Working Title:
Vice President of Student AffairsInstitution:
Bemidji State UniversityClassification Title:
MnSCU Administrator 8Bargaining Unit / Union:
220: Minnesota State Administrator's PlanCity:
BemidjiFLSA:
Job ExemptFull Time / Part Time:
Full timeEmployment Condition:
Unclassified - Unlimited AcademicSalary Range:
$108,596.00 - $173,093.00Job Description
This Vice President for Student Affairs position is an exciting opportunity for an energetic and visionary leader to champion holistic student learning and success grounded in diversity, equity, and inclusion. Reporting to the President and serving on the Executive Cabinet for Bemidji State University (BSU) and Northwest Technical College (NTC), the Vice President provides creative, strategic, and equity-minded leadership for a comprehensive portfolio of programs, services, and staff dedicated to the student experience at BSU and NTC.
The Vice President plays a leadership role in providing guidance and direction to advance institutional missions, efforts, and strategic priorities to enhance student success including retention and completion rates in a manner that is just, equitable, and inclusive. The Vice President coordinates and leads student crisis planning and response efforts, serves as a Deputy Title IX Coordinator for students, and oversees the student conduct program partnering with others across campuses to create and sustain a student culture of care, respect, and responsibility. In collaboration with the President and other Executive Cabinet members, the Vice President prepares and implements the annual general fund, auxiliary, and student fee budgets for the division and its various units, as well as actively working to create safe, healthy, and inclusive environments for both institutions.
Included in the Vice Presidents portfolio are the following areas that provide student-centered experiences designed to meet the needs of an ever-changing population of students:
Campus Life and Community Standards areas including: Dining Services; Hobson Memorial Union; Housing and Residential Life; New Student Orientation; Deputy Title IX for Students, Student Conduct, and Student Crisis Response.
Student Health and Well-being areas including: Gillett Wellness Center and Student Center for Health and Counseling.
Student Leadership areas including: Ex officio advisor to BSU and NTC Student Senates.
Serving as a member of the Presidents Executive Cabinet Team and the Cabinets for BSU and NTC.
Providing thought leadership related to the scope of responsibility in planning and decision-making for BSU and NTC including service as a senior advisor and trusted partner to the President in pursuit of the vision and mission of BSU and NTC.
Center holistic student learning, success, and achievement leading to long-term educational value in all professional practices.
Demonstrating self-awareness of ones own cultural beliefs, perspectives, and privileges as a part of ones orientation toward leadership.
Acknowledging the specific and particular realities of Indigenous, Black and other persons of color, 2SLGBTQIAP+ individuals, first-generation college students, people from low-income families, and other minoritized communities within Northern Minnesota while also connecting communities to local and regional experiences in order to foster a greater sense of belonging among employees and students.
Advancing a campus culture of proactive, transparent, and inclusive engagement with shared governance.
Actively and visibly engaging with campus, local, and regional communities.
Promoting practices that are environmentally sustainable and consistent with practices advanced by American Indian stewards of the regions land, water, and air.
Proactively engage in data-informed practices that lead to continuous improvement.
Committing to the highest level of ethical practice including allocation of time and resources for reflection, rest, mentoring/consultation, etc.
Maintaining currency in areas of leadership responsibility including student affairs administration through active engagement in NASPA, ACPA, and/or other related professional associations.
Providing high level strategic leadership and day-to-day oversight of the Student Life division.
Overseeing the administrative, programmatic, and coordinating functions of the following units and offices: Gillett Wellness Center; Hobson Memorial Union (including New Student Orientation); Housing and Residential Life; Student Center for Health and Counseling.
Working in partnership with the Vice President for Finance and Administration to provide management and oversight for Dining Services.
Creating a coherent vision for student-centered programs and services designed to meet the needs of diverse 21st Century learners and establish and implement short- and long-range organizational goals, strategic plans, policies, and operating procedures.
Providing strategic leadership in developing, implementing, and assessing comprehensive student learning and success plans to include strategies and interventions informed by theory, inclusive and equitable practices and data-informed practices that enhance student retention, completion, graduation, and graduate outcomes.
