Director, First Year Experience

Position Summary
Reporting to the Vice Provost, Student Success, the Director, First Year Experience provides leadership, planning, and execution of the First Year Experience (FYE), a comprehensive curricular and co-curricular experience for all full-time first-year students, grounded in Fordham University’s Jesuit, Catholic mission.

The Director, First Year Experience collaborates with faculty, student affairs, and academic partners to deliver a range of activities that unify students in their first year at Fordham across Rose Hill and Lincoln Center campuses.

Essential Functions
Develops a comprehensive road map for the first year of the undergraduate student journey and identifies critical first-year milestones. Develops, launches, and manages programming designed to (re)ignite students’ curiosity throughout their first year, sustain motivation, facilitate a sense of belonging, and connect students to campus resources, particularly at those key moments.

Assess success metrics (i.e., persistence, outcomes, engagement) of FYE-related activities to ensure continuous improvement.

Collaborates with Fordham’s Career (the Career Center and the Gabelli Office of Personal and Professional Development) to incorporate appropriate career-readiness programming into the First Year Experience.

Collaborates with enrollment management, faculty, academic administrators in the undergraduate colleges, and student affairs in the development and management of cohort systems and communities designed to maximize diversity of interests, backgrounds, and aspirations within each group and across undergraduate colleges.

Collaborate with faculty, directors, and academic administration in the implementation of the Core Curriculum.

Ensures continuity of cohorts created for first-year credit-bearing courses through co-curricular offerings as part of the first-year experience and beyond.

Develops, launches, and manages a peer mentoring program for first-year students designed to help students navigate the first year, including, for example, non-credit peer-led masterclasses/workshops, and ensures continuity throughout the undergraduate student journey.

Collaborates with faculty across undergraduate colleges and departments to identify, track, and measure co-curricular offerings at the department level, including notations on a co-curricular transcript.

Collaborates with academic partners (i.e. the Office of Fellowship Advising) in the Office of the Provost and across the colleges to ensure that first-year students learn about the full range of undergraduate research opportunities and inspire them to consider applying for specific opportunities, such as those via the transdisciplinary research incubator, in advance of their second year.

Collaborates with the Deans of Students in Student Affairs and the Deans of the colleges to integrate the curricular and co-curricular experience of first-year students, including Orientation.

Collaborates with Enrollment Management and University Marketing and Communications to ensure coherent messaging through the recruitment process and transition into the first year.

Management Responsibilities Guides work of other employees who perform essentially the same work and/or student workers. Organizes, sets priorities, schedules and reviews work, but is generally not responsible for final decisions in hiring, performance management or compensation.

Required Qualifications: Education and Experience
Master’s degree in Higher Education, Student Affairs, Counseling, or a related field.

Minimum of 5 years of experience in an education setting.

Required Qualifications: Knowledge and Skills
Exceptional organizational, communication, and interpersonal skills.

Proven ability to lead and manage cross-functional teams and build consensus among diverse groups.

Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to translate technical and programmatic needs into actionable plans.

A deep understanding of the student experience in an academic university setting.

Successful candidates should have a knowledge of and commitment to the goals of Catholic and Jesuit Education.

Minimum Starting Salary: $100,500
Maximum Starting Salary: $120,000
Note: Salary is commensurate with qualifications, experience, and skills.