Director, Honors Program
Bucks County Community College, Newtown, PA, United States
The Director of the Honors Program fosters a scholarly community among honors students and faculty members and provides strategic vision, administrative leadership, and day-to-day management of Honors@Bucks—a comprehensive community college honors program. The Director is responsible for building and sustaining a comprehensive program that serves academically high-achieving students through challenging curricula, robust co-curricular programming, and collaborative opportunities across the college. The Director actively recruits students, guides them through their experience at Bucks, and mentors them in determining the next steps of their academic career. The Director develops relationships with appropriate leaders at four-year institutions to foster honors-specific opportunities for transfer and scholarships and participates in appropriate honors organizations at the regional and national levels. This is a twelve-month, full-time administrative appointment reporting to the Vice President for Academic Affairs.Honors@Bucks is for intellectually curious and high-achieving students who desire an academically demanding and enriching experience similar to a liberal arts college or a university honors program. Admission to the program requires a 3.25 or 3.5 GPA depending on the student’s status. To earn an honors associate degree, students complete six honors courses with a minimum 3.0 GPA and maintain an overall cumulative 3.25 GPA.To meet these requirements, honors students complete designated honors sections of general education courses and honors-by-contract courses. In honors sections, students utilize primary sources, ask probing questions, search for answers to perennial issues that have challenged generations of thinkers, and conduct and present their own research and original works. For courses within the major, students complete a contract with the instructor through which the student will be assigned supplemental work requiring scholarly research, critical analyses, working with primary source materials, and/or submission of original products or research papers.
The education of honors students is further enriched by participation in a robust and supportive community of scholars with additional activities such as seminars devoted to challenging topics, guest speakers, participation in research symposia, trips to cultural and intellectual institutions across the region, and social activities. * Develop and facilitate a community of scholars that includes honors students and faculty.* Develop and implement a multi-year strategic plan for the Honors Program aligned with the College’s mission and NCHC recommended characteristics for two-year honors programs and that takes full advantage of PTK offerings.* Track program metrics (enrollment, retention, completion, transfer, GPA) and report outcomes to the VPAA and institutional research.* Propose and manage the Honors Program operating budget, including programming and travel.* Work with the Office of Advancement to keep in touch with honors program alumni and engage them with current honors students and to support the program.* Work with the Office of Advancement to secure and manage external funding through donations, grants, foundation gifts, and corporate partnerships to support program operations and scholarships.* Coordinate scholarship awarding and compliance with the Financial Aid Office; promote scholarship opportunities to prospective and current students.* Work with the Office of Advancement to steward existing gifts, cultivate new donors, and direct monetary awards to eligible recipients.* Supervise and train student workers.* Maintain and strengthen honors-to-honors transfer agreements with four-year partner institutions; negotiate new articulation agreements to expand transfer pathways for honors completers.* Serve as the primary liaison with four-year honors programs and colleges to facilitate seamless student transfer.* Represent the College to professional organizations, including the National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC), the Northeast Regional Honors Council (NRHC), and Phi Theta Kappa (PTK).* Coordinate transcript coding with the Registrar’s Office.In collaboration with the academic deans, develop and maintain honors offerings that includes dedicated honors sections of general education courses and honors-by-contract options for courses in the majors.* Participate in the Academic Pathways Team, institutional committees, and other governance structures as assigned by the VPAA.* Collaborate with Enrollment Management, Institutional Research, Student Affairs, and other divisions to measure student outcomes and advance student success.* Perform other duties as assigned by the Vice President for Academic Affairs.* Master’s degree from a regionally accredited institution.* Minimum of three years of experience in administration of an honors program, academic program, or related higher education leadership.* Experience in college-level teaching.* Experience with student advising, recruitment, and/or retention.* Strong organizational, analytical, and communication skills (written and oral).* Fluency with office technology.* Ability to work evenings and weekends as program needs require, and to travel for professional development and partnership activities.* Doctoral degree from a regionally accredited institution completed or in progress* Experience working with faculty in administrative or leadership roles.* Experience with academic advising.* Experience with student recruitment.* Experience with scholarship administration, grant writing, and fundraising.