Program Director, Upward Bound

Position Title: Program Director, Upward Bound

Department: Ctr Student Success and Retention

Advertised Pay: Upper $70,000's

Campus Location: Washburn University

Application Deadline:  Application review will begin as applications are received and will continue until the position is filled. Applicants can be assured of full consideration if submitted by July 31, 2025.

Position Summary: Washburn University is a teaching-focused, student-centered, public institution located in the metropolitan setting of Topeka that has earned national recognition for its high-impact programs for first-generation students. Washburn has a student body of over 5,500 undergraduate, graduate, and law students, a significant and growing number of whom are first-generation and Pell-Grant eligible. The University has created educational pathways for all students to be successful and achieve their educational goals.

Washburn is dedicated to recruiting and retaining a dynamic faculty, staff, and student body and cultivating a robust learning and working environment and curriculum. We employ more than one thousand faculty and staff on our campuses throughout Topeka and strive to offer competitive wages, an excellent benefits program, and a supportive culture and a healthy work/life balance. Washburn seeks to create an environment that reflects our core values for creating positive IMPACT: inclusion, modernization, partnership, achievement, community and transformation. In 2024, Washburn was recognized as one of the best colleges in the nation to work for, according to Great Colleges to Work For® program.

Washburn University’s Upward Bound Program is directly sponsored by the Vice President of Academic Affairs. Both the Upward Bound Project Director and the Dean of University Libraries and the Center for Student Success and Retention regularly report to the Vice President of Academic Affairs on the Student Success agenda for Washburn University. The Upward Bound Program Director, under the direction of the Dean of University Libraries and the Center for Student Success and Retention and the Associate Dean for Student Success, is responsible for developing and administering the Washburn University Upward Bound Program. This includes hiring, training, supervising, and evaluating project staff; managing fiscal resources; developing and managing projects; and liaising with the target area communities. The Upward Bound Director also provides direct services to Upward Bound participants, approximately 60 low-income, first-generation, or at-risk students at Topeka High School, representing youth from under-served communities. This is a grant-funded position, contingent upon the continued availability of grant funding.

Essential Functions:
• Coordinates all participant assessments to determine the extent of academic, personal, and career counseling needs

• Directs participant recruitment and selection of students; meets individually and in groups with participants regularly to provide information and assistance supporting successful school completion and post-secondary entry

• Assists participants with exploration, goal setting, planning, and follow-through, monitors participants’ progress

• The Director regularly works with parents and participants who do not speak English fluently, and many are Spanish speakers, translation skills may be necessary
• Conducts Upward Bound informational presentations at participating schools and community agencies

• Develops and implements all services and activities to meet the Upward Bound objectives with the project staff

• Directs a coordinated approach among processes to assess participants’ needs, delivers services, and monitors participants’ progress

• Collaborates with the program’s Internal Evaluation Team to review, monitor, and evaluate program effectiveness through objective and accurate data and information reports shared with the Internal Evaluation Team

• Administers the annual budget, works with Washburn finance and accounting staff to ensure that fiscal planning, budgeting, and financial reporting are managed in compliance with grant and University regulations, requirements, policies, and procedures, and prepares continuation budgets

• Hires, trains, supervises, and evaluates Upward Bound staff

• Serves as a liaison to departments, target school administrators, and community agencies

• Supervises the maintenance of accurate Upward Bound data to generate monthly/quarterly/annual reports and to evaluate the performance of participants and the attainment of project objectives

• Prepares and submits Annual Progress/Performance Reports utilizing university procedures

• Prepares formative and summative program evaluations

• Maintains confidentiality of information exposed to during business regarding students, supervisors or other employees

• Contributes to a safe educational and working environment by participating in all drills and training and being prepared to act should a health or safety emergency occur

• Coordinates and leads project-related meetings

• Requires the kind of teamwork, supervision, and personal interaction that cannot be had in a home office situation; therefore, regular and predictable on-site attendance is a job requirement

• Performs additional job-related duties as assigned or as appropriate

Required Qualifications:
• A master’s degree in a relevant field (education, counseling, etc.)
• Minimum of three years of experience in staff supervision, budget management, and/or program development and evaluation/reporting, which included compliance with federal regulations
• At least three years of experience managing and implementing educational programs for at-risk students
• Demonstrated sensitivity to the needs of youth from under-served communities
• Proven ability to use discretion in dealing with student records and demonstrated knowledge of FERPA guidelines
• Demonstrated knowledge of issues affecting the academic potential of low-income, first-generation college-bound youth
• Proven effective written and interpersonal communication skills
• Demonstrable ability to work effectively independently and in teams

Preferred Qualifications:
• Doctorate in educational leadership, liberal arts, social/behavioral sciences, administration, social work, counseling, or related field
• Experience administering federal grants and federal budgets
• Bilingual, Spanish
• Personal or professional experience overcoming obstacles similar to those of the Project participants

Exempt, Full time, Background Check Required