Facilitating the development of a culture that recognizes, affirms, and helps students draw upon cultural, communal, and identity-based ways of knowing, being, and doing to achieve educational outcomes.
Collaborating with others on campus to ensure a welcoming, inclusive, and success-oriented environment for minoritized and all other students.
Supporting the exploration and sharing of best practices related to improving retention, persistence, and completion for at-risk and under-represented students.
Creating and sustaining an organizational culture that is inclusive, safe, affirming and incorporates an anti-racist and social justice ethos.
Embodying and exhibiting a philosophical approach grounded in the belief that all students can learn and succeed.
Identifying and addressing systemic and structural inequities in educational access and outcomes related to Student Life policies, programs, and services.
Collaborating with campus partners, particularly with faculty and academic affairs, to enrich and enhance students curricular, co-curricular and experiential learning to promote student engagement, achievement, and success.
Promoting and encouraging the creation of a developmentally sound, student-centered set of options for engagement that help students perceive an increased sense of belonging.
Utilizing the BSUs and NTCs strategic priorities, organize Student Life programs and services to better integrate and coordinate student support services while also increasing student engagement in campus life.
Leading and supporting best practices for effective conflict resolution with students, drawing upon restorative justice practices when appropriate, understanding student mental health and well-being issues, and convening resources from multiple departments and constituencies to address complex student issues.
Serving as a Deputy Title IX Coordinator and assisting with allegations of Title IX, 1B.1 (Equal Opportunity and Non- Discrimination in Employment and Education) and 1B.3 (Sexual Violence) policies, Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) and Campus SaVE Act violations.
Serving as the senior conduct officer and ensuring confidential student conduct records for both institutions are maintained.
Providing leadership and direction to the Care Team, ensuring coordination of student interventions.
Serving as a resource for faculty and staff with student issues and emergencies.
Collaborating with Executive Cabinet and BSU and NTC Cabinet members, academic deans, faculty, and staff to promote, implement, and advance the strategic direction outlined in the strategic enrollment management plan and other efforts to enhance student success including retention and completion rates in a manner that is just, equitable, and inclusive.
Maintaining a bias toward making decisions informed by research, data, and theory and that leverage students unique cultures, experiences, and backgrounds as strengths.
In partnership with the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs and other campus leaders, provide vision and support for achieving retention and student success goals by enhancing and coordinating substantive experiences beyond the classroom.
Serving on the Strategic Enrollment Management Steering Committee and the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee.
Ensuring that a best practice student affairs program, which supports the strategic plan and emphasizes student engagement, is at the forefront of a BSU and NTC education.
Creating and sustaining a culture of assessment within the Student Life division for continuous improvement of the programs and services offered with a commitment to adhering to CAS Standards to evaluate the range of existing programs.
Leading student learning outcome assessment planning, strategy, and implementation for co-curricular and extra-curricular contexts.
When representing the student experience to internal and external audiences, the SSAO/DOS will offer an assessment and data-informed perspective and advocate for programs and services that enhance the student experience and promote student engagement.
In collaboration with the President and Executive Cabinet members, prepare and implement the annual general fund, auxiliary and student fee budgets for the division and its various units.
Strategically manage the fiscal and human resources of the Student Life division.
Developing, monitoring, and ensuring integrity of all budgets to include income, staffing, and expenditures.
Developing, implementing, monitoring, and revising policies and procedures related to the Student Life Division
Co-Chairing the University Policy Committee
Representing the interests and resources of the division on campus committees and in a variety of contexts (e.g., budget planning, risk management, student activities) with students, families, and other stakeholders.
Frequently collaborating with students and campus partners and modeling the qualities and characteristics necessary to be viewed as a responsive, communicative, and engaged division.
As part of rotation with select Vice Presidents, serving as Acting President when the President is traveling out of the region or state.
Serving as the ex-officio advisor to BSU and NTC student senates.
Performing other job-related duties as assigned.
Salary Range:
Depends on qualifications, ($108,596 - $173,093).
Minimum Qualifications
Masters degree in an appropriate and relevant discipline or field from an accredited institution.
Five (5) or more years of recent, successful post-masters experience in a higher education supervisory leadership role in or closely related to student affairs functions.
An ability to navigate shared governance environments and productively work with bargaining units and student governance.