* Experience with regional or national honors organizations, such as NCHC, NRHC, and PTK* Experience collaborating across decentralized teams or organizations where success depended on coordination rather than centralized reporting.is an educational, cultural, and economic engine of Bucks County. With 96 degree and certificate programs, workforce training in trades, business, and technology skills, and personal enrichment and youth programs for the community, it is the quintessential community college. Operating three campuses, two public safety training centers, and 33 fully online degree programs, Bucks is simultaneously Pennsylvania’s No. 1 transfer community college—having 127 transfer agreements with 56 colleges and universities, and one of the largest providers of emergency services and firefighter training in the country. Its location in the southeastern corner of Pennsylvania along the NYC/DC corridor places it in the middle of one of the most dynamic regions in the country for business, government, and the arts. The region is the hub of an intellectual community that includes major universities, health systems, biotechnology, life sciences, pharmaceutical, and technology industries, and vibrant cultural institutions. Located in the Greater Philadelphia Area, the region is also a major historical center and tourist destination, making it both an intellectually stimulating and pleasant place to live. #J-18808-Ljbffr
The education of honors students is further enriched by participation in a robust and supportive community of scholars with additional activities such as seminars devoted to challenging topics, guest speakers, participation in research symposia, trips to cultural and intellectual institutions across the region, and social activities. * Develop and facilitate a community of scholars that includes honors students and faculty.* Develop and implement a multi-year strategic plan for the Honors Program aligned with the College’s mission and NCHC recommended characteristics for two-year honors programs and that takes full advantage of PTK offerings.* Track program metrics (enrollment, retention, completion, transfer, GPA) and report outcomes to the VPAA and institutional research.* Propose and manage the Honors Program operating budget, including programming and travel.* Work with the Office of Advancement to keep in touch with honors program alumni and engage them with current honors students and to support the program.* Work with the Office of Advancement to secure and manage external funding through donations, grants, foundation gifts, and corporate partnerships to support program operations and scholarships.* Coordinate scholarship awarding and compliance with the Financial Aid Office; promote scholarship opportunities to prospective and current students.* Work with the Office of Advancement to steward existing gifts, cultivate new donors, and direct monetary awards to eligible recipients.* Supervise and train student workers.* Maintain and strengthen honors-to-honors transfer agreements with four-year partner institutions; negotiate new articulation agreements to expand transfer pathways for honors completers.* Serve as the primary liaison with four-year honors programs and colleges to facilitate seamless student transfer.* Represent the College to professional organizations, including the National Collegiate Honors Council (NCHC), the Northeast Regional Honors Council (NRHC), and Phi Theta Kappa (PTK).* Coordinate transcript coding with the Registrar’s Office.In collaboration with the academic deans, develop and maintain honors offerings that includes dedicated honors sections of general education courses and honors-by-contract options for courses in the majors.* Participate in the Academic Pathways Team, institutional committees, and other governance structures as assigned by the VPAA.* Collaborate with Enrollment Management, Institutional Research, Student Affairs, and other divisions to measure student outcomes and advance student success.* Perform other duties as assigned by the Vice President for Academic Affairs.* Master’s degree from a regionally accredited institution.* Minimum of three years of experience in administration of an honors program, academic program, or related higher education leadership.* Experience in college-level teaching.* Experience with student advising, recruitment, and/or retention.* Strong organizational, analytical, and communication skills (written and oral).* Fluency with office technology.* Ability to work evenings and weekends as program needs require, and to travel for professional development and partnership activities.* Doctoral degree from a regionally accredited institution completed or in progress* Experience working with faculty in administrative or leadership roles.* Experience with academic advising.* Experience with student recruitment.* Experience with scholarship administration, grant writing, and fundraising.* Experience with regional or national honors organizations, such as NCHC, NRHC, and PTK* Experience collaborating across decentralized teams or organizations where success depended on coordination rather than centralized reporting.is an educational, cultural, and economic engine of Bucks County. With 96 degree and certificate programs, workforce training in trades, business, and technology skills, and personal enrichment and youth programs for the community, it is the quintessential community college. Operating three campuses, two public safety training centers, and 33 fully online degree programs, Bucks is simultaneously Pennsylvania’s No. 1 transfer community college—having 127 transfer agreements with 56 colleges and universities, and one of the largest providers of emergency services and firefighter training in the country. Its location in the southeastern corner of Pennsylvania along the NYC/DC corridor places it in the middle of one of the most dynamic regions in the country for business, government, and the arts. The region is the hub of an intellectual community that includes major universities, health systems, biotechnology, life sciences, pharmaceutical, and technology industries, and vibrant cultural institutions. Located in the Greater Philadelphia Area, the region is also a major historical center and tourist destination, making it both an intellectually stimulating and pleasant place to live. #J-18808-Ljbffr