Director of Student Success Advising and Pathways

Duties And Responsibilities

• Provide leadership and management for advising and student success functions across the Redlands main campus and regional satellite locations, including advising for School Of Education and School of Business and Society graduate programs and CAS undergraduate success advising.
• Provide supervision over the Student Success and Retention Advising Team at the Woodbury campus and collaborate closely with the Woodbury Dean of Students on leadership and management of the advising team and on retention and advising policies and initiatives.
• Ensure advising practices are aligned with institutional retention, progression, and completion goals, and that advising team delivers a wide range of services to all new and continuing students.
• Ensure the implementation of developmental advising techniques, holistic advising practices, and computer-assisted advising processes that provide personalized support to students based on their unique skills, abilities, interests, and needs.
• Initiates and maintains caseload records and documents student contacts. Identifies and facilitates resolution of student issues, determines service needs, applies and upholds University policy, completes appropriate University forms, and makes necessary referrals to College and University resources.
• Develops, organizes, facilitates, and implements activities related to monitoring student transition and academic progress, including, but not limited to, follow-up with students, and responses to staff and faculty alerts.
• Partner closely with the Associate Dean of Student Success and Accessibility, and the Woodbury Dean of Students and Success to align advising, accessibility, and academic support strategies.
• Represent Student Success on institutional committees, task forces, and working groups focused on retention, student success, and academic planning.
• Serve as the point person for the Student Success Team for Navigate software, EdSights oversight, and related technology systems, in partnership with IT and Institutional Research.
• Implement initiatives that support onboarding and registration for new students across assigned populations, ensuring smooth academic transitions.
• Support New Student Orientation, First Year Experience, Bulldog Beginnings, Bulldog Pathways, Admitted Students Day, Commencement processes and events, and other Division of Student Affairs or institutional signature events and programs.
• Serve as the primary advising and retention liaison to academic schools, faculty leadership, Enrollment Management, Financial Services, the Registrar, Accessibility Services, and other student support units.
• Collaborate with Institutional Research to interpret data, refine metrics, and assess the impact of retention initiatives.
• Partner with Student Affairs colleagues to integrate holistic advising and retention efforts with career development, belonging, wellness, basic needs support, and engagement initiatives.
• Support cross-campus coordination on retention strategies while respecting campus-specific advising structures and academic contexts.
• Contribute to student retention initiatives and programs within the Student Success portfolio in the Division of Student Affairs, collaborating closely with Academic Affairs and other stakeholders on comprehensive institution-wide retention strategies.
• Analyze retention, persistence, and registration data to identify trends, equity gaps, and high-impact intervention points.
• Develop and coordinate strategic student success retention plans for key student populations, including first-year students, transfer students, graduate students, students on academic warning or probation, and students returning from leave.
• Collaborate with academic schools and colleges to align retention strategies with curricular structures, academic calendars, and program-specific needs.
• Develop and implement student advising assessments.
• Provide strategic oversight of academic recovery processes, including management of programs that provide support for students on academic warning, probation, and those at risk of dismissal, ensuring consistent, equitable, and timely interventions.
• Serve on institutional committees and workgroups as designated by the Associate Dean of Student Success and Accessibility, Dean of Students and Belonging, or Vice President for Student Affairs.
• Perform on-call duty coverage on a rotating basis and respond to student crises and campus emergencies when necessary.

Qualifications

• Master’s degree in Higher Education, Counseling, Educational Leadership, Student Affairs, or related field.
• Five or more years of experience of progressively responsible experience in caseload advising, and facilitating campuswide programs in advising, student retention, and/or student success initiatives.
• Demonstrated experience working with all levels of administration, faculty and staff in facilitating student achievement, retention, and graduation.
• Demonstrated knowledge of current research and best practices related to advising and success in the higher education environment.
• Strong ability to develop, implement and assess programs that support student success and retention.
• Strong data analysis and communication skills.
• Commitment to equity-minded student success practices.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills, and proven ability to build campuswide collaborations and foster a positive, cooperative, and productive work environment through effective communication and teamwork when interacting with students, faculty, staff, parents, and stakeholders.
• Demonstrated passion for working with students, faculty, staff and others to create an equity-minded, student-centered environment.
• Doctoral degree in higher education, educational leadership, or related discipline preferred.
• Experience with strategic planning and change management.
• Experience with grant writing and grant administration, particularly in a university setting.
• Knowledge and skills thorough knowledge of academic policies, student success best practices, holistic academic advising methods, developmental advising theory, and related skills.
• Demonstrated ability to interpret complex academic records, analyze student progress, and develop case specific success strategies to support retention and persistence.
• Strong case management and organizational skills, and ability to keep accurate and timely documentation.
• Experience in multi-campus environments.
• Experience leading retention campaigns and registration initiatives.
• Experience supporting both graduate and undergraduate advising models.
• Budget management experience and ability to allocate resources efficiently to student support programs and services.
• Conflict resolution and crisis management skills.