Associate Director for Strategic Retention and Persistence

About the role

The Division of Academic Affairs and University Advising and Educational Engagement is seeking an Associate Director for Strategic Retention and Persistence. This is a full-time (1.00 FTE), 12-month, professional faculty position. Reporting to the Executive Director of University Advising and Educational Engagement (EDUA&EE) within the Office of Undergraduate Education (OUE), the Associate Director for Strategic Retention and Persistence plays a central role in advancing OSU’s institutional commitment to achieving an 86% graduation rate with no opportunity gaps by 2030. The position leads and contributes to campus‑wide initiatives designed to identify and remove barriers to student retention at the policy, institutional, and direct‑support levels. The Associate Director collaborates closely with units across the Office of Undergraduate Education, student‑success partners throughout the university, Enrollment Management, Institutional Research, and senior leadership. Through these partnerships, the role analyzes policies, procedures, and structural factors that impede student progression and develops innovative, equity‑minded solutions that strengthen retention and completion outcomes. A key responsibility of the position is leading campus committees and working groups to map the student experience, identify friction points, and propose interventions that enhance persistence. This work includes designing and recommending direct student support programs, policy revisions, and institution‑wide strategies grounded in principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion. The Associate Director conducts research to understand students’ decisions related to enrollment, retention, and attrition, using these insights to inform both short‑term and long‑term strategies that advance OSU’s student success goals. Over time, the role may also oversee a team of retention specialist caseworkers, providing leadership and direction for individualized student support efforts.

For additional information, please contact Carla Harcleroad at Carla.Harcleroad@oregonstate.edu.

Responsibilities

• Lead and project manage campus-wide student success initiatives related to retention and persistence in alignment with OSU’s strategic plan (75%)
• Identify barriers to retention and create initiatives, policies, and programs to remove those barriers in order to support student retention and success
• Serve as a key collaborator with OUE units, the colleges, Student Affairs, Institutional Research, and Enrollment Management to support strategic retention efforts
• Participate in and coordinate with various campus- and division-level student success and care teams
• In collaboration with senior leadership, develop strategies and initiatives to meet short- and long-term retention and completion goals
• Provide direct retention and persistence support to a caseload of students as needed
• Supervise Strategic Retention Team members as needed
• Utilize disaggregated student persistence and retention data to evaluate past interventions, guide future programming, and monitor persistence and student success outcomes (