Senior Director of Student Success

Senior Director of Student Success

Centenary University seeks a dynamic, student-centered leader to serve as its inaugural Senior Director of Student Success. This newly created position represents a significant investment in Centenary's commitment to student achievement, persistence, well-being, engagement, and career readiness. The Director will play a central role in shaping and leading a comprehensive, collaborative model of student success that empowers every student to thrive academically, personally, and professionally.

About Centenary

At Centenary, our mission is to launch students into successful careers and meaningful lives. We are guided by our strategic priorities of Student Success, University Vitality, and World Engagement and our values of Curiosity, Respect, Innovation, Service, and Excellence (RISE).

Through Centenary RISE, the Sr, Director of Student Success advances a culture where academic achievement, wellbeing, belonging, and personal growth work together to promote student persistence, graduation, and lifelong success. The Sr. Director serves as the University's primary leader for retention, accessibility, academic support, wellbeing initiatives, and intervention services, ensuring every student has the opportunity, resources, and support necessary to thrive. Through a personalized educational experience and a strong sense of community, Centenary helps students develop the knowledge, skills, confidence, and purpose needed to succeed in an increasingly complex world.

Position Overview

The Sr. Director of Student Success will lead the development of an integrated student success framework that coordinates academic support, advising, accessibility services, educational opportunity programs, early-alert initiatives, student well-being efforts, tutoring, coaching, and retention strategies through a case management services.

The successful candidate will bring a deep understanding of how students learn, persist, and achieve their goals. They will use data-informed decision making, proactive intervention strategies, and collaborative leadership to improve student outcomes while fostering a culture of belonging, care, accountability, and excellence.

Applicants are encouraged to read the position description and case statement.

Ideal Candidate

The ideal candidate will be:

• Passionate about student success and committed to helping students overcome barriers to achievement.
• Knowledgeable about how students learn, retain information, develop resilience, and persist to graduation.
• Experienced in designing and leading student support, advising, retention, accessibility, coaching, or case management programs.
• Skilled in supervising, mentoring, and developing high-performing teams.
• Comfortable using student success technologies, predictive indicators, and data analytics to drive decision making and interventions.
• An effective collaborator who can unite faculty, staff, and campus partners around shared student success goals.
• Committed to fostering an inclusive environment where all students feel valued, supported, and empowered to succeed.

Qualifications:

• Master’s degree or related experience in Higher Education Administration, Student Affairs, Counseling, Education, Social Work, Psychology, or a related field, or an equivalent combination of education and experience preferred.
• Five or more years of progressively responsible experience in student affairs, student success, retention, accessibility services, EOP, academic advising, academic support, or related areas, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Demonstrated success in developing, implementing, and leading student support, persistence, and retention initiatives.
• Experience supervising professional staff and preferably managing student support programs and services.
• Knowledge of or ability to quickly learn and grasp ADA, Section 504, FERPA, and student affairs best practices.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, organizational, interpersonal, and communication skills.
• Demonstrated ability to build collaborative relationships and work effectively across the university.
• Commitment to student-centered service, equity, inclusion, and fostering student success and well-being.
• Experience managing federally or state-funded student support programs; student success, retention, or case management technologies; first-generation, underrepresented, and academically at-risk students; and using data analytics to improve student outcomes.

Key Competencies

While dedicated staff support in each of these functional areas, the Sr. Director is to develop broad knowledge and leadership capacity to provide strategic oversight, coordination, and direction across all aspects of student success. This includes student success leadership; retention and persistence strategies; student well-being and wellness initiatives; accessibility services; educational opportunity programming; academic intervention and case management; student advocacy; and the advancement of inclusive excellence and belonging. The Director must also demonstrate the ability to lead and develop staff, assess program effectiveness, manage resources, foster collaborative partnerships, communicate effectively with diverse stakeholders, and utilize data-informed decision making to enhance student outcomes, organizational effectiveness, and institutional goals.

Why This Opportunity Matters

This is more than a leadership position, it is an opportunity to build and lead a transformational model for student success at Centenary University. As the university's Sr. Director of Student Success, you will help shape systems, partnerships, and interventions that improve retention, strengthen belonging, support student well-being, and help students achieve their educational and career goals.

To Apply: Please submit a cover letter, resume, and responses to the questions below up to 200 words for each question.

1. Student Learning and Retention

Describe what research and experience have taught you about how college students learn, retain information, and persist to graduation. How would you apply these principles to improve student success at a university?

2. Staff Leadership and Development

Describe your approach to supervising and developing professional staff. Provide a brief example of how you improved team performance, accountability, or student outcomes through coaching and leadership.

3. Student Tracking, Early Alerts, and Case Management

Describe the systems, metrics, or processes you have used to identify, track, and support students who may be at academic, personal, or financial risk. What indicators do you monitor, and how do you measure success?

4. Collaborative Student Success

This position requires collaboration across Academic Affairs, Student Life, Financial Aid, Accessibility Services, Athletics, and other areas. Describe a time when you brought multiple departments together to address a student success challenge. What was the outcome?