The Director for Student Success provides college-wide leadership for undergraduate persistence, timely degree progression, academic advising operations, and coordinated student support within the College of Arts and Sciences. Reporting to the Dean, the Director oversees daily advising and academic-form workflows, manages the College’s student inquiry channel, and develops data-informed retention interventions with academic departments and university partners. The position directs College participation in recruitment, yield, orientation, and student-success events and serves as executive producer of the Dean’s Speaker Series. The Director strengthens student outcomes and service quality through clear standards, proactive communication, cross-unit coordination, and regular assessment.

This is a College-wide student-success leadership role designed to improve the consistency, timeliness, and equity of advising, progression support, retention interventions, inquiry handling, and student-facing programming. The position works across academic departments and central offices without replacing faculty advising responsibilities or the formal authority of the Registrar, Financial Aid, Counseling, Disability Support Services, academic leadership, or other designated offices. The Director routinely handles FERPA-protected information and high-impact student matters but does not provide clinical counseling, disability determinations, legal advice, or emergency services; urgent concerns are referred through established university protocols. Routine academic forms and operational decisions may be approved within delegated policy, while policy exceptions, employment actions, contracts, and expenditures outside delegated authority require approval from the appropriate university official.

Duties and Responsibilities:

- Lead daily undergraduate advising and academic-form operations for College students, including course and degree planning, major/minor exploration, registration troubleshooting, policy guidance, petitions, FERPA-compliant case documentation, referrals, and coordination of complex academic standing matters.

- Design, implement, and assess data-informed persistence and retention strategies, including early alert outreach, midterm progress campaigns, gateway-course supports, re-registration initiatives, stop-out reengagement, and dashboards on persistence, credit momentum, DFW rates, and time to degree.

- Manage the College’s student advice and question channel, including inquiry triage, referral and escalation pathways, service-level standards, knowledge base and FAQ maintenance, response quality monitoring, and analysis of inquiry themes to improve service and communication.

- Direct College programming and logistics for Open House, Pirate Adventure, Admitted Student Days, and other recruitment, yield, and orientation events in partnership with Admissions, Marketing and Communications, departments, faculty, staff, and student ambassadors.

- Serve as executive producer of the Dean’s Speaker Series and related student programming, coordinating themes, speakers, invitations, contracts, honoraria, budgets, venues, audiovisual services, marketing, accessibility, run-of-show, risk considerations, and assessment.

- Lead student-success communications, advisor training, and knowledge management by developing deadline and policy communications, faculty/staff toolkits, advising guides, webpages, FAQs, and service procedures; convene the College Student Success Council and advance continuous improvement.

Required Qualifications:

- Master's Degree in Higher Education Administration, Student Affairs, Counseling, Education, or a related field; a master’s in an Arts and Sciences discipline with substantial student-services experience may also be considered.
- At least five years of progressively responsible higher-education experience in undergraduate advising, student success, retention, or a closely related studentservice function. Experience must include interpreting academic policy, managing complex student cases, coordinating cross-functional initiatives, using data to improve outcomes, and communicating with diverse student populations. Event leadership and functional supervision are strongly preferred.
- Advanced working knowledge of undergraduate advising, student development, academic policies and degree requirements, FERPA, referral protocols, retention practices, equitable student support, and appropriate boundaries between advising, care coordination, and clinical services.
- Ability to analyze student, inquiry, progression, and course-outcome data; identify patterns and root causes; define measures; evaluate interventions; and translate findings into practical action and executive briefings.
- Advanced project and process management across advising operations, communication campaigns, recruitment and orientation events, retention initiatives, speaker programming, assessment, and continuous-improvement work with multiple owners and deadlines.
- Proficiency with Microsoft Office/Excel, Outlook, Teams, SharePoint, forms, CRM and tracking tools; experience with Banner, Degree Works, studentsuccess/advising platforms, Slate or comparable CRM, dashboards, web content systems.
- Strong attention to detail for academic forms, records, case documentation, schedules, event logistics, correspondence, document retention, communications, and data entry.
- Strong service orientation, cultural competence, discretion with confidential information, sound judgment, professionalism, and ability to support diverse students facing academic, financial, personal, or accessibility-related barriers.
- Ability to manage high-volume and time-sensitive work, establish priorities and service standards, safeguard student records, and remain effective during registration, orientation, recruitment, academic standing, and event peaks.
- Writes clear and audience-appropriate student communications, policy guidance, case documentation, reports, dashboards, advising guides, SOPs, web and email content, presentations, contracts/honorarium documentation, event materials, and executive briefings.

Desired Qualifications:

- Doctoral degree in Higher Education, Education, Student Affairs, Counseling, or a related field preferred.
- Training or demonstrated working knowledge related to ADA/504, Clery, student crisis referral protocols, accessibility, event risk management, and student-success assessment is preferred.

Salary Range:

$88,000 - $121,000

Exempt/Nonexempt: Exempt

Physical Demands: General Office Environment

Special Instructions to Applicants:

Benefits Information: 

Full Time Benefits

Life today is complex. That’s why Seton Hall University offers a comprehensive package of benefits and programs to help you simplify and enrich your life.

These benefits are important elements of your total university compensation package. Benefits include but are not limited to bundled medical, prescription, and vision insurance, dental insurance, and life insurance, and retirement plan. More information is available at https://www.shu.edu/human-resources/benefits.html. 

Seton Hall University is located in South Orange, New Jersey, 14 miles from New York City. It is the oldest Catholic diocesan institution of higher education in the United States and is home to about 6,300 undergraduate and 3,700 graduate students. A vibrant and culturally inclusive community, Seton Hall pursues academic excellence and ethical development in a collaborative environment and prepares its students to be servant leaders in their professional and community lives. Seton Hall University is an equal opportunity employer. It honors diverse perspectives and welcomes employees from all faith traditions. In turn, its employees respect Catholic beliefs and values, engage in servant leadership, and support the University’s mission as a Catholic institution of higher education.