PROSPECTUS
Associate Vice President and Executive Director
of Career Services
POSITION OVERVIEW
The University of South Florida seeks an innovative leader to provide transformation and strategic direction to their comprehensive career services initiatives.
Located in the vibrant and diverse Tampa Bay region of Florida's gulf coast, the University of South Florida (USF) is a Preeminent State Research University with campuses in Tampa, St. Petersburg and Sarasota-Manatee. Rated as one of the top places to live in the U.S., Tampa Bay offers a high quality of life, year-round sunshine, and easy access to top-rated entertainment. USF is one of the nation's largest public universities, serving more than 50,000 students with an annual budget of $1.8 billon. Over the past five years, USF has been the fastest-rising university in the nation, public or private, on the U.S. News and World Report's list of best universities, which it ranks as the 44th best public university in America.
The Career Services unit is part of the Division of Student Success. Student Success is comprised of over 50 departments all focused on directing, promoting, and coordinating university efforts to empower all students to earn the degree of their choice in a timely manner, with limited debt, and prepared for success in graduate or professional schools or the global marketplace. Student Success does this by promoting student engagement, development, experiential learning opportunities, and enriching co-curricular experiences through meaningful experiences and inclusive environments.
RESPONSIBILITIES
The AVP / Executive Director of Career Services will be a senior leader at USF. The AVP will report to the Vice President for Student Success. The AVP / Executive Director is responsible for the leadership, strategic direction, fiscal management, supervision and overall administration of a comprehensive nationally recognized university Career Services department.
The AVP / Executive Director develops strategic goals aligned with the University to ensure that policies and programs align with our OneUSF 2022-2027 Strategic Plan. These goals will be continually measured and monitored against outstanding state and nationally recognized career services programs and departments.
The AVP / Executive Director is responsible to develop, implement and deliver a learner-centered, campus-wide department with programs available to all students to ensure they have the opportunity to develop, relate, refine, or redirect academic studies that lead to successful career options and choices. The AVP / Executive Director will ensure this is accomplished by embedding career development into the campus ecosystem and offering students deliberate career experiences, advising, career fairs, internships, and cooperative education leading to professional employment.
Drive innovation by being responsive to market trends, benchmarking programs and services with peer and aspirational institutions, and tracking annual student benefits and outcomes.
Responsible for attracting, building, developing, and maintaining community-based relationships with local, state and national employers to promote USF and its graduates in order to increase the exposure, accessibility and success in competing for professional career opportunities in a highly competitive global market.
Continuously strengthen relationships with faculty, deans, vice presidents, vice provosts, unit directors, other campus units, parents and student committees and clubs, to achieve the goal of offering a comprehensive program of career development including education, advising, and access to internships and experiential education and connections with employers and alumni. Develop these concepts as an integral part of the university community.
Serve as the liaison between the various business constituencies and internal stakeholders such as administration, faculty, and students. Facilitates the successful matching of business community needs with the appropriate faculty and/or staff in the college. Collaborates with staff, faculty, and administrators to identify and resolve issues arising from the business engagement activities.
Serve as primary spokesperson for career services on all three campuses. Serve in leadership roles in local, regional, and national professional associations. Participate in cross-university committees, addressing topics such as data governance, alumni engagement, advancement, industry DEI pipeline programs/program development, and strategic planning committees.
Participates as a member of various business organizations and university committees and represents the college at various community and university functions.
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
The successful candidate will be passionate about student development and innovative leadership. A demonstrated path of progressive leadership and skill development is necessary. An advanced degree is required (Master’s or higher) along with organizational leadership experience in higher education or in the private or non-profit sectors. Experience showing progressive leadership in positions that involve supervision of professional staff, budget oversight, direct interaction with HR directors, recruiters, senior level executives, and employers regarding talent acquisition. The successful candidate will be an innovative thinker and doer regarding the role that technology plays in the student talent development enterprise and will lead USF’s migration into a leadership role in the use of technology. The successful candidate will be a successful boundary spanner who understands the academic enterprise and the curriculum development process.
SALARY
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Competitive and commensurate with experience.
ABOUT UNIVERSITY OF
SOUTH FLORIDA (USF)
USF is the fastest-rising university in America, according to U.S. News and World Report’s (U.S. News) 2022 Best Colleges rankings. Over the past 10 years, USF has risen 67 spots among all universities and 48 spots among public universities, more than any other university in the country.