Preferred Qualification
Doctoral degree in an appropriate and relevant discipline or field preferably higher education/student affairs administration or college student personnel.
Ten (10) or more years of increasingly responsible senior level administrative management and effective leadership experience in higher education.
Knowledge of and appreciation for the mission of regional public universities, and familiarity with public two-year technical and community colleges.
Demonstrated ability to work with individuals from diverse backgrounds, to interrupt oppressive structures and practices, and to create an institutional culture that is equitable, inclusive, and just.
Highly refined active listening and effective interpersonal and other communication skills.
Demonstrated knowledge and competence in assessment of student life services and programs as well as making data-informed decisions for continuous improvement.
A proven record of providing transformational leadership by being highly visible, transparent, and approachable while acting with the highest ethical values and principles in personal and professional endeavors.
Other Requirements
A complete application shall include the following:
- A cover letter specifically addressing your qualifications, the core values of student success and DEI at BSU and NTC, and the focus on enhancing value for graduates at BSU and NTC.
- Resume / Curriculum Vitae.
- Unofficial transcript(s) of all undergraduate and graduate coursework.
Work Shift (Hours / Days of work)
Exempt / Full-time
Telework (Yes/No)
Telework currently not available for this position.
If you have questions about this position, please contact:
hr@bemidjistate.edu
If you have questions about submitting an application, contact:
Mary Miller
...
mary.miller@bemidjistate.edu
About
University / Community
Why Bemidji:
Its more than a job. Its an opportunity for the extraordinary .
On the idyllic shores of Lake Bemidji, cradled among the limitless natural beauty of the North Woods and neighbored by Minnesotas three largest Indigenous nations, Bemidji State University and Northwest Technical College offer opportunities for the extraordinary.
Bemidji State University has been ranked as one of the top 30 public institutions in the Midwest region by U.S. News & World Report each year since 2019. BSU offers its diverse student body a comprehensive spectrum of opportunities with nearly 120 undergraduate degrees and emphasis areas in more than 50 areas of study, 14 pre-professional programs, and 14 graduate programs and certificates.
As Bemidji State continues its second century of service, our vision is simple: we educate people to lead inspired lives. To achieve this, BSU centers diversity, equity and inclusion as a core value and strives to create a campus culture in which all members are free to be their authentic selves. BSU also proactively engages with Indigenous communities in northern Minnesota and nationwide toward its goal of becoming a destination university.
Northwest Technical College, one of only three pure technical colleges remaining in Minnesota, helps around 1,000 students align their education with their employment goals. NTC offers more than three dozen certificates, diplomas, and degrees in five career paths. For more than 50 years, NTC has prepared students for fulfilling careers in well-paying, in-demand fields. NTC's accessible, affordable, hands-on programs also help employers meet their ever-growing need for a highly skilled workforce. With an open-enrollment policy and affordable tuition, NTC meets students where they are with a convenient mix of on-campus, online, and hybrid courses.
BSU and NTC are members of the Minnesota State system of colleges and universities, the third-largest system of higher education institutions in the United States. The schools share a unique alignment, with administration and student services generally having dual responsibilities to serve both campuses. Through this alignment, NTC students can take advantage of services, support, activities, and opportunities at BSU that expand and enhance their college experience such as full access to BSUs library and the ability to live in BSUs on-campus resident housing.
For the first time, a joint strategic planning process will guide the future directions for both institutions. The schools are pursuing four shared strategic priorities: student success, the Nisidotaading initiative, northern distinction, and telling our story. These priorities will serve as the foundations for master planning processes for facilities, academic programs, fundraising, information technology, intercollegiate athletics, and diversity, equity, and inclusion, among others.
The Nisidotaading initiative named for an Ojibwe phrase meaning building mutual understanding is creating a statewide center of excellence. It will develop communities of practice meant to help Minnesota State colleges and universities better educate their campus communities on historical trauma and lived experiences of their Indigenous populations, and how to most effectively guide Indigenous students toward their educational goals. In addition, BSU is the first university in the United States to expose all of its students to a course on Indigenous people before graduation.
