Director of Clinical Education - Physician Assistant Program

About the role

South University provides a warm, supportive learning environment that encourages faculty, staff, and students to work together toward achieving professional goals, both on campus and online. The Director of Clinical Education is responsible for oversight and management of all aspects of the clinical phase of the Physician Assistant (PA) Program, providing leadership to support program and student learning outcomes related to supervised clinical practice experiences (SPCEs) and the clinical curriculum. In collaboration with the Program Director and other PA faculty, this role ensures the clinical phase meets all Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant (ARC-PA) standards, maintains compliance, enhances clinical experience quality, and aligns with best practices in PA education. The Director is encouraged to collaborate with counterparts at other South University PA programs to foster consistency and excellence across campuses. This is a faculty appointment (rank commensurate with experience) within the Physician Assistant Program, upholding South University’s philosophy emphasizing quality student services, employee development, sound economic principles, and an environment that fosters innovation and institutional growth.

Essential Functions

• Oversees clinical curriculum development, including the design and implementation of the clinical phase of the program.
• Supervises all members of the program’s Clinical Education Team (CET).
• Oversees ongoing assessment and continuous improvement of the clinical phase, including evaluation of student performance, preceptor effectiveness, clinical site quality, and clinical curriculum.
• Collaborates with the Program Director and Education Clinical Coordinator to design and implement a comprehensive clinical site monitoring plan to ensure the program maintains adequate SCPE sites.
• Manages faculty coordination by assigning clinical coursework responsibilities to instructional faculty and preceptors.
• Provides teaching and instruction in the PA program, including:
  • Overseeing coordination of instruction for all clinical courses and rotations annually.
  • Teaching in areas of clinical and/or professional expertise.
  • Serving as a faculty student advisor.
• Assists the Program Director in designing and implementing faculty development initiatives.
• Provides input to support accreditation activities, ongoing program evaluation, and review of the program’s mission and vision statement and goals.
• Participates in the program’s admissions process, including attendance at open houses, student recruitment, application review, candidate interviews, and student selection.
• Collaborates with the Director of Didactic Education on the ongoing assessment of student performance in relation to the program’s student learning outcomes.
• Engages in service, community involvement, campus relations, Program Advisory Committee (PAC) meetings, and scholarly activities consistent with the role.
• Participates in annual faculty development related to teaching effectiveness and academic administration.
• Provides student success support and remedial instruction as needed.
• Adheres to university policies as described in the Employee Handbook, the Faculty Supplement to the Employee Handbook, job description, or other separate guidelines.
• Ensures compliance with South University’s academic policies and procedures, SACSCOC and ARC-PA programmatic accreditation standards, and state agency regulations.
• Assists with the investigation and resolution of student academic and/or professionalism issues according to South University policies and procedures.
• Collaborates with the Director of Didactic Education and Assistant Director of Clinical Education on ongoing assessment of student performance relative to program’s student learning outcomes.
• Participates in scholarly and service activities appropriate to the role of Director of Clinical Education and PA faculty member.
• Fulfills instructional duties as assigned, in accordance with the job description and the provisions of the Faculty Supplement to the South University Employee Handbook.
• Assists with other program, department, or university responsibilities as determined by the Program Director, PA Department Chair, Dean of the College of Health Professions, and/or the Campus Director/Dean of Academic Affairs & Operations.

Required Qualifications

• Education: Terminal degree in healthcare disciplines such as physician assistant, pharmacy, medical doctor, and public health. A Master’s degree is required.
• License/Certification: Eligibility for professional licensure/certification in the applicable state and healthcare discipline (if applicable) or holds an active, valid, and unencumbered state license. Must have current NCCPA certification or emeritus status. Emeritus clinicians are not required to hold active licensure.
• Experience:
  • 1–2 years teaching experience in a graduate health-related profession highly preferred.
  • 2 years of clinical experience required; five years preferred (if applicable).
  • Experience in PA/medical classroom teaching and PA education administration highly preferred.
  • Physician Assistants are preferred.
• Skills: Excellent verbal and written communication; ability to build successful relationships with students and faculty. Strong interpersonal skills with student, faculty, and staff populations. Excellent critical thinking, conflict resolution, and decision-making skills. Superior organization, prioritization, and self-motivation skills. Strong computer skills, including MS Office Suite, ExamSoft, and WebAdMIT. Ability to interact effectively with clinical health care providers and administrators to establish and maintain strong relationships with clinical affiliates/sites. Ability to read, understand, interpret, and implement accreditation criteria and state agency regulations. Ability to effectively present information to faculty, academic and campus leaders, corporate leaders, and public groups. Ability to resolve inquiries and complaints from employees, students, regulatory agencies, or members of the academic or business community. Ability to listen to staff, students, clinical preceptors, and members of the medical community in order to understand and respond appropriately to their needs and requests. Ability to adapt to changing assignments and multiple priorities. Ability to manage multiple tasks and successfully meet deadlines.

Benefits

• Medical
• Dental
• Vision
• FSA/HSA
• Tuition Assistance Program
• Long/Short Term Disability
• Life Insurance
• Employee Assistance Program
• 401K Match
• Paid Time Off
• 12 Paid Holidays (includes domestic partner coverage)

Pay

$10,000 sign-on bonus.