Search for the Executive Director, Center for Teaching and Learning
The University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, New Mexico
The University of New Mexico (UNM), a Minority Serving Institution and one of only 21 Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) in the United States with a Carnegie Classification of Highest Research Activity (R1), seeks a creative, visionary, and collaborative leader to serve as the next Executive Director of its Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL). This is a distinctive opportunity to lead a dynamic comprehensive center known for its wide-ranging services, programs, and resources to enhance teaching effectiveness campus-wide and to promote student success for a highly diverse student population. The Executive Director will join New Mexico's flagship institution that is committed to inclusive excellence, located in a state with a long and rich cultural heritage that prioritizes advancement, equity, and access.
The next Executive Director will join a highly respected unit that is poised for opportunities to innovate, grow impact, and enhance its reputation as an exemplary model for teaching and learning in the Southwest and beyond. CTL is an award-winning organization and one of only six such centers in the country to be designated as a Learning Center of Excellence by the National College Learning Center Association. CTL aims to provide integrated support by developing faculty teaching skills and enhancing pedagogy, providing course design and learning technology assistance for the full range of courses from asynchronous to face-to-face, and providing learning support for all undergraduate and graduate students. Looking ahead, CTL is prioritizing faculty development to expand faculty engagement with the Center, elevating its visibility within the university, and strengthening the integration of its teaching and learning efforts in a systemic and cohesive way over the next five years. During the 2022-2023 academic year, CTL served a total of 4,036 undergraduates and 862 graduate students for a total of over 21,000 visits. Additionally, CTL's instructional designers supported 1,626 online courses, 119 online course reviews, and 104 instructors completed the Evidence-Based Practices for Teaching Online course.
It is an opportune time to join the UNM community as it embarks on UNM 2040, an innovative and aspirational strategic plan that defines the long- and short-term objectives of the University. UNM 2040's implementation includes a goal to "Transform the educational experience by creating supportive, intellectually challenging, exciting, diverse, joyful learning environments both inside and outside of the classroom to ensure the lifelong success, upward social mobility, and engagement of all learners." CTL plays an integral role in UNM 2040's implementation, as UNM has been actively engaged in a wide range of teaching enhancement efforts to promote belonging and growth mindset, inclusion, effective course design and technology use, formative feedback to instructors, active learning approaches, mentorship, and discipline-specific innovations. The Executive Director will also lead UNM's engagement with national organizations focused on supporting equitable learning environments.
The Executive Director will assume leadership of a unit that operates within a thriving ecosystem of initiatives that has included projects supported by several funders, including the Sloan Foundation, National Science Foundation, and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, as well as multi-university collaborations such as the Student Experience Project. CTL also offers internally-funded initiatives such as comprehensive tutoring and specialized support services for students, supplementary instruction, and online and in-person workshops and training programs for instructors. In 2021, CTL's student learning assistance program was awarded UNM's Provost's Committee for Staff Outstanding Workgroup Award.
To be successful, the Executive Director will be expected to address several opportunities and challenges, listed below:
- Develop and execute a clear and compelling vision for integrating faculty teaching development with student support;
- Serve as a strategic partner to faculty on teaching and innovation;
- Collaborate across the University to support the success of UNM's diverse student body;
- Maintain a supportive, collaborative, and inclusive team culture;
- Elevate CTL's local and national visibility
UNM has retained Isaacson, Miller, a national executive search firm, to assist in this search. Screening of complete applications will begin immediately and continue until the completion of the search process. Inquiries, nominations, referrals, and CVs with cover letters, should be sent via the Isaacson, Miller website for the search: https://www.imsearch.com/open-searches/university-new-mexico/executive-director-teaching-and-learning. Electronic submission of materials is required.
Carley Davenport and Leslie Lemus
Isaacson, Miller
1000 Sansome Street, Suite 300
San Francisco, CA 94111
The University of New Mexico is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, veteran status, disability, or any other protected class.
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