Bemidji State University acknowledges that it is located on land and water that is the current and ancestral homeland of the Ojibwe and Dakota. We acknowledge the painful history of genocide, forced assimilation, and efforts to alienate the Indigenous inhabitants from their territory here. We honor and respect the many diverse Indigenous peoples still connected to this land, retained tribal sovereignty, treaty rights, and cultural resilience. Indigenous people are spiritual and physical caretakers of this land to which we all belong. Bemidji State University respects these sacred lands, stands with the community members from these Nations, and will fight injustice in all its forms.
At Minnesota State , the work we do is more than just a job. In their pursuit of purpose, connection, and growth, our employees play a critical role on our campuses. They develop policies, provide essential services, and work to improve the well-being and quality of life for our students and for all Minnesotans. Minnesota State is committed to equity and inclusion, and we invest in our employees by providing benefits, support resources, and training and development opportunities. Unlock your potential through possibility.
The City of Bemidji
Bemidji State University and Northwest Technical College lie amid the lakes and forests of northern Minnesota. Bemidji State occupies a wooded campus along the western shore of Lake Bemidji while Northwest Technical College lies just three miles east, near Bemidjis robust industrial district.
The city sits between Minnesotas three largest American Indian tribal nations: the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, the Red Lake Nation and the White Earth Nation. When settling the Bemidji area in 1750, the Ojibwe people named the lake Bemidjigamaag, which means a lake with crossing waters as the Mississippi River flows in from the south and exits on the east. Today, a city proper with a population of around 15,000 serves as a regional economic and cultural hub for about 100,000 Minnesotans.
Located just minutes away from a thriving downtown Bemidji, both the BSU and NTC campus communities have convenient access to affordable restaurants, fine-dining experiences, cozy coffee shops, grocery stores including a natural foods co-op city parks, and nearly unlimited outdoor recreational opportunities. Small, locally-owned shops and art sculptures line Bemidji's downtown streets, while national chains are also found in and around the area.The historic Paul Bunyan Playhouse has a calendar of classic shows, restaurants offer weekly live music performances, the First Friday Art Walk provides a tour of new monthly art exhibits, and annual festivals bring the community together throughout the year.
Additionally, the North Woods setting means students, staff, and faculty have a variety of activities available at their fingertips year-round. With more than 400 lakes and a 240-acre research forest owned by BSU within 25 miles of the city, there is easy access to kayaking, canoeing, swimming, boating, paddle boarding, hunting, hiking, biking, foraging, fishing, and more. An expansive network ofmulti-use trail systems is available for running, cross-country skiing, single-track or fat-tire biking, and skijoring. Further, downhill skiing, snowboarding, and tubing lie just north of Bemidji at the Buena Vista Ski Area.
Bemidji is also near two of Minnesotas 66 state parks:Lake Bemidji State Park, which sits along Lake Bemidjis northern shore, and Itasca State Park, home to the majestic Mississippi River Headwaters. Both parks are popular recreational and camping destinations where locals and tourists gather for sailing, swimming, and fishing during the summer months, andskating, hockey, curling, andyesmore fishing in the winter.
Of course, no tour of Bemidji is complete without a visit to and a selfie with its two most famous residents: the iconic statues of Paul Bunyan and his trusty companion, Babe the Blue Ox. The famed duo, which has greeted visitors to Bemidji since 1937, is on the National Register of Historic Places and was once ranked by Kodak as the second most-photographed statue in America.
For further information about BSU visit or NTC at .
Benefits Information:
At Minnesota State, we have a GREAT BENEFITS PACKAGE! Our generous benefits include 11 paid Holidays, Vacation Time, Sick Time, six weeks of Paid Parental Leave, low cost medical and dental insurance with low deductibles ($250 - $1500), a Pension Plan, 457(b) and 403(b) retirement plans and other retirement investment options, pre-tax medical and dental expense (with roll-over option) and dependent care accounts, employer paid life insurance, short and long term disability, as well as professional development and a tuition waiver program for employees and their dependents, etc. We promote the health and well-being of our employees and take work/life balance seriously.
Desired Start Date:
10-20-2025Position End Date:
Open Date:
08-04-2025Close Date:
09-08-2025Posting Contact Name:
Teresa Kay Vincent HansonPosting Contact Email:
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