operational procedures and standardized workflow documentation.
• Partner with Directors of Undergraduate Programs and Graduate Programs to develop faculty course assignments and manage adjunct and overload commitments.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives in instructional hiring and course assignment workflows to build operational scalability.
• Serve as the primary operational liaison between directors, faculty, and central university units.

• Directly manage, lead, and…