Director of Didactic Education, Physician Assistant Program

National Louis University is seeking a Director of Didactic Education and Principal Faculty member for a new Physician Assistant (PA) program launching at its Chicago campus. This is a 12-month professional practice faculty position that will function in a joint role with administrative and faculty responsibilities that will involve activities in both the didactic and clinical phases of the students’ academic program. The annual workload requirement is 36 semester credit hours. Rank will be commensurate with education, experience, and academic record.

The Director of Didactic Education (DDE) will assume the responsibility for developing and overseeing the didactic phase of the PA program, ensuring it aligns with ARC-PA accreditation standards, program goals, and curricular requirements in collaboration with the Physician Assistant Program Director. Duties include, but are not limited to, planning, developing, implementing and evaluating the didactic education experience, to ensure students are prepared and demonstrate the competencies required to progress to the clinical phase of the program.

The DDE will report to the Program Director at the Chicago campus and serve in a leadership role in the Physician Assistant Program. The PA faculty consists of a highly motivated, cohesive group of experienced educators. Our goal is to provide a comprehensive curriculum to prepare students to practice in a variety of clinical settings and specialties.

ADMINISTRATION

• Oversee implementation of curricular design and coordination of scheduling of the didactic program with faculty and instructors to optimize delivery of instructional content to students.
• Ensure faculty are appropriately oriented to: program mission and goals, specific teaching responsibilities, program instructional resources, and specific learning objectives for which they are responsible.
• Mentor and support didactic instructors to ensure alignment of program, course, learning, and session objectives with classroom instruction and student assessment.
• Confirm, record, and report remediation instruction is occurring in didactic courses according to department policy and procedure.
• Serve as a member of the Education Committee and lead curricular evaluation to ensure high quality education through curriculum development and continuous self-assessment and improvement processes.
• Design original or review and modify as appropriate existing curricula to correlate with established or new course and program outcomes.
• Implement curricula in alignment with the educational objectives of the National Louis University Physician Assistant Program.

TEACHING

• Mentor, instruct and evaluate students within areas of need, expertise, and interest.
• Develop, revise, and publish syllabi that are compliant with institutional and departmental requirements.
• Develop, revise, and maintain student course learning objectives in alignment with session objectives.
• Serve as course director, conduct classroom teaching, and participate in course assignments in a setting promoting team teaching.
• Understand and use the university provided learning management system to facilitate the course. Turn in grades to the registrar by the posted deadline each semester.
• Develop, revise, adjudicate, and align student assessments with course and session learning objectives.
• Conduct student course remediation activities in accordance with the program policy and procedures.
• Attend guest lectures and ensure content delivered is in alignment with the session learning objectives. Provide peer feedback and evaluation.
• Serve as a faculty advisor and mentor students.
• Participate in lab sessions and simulations.
• Participate in the course review evaluation process and execute the agreed action plan at the next course offering.
• Establish a personal program of peer-reviewed scholarly activity resulting in local, regional, and/or national, presentation or publication.

SERVICE

• Maintain an active role in state and national organizations supporting the educational mission of the program.
• Represent the Department in intramural and extramural community activities.
• Participate in student recruitment, admission interviews and selection, curriculum evaluation, student progress, and accreditation activities.
• Serve as a member of the Department’s PA Education Committee, PA Admissions Committee and PA Student Progress Committee.
• Attend faculty meetings of the Department.
• Participate in student class activities.
• Other duties as assigned by the Department Chair & Program Director.

CLINICAL PRACTICE

• Maintain clinical credentials, including state licensure and national certification, to ensure ongoing alignment with current professional standards and instructional relevance.
• Faculty are encouraged to engage in clinical practice that complements their teaching and supports program goals; however, such activity must not conflict with assigned teaching and administrative responsibilities.
• Requests to engage in clinical practice during working hours will be considered on a discretionary basis and require prior approval from the Program Director and Department Chair. Release time is not guaranteed and will depend on programmatic needs and budget availability.
• Clinical activity is expected to enhance, not replace or interfere with, faculty commitments to teaching, mentoring, and program administration.

Education and Certification:

• A minimum Master's degree in physician assistant studies or other discipline if physician assistant degree is less than a Master’s degree. Graduation from an ARC/PA accredited program required
• Current NCCPA certification and licensure or eligibility for licensure in the state of Illinois required.

Experience:

• Minimum of Three (3) years of professional clinical experience required.
• Three (3) years of teaching experience preferred. · Leadership experience in a clinical, college, university, or post-secondary academic institution preferred.
• Knowledge of the accreditation process for Physician Assistant programs.
• Doctoral preparation or active pursuit and documented scholarly activity preferred.
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Skills and Abilities:

• The ability to work collaboratively as an interprofessional team member.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills to effectively communicate with students, staff, instructional faculty including adjunct faculty and guest instructors, and organizational administrators.
• Punctuality, attention to detail, and adherence to due dates are required.
• Proficiency in the use of technology for organization, word processing, learning management system, and communication is essential. · Proven track record in building internal and external partnerships.

Commitment to Community and Service:

• A strong commitment to serving the community and fostering student success.

At National Louis University, we offer our employees an innovative environment to work together and inspire the ideas that will make an impact. As our external environment changes, our employees are provided the opportunities and tools needed to grow both personally and professionally to remain successful. NLU employees and dependents are offered a wide range of benefits, including but not limited to, Health Insurance benefits, Retirement benefits, Paid Time Off and Educational Opportunities. Additional information regarding full-time faculty benefits can be found here.

NLU Faculty salaries are based on rank within each college.  The ranges for each rank for the Physician Assistant Faculty are listed below:

2025 PA 12-Month Faculty Salary Ranges

Compensation decisions are dependent upon the facts and circumstances of each position and candidate.  Offers are based on multiple factors permitted by law, including but not limited to: budgetary considerations, job-related knowledge/skills, experience, current/previous faculty rank, market considerations, tenure and standing with the university (applicable to current employees), and internal equity.

Please include the following with your application:

• Curriculum Vitae
• Cover Letter
• Teaching Philosophy
• Transcripts (Official or Unofficial)

Optional Additional Attachments:

• Sample Syllabus
• Additional Licenses/Certifications
• Course Evaluations
• Letters of Recommendation

Please note: Upon hire, official transcripts are required and must be sent from the institution(s) directly to the HR Department