USF AT A GLANCE
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Founded: 1956
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Undergraduates: 36,854
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Graduate Students: 9,493
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Accreditation: Institutionally Accredited, Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC)
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Faculty & Staff: 15,678
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Diversity: 40% of students are African American, American Indian, Asian, Hispanic, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, or multiracial.
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Countries Represented: 146
Institutional Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
The University of South Florida endeavors to make academic excellence inclusive by sustaining a community of free inquiry in which people of diverse race, ethnicity, veteran status, marital status, socio-economic level, national origin, religious belief, physical ability, sexual orientation, age, class, political ideology, gender identity and expression participate in, contribute to, and benefit equally, from the academic community. A diverse campus environment, in which differences are respected and appreciated, promotes more effective teaching, produces greater learning outcomes, and better prepares students for an increasingly diverse workforce and pluralistic society.
PRESIDENT RHEA LAW
Rhea Law is a proud fifth-generation Floridian who is passionate about the success of the state. Actively involved in corporate, public policy, civic and charitable work, Law holds top leadership positions with many Florida-based organizations. She received gubernatorial appointments to serve on the inaugural Board of Trustees for the University of South Florida, as well as the Board of the Florida Council of 100, the public policy liaison with Florida’s governor, cabinet, legislative leadership and Supreme Court. Rhea served as Chair of the Board for both organizations. Further, she served on the Presidential Search Committee for the University of South Florida in 1999 and 2019. In addition, she was a two-time Chair of the Tampa Hillsborough Economic Development Corporation and the Tampa Bay Partnership during times of reorganization and expansion. She also served as Chair of the University of South Florida Health Professions Conferencing Corporation which operates the Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation and Chair of the Stetson University College of Law Board of Overseers, as well as serving on the Board of Trustees of Stetson University.
Currently, Law serves on the Board of Directors of Tampa Electric Company, which supplies electricity to the Tampa area, and Peoples Gas, which provides gas throughout Florida. She also serves on the Executive Committee of the Tampa Bay Economic Development Council, the Tampa Bay Chamber, and on the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center Board of Directors and National Board of Advisors. As a member of the USF President's Council Society, she is among honored donors who have made a lifetime commitment of $100,000 or more or a legacy gift to USF.
Law is the former CEO and Chair of the Board of Fowler White Boggs, a Florida law firm. She led the merger of Fowler with a national firm, Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney in 2014 where she continued to serve as Chair, Florida Offices until 2021. The consolidation of the firms created a powerhouse firm with law offices throughout the country and hundreds of lawyers who specialize in a broad spectrum of business areas such as Energy, Finance, Healthcare and Life Sciences.
Her areas of practice included higher education, economic development, government, environment and land use. Over the course of her 35-year-plus career, Law has worked with clients on land use and strategic planning to meet the needs of a growing Florida.
Recent recognitions include:
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Tampa Bay Business Journal: BusinessWoman of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award 2022
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Florida Council of 100: Governor’s Business Leader of the Year Award 2021
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Florida Trend magazine: Named to Florida 500 – Florida’s Most Influential Business Leaders – since 2018; Living Legend in 2021.
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Tampa Bay Business Journal: Named #6 in the Power 100 – Tampa Bay’s Most Powerful Business Leaders with greatest impact and influence on the local business community.
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Tampa Bay Times: Named one of the Top 25 Most Influential Business Players in Tampa Bay.
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The Best Lawyers in America® and Florida Super Lawyers since 2006; "Lawyer of the Year," Best Lawyers list and in the Top 50 Female Lawyers.
APPLICATIONS & DEADLINES
Interested applicants should submit a cover letter, current resume, and three references saved as one document, either Word or a PDF. The file name should start with your first name and then last name, such as, “Susan Smith USF Application.” This should be emailed to search@careerleadershipcollective.com with the email subject of “Application for USF AVP of Career Services.”
To be considered, interested applicants should submit the requested materials no later than Friday, July 8 by 11:59pm EST.
This job description and prospectus has been designed to indicate the general nature, working conditions and level of work performed by employees within this job. It is not designed to contain or be interpreted as a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities, working conditions and qualifications required of employees assigned to this job.
