Associate Director of Community Engagement/Lecturer

Position Title: Associate Director of Community Engagement/Lecturer

Department: Aleshire Ctr for Leadership and Comm

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: April 30, 2025.

Position Summary: Washburn University's Aleshire Center for Leadership and Community Engagement invites applications for an Associate Director of Community Engagement/Lecturer to begin July 1, 2025. This is a 12 month, non-tenure track position.

Each selected candidate will have a demonstrated commitment to pursuing teaching excellence at Washburn University, including a dedication to developing inclusive teaching practices that engage all learners.

The Aleshire Center for Leadership and Community Engagement is an academic program that serves undergraduate and graduate students from a variety of disciplines and programs. The Aleshire Center offers minors in leadership studies and community studies, and partners with the Department of Communication Studies to offer an online Master of Arts in Communication and Leadership.

The Aleshire Center is committed to developing leaders through high-impact, community-engaged learning. We empower students to become global citizens that support the creation of thriving, just communities. We bridge academic and co-curricular experiences to foster cross-cultural understanding and create innovative approaches to learning in partnership with community stakeholders.

Outside of academics, the Aleshire Center has several pillar co-curricular opportunities, including long-term community-engagement experiences through Bonner Leaders, short-term leadership development programs through the Leaders of Tomorrow student organization, and the annual Washburn Leadership Challenge Event™ leadership competition for college and high-school students across the county.

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.

Essential Functions:
• Assist with coordinating instruction of courses in the Community Studies courses and teach four courses per year related to the work of the Center (Community Studies and/or Leadership Studies).
• Work with Community-Engaged Learning Fellow and Aleshire Center staff to help create and enhance campus-community partnerships.
• Advise students regarding Community Studies Minor requirements.
• Manage and facilitate partnerships for community-based work-study and other short and long-term partnerships. Oversee community-based work-study student employees.
• Assist with Center recruitment efforts by participating in visit days, campus events, orientations, and scholarship recruitment and requirement tracking.
• Oversee Bonner Leader program, including but not limited to, associated trainings, seminars, reports, administrative tasks, and projects.
• Liaison with the Bonner Foundation and National Bonner Network.
• Oversee and mentor the Bonner Leadership Team.
• Assist with volunteer recruitment, training, and help facilitate community partnerships for the annual Washburn Leadership Challenge Event™.
• Collaborate with the Associate Director of Leadership Experiences and Aleshire Center student fellows to create and promote co-curricular community engagement programming.
• Coordinate the Washburn Transformational Experience (WTE) in Civic and Community Engagement and facilitate training and reflection sessions as needed.
• Represent the Aleshire Center on community boards and committees as is relevant to program’s mission.
• Perform additional job-related duties as assigned or as appropriate.

Required Qualifications:
• Master’s degree in a Social Science discipline, OR with at least 18 credits of complete social science coursework
• Two years of administrative experience directing/administering programs in a non-profit or higher education setting
• Demonstrated ability to advise and administer co-curricular programming.
• Experience partnering with community agencies or developing campus-community partnerships.
• Demonstrated ability to teach at the University level.
• Demonstrated dedication to developing inclusive teaching practices that engage all learners.
• Official educational transcripts are due at time of hire.

Preferred Qualifications:
• Earned Doctorate in a Social Science discipline OR with at least 18 credits of completed social science coursework.
• Five years of administrative experience in a higher education setting.
• Experience working in a university community engagement office and/or with a Bonner Leader or Bonner Scholar program.
• Experience teaching (online and in person) in a higher education setting.
• Experience facilitating community-engaged learning.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills with experience in developing intra-institutional collaborative partnerships.
• Evidence of creative thinking regarding approaches to program creation, problem solving, and program renewal.
• Commitment to a team-based and interdisciplinary model of learning.

Special Instructions to Applicants:

• Please upload the following items as a pdf to the “additional document” field via the electronic application: a statement of teaching philosophy that calls attention to the candidate’s commitment to community-engaged learning, and, if available, evidence of teaching or facilitation effectiveness (such as official copies of student evaluations/reports). Contact information for three current professional references will be collected as part of the application form.
• If you have questions about the position, please contact Dr. Lauren Edelman, Director of the Aleshire Center for Leadership and Community Engagement at lauren.edelman@washburn.edu.

 
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