Chair and Open Rank Professor, Undergraduate Social Work

THE OPPORTUNITY

The Open Rank Professor and Chair of Social Work will be responsible for overall leadership of the Social Work Program. The successful candidate will provide academic and administrative leadership, support with the Council of Social Work Education (CSWE) accreditation compliance and provide oversight to course development, instructional faculty and the practicum education coordinator supervision, and academic programming. This role is responsible for all aspects of hiring, staffing, evaluating, credentialing, and supporting faculty teaching in the department. The Chair provides ongoing performance management for faculty, as well as ongoing professional development to drive instructional excellence.  This is an eleven-month, full-time non-tenure-track faculty position that will be the Chair of the Social Work academic program within the Undergraduate College at National Louis University. 

National Louis University (NLU) is focused on developing undergraduate degrees that are highly relevant within the field of study.  As such, we are looking for an academic leader who understands the knowledge, skills, and attributes that students must acquire to become competitively prepared for the workplace. Just as critical is this leader’s ability to work collaboratively with industry experts allowing their needs to inform the curriculum and ensure market relevance, and internal stakeholders who are committed to student success. 

The Social Work Chair will report to the Senior Director of Social and Behavioral Sciences, working collaboratively with internal and external stakeholders to support program development and integrity. The position will be based in Chicago, and applicants must be willing to teach at other Chicago metropolitan area campuses as needed.

WHO YOU ARE

You will: Provide Students with Exceptional Learning Experiences

Your work has demonstrated your respect for education and the power that it holds to empower students to achieve their career and life goals. Each term, you will facilitate blended and online classes that utilize technology and data to drive instruction. You will work with a dedicated team of faculty, success coaches/advisors, career advisors, employer relations managers, and data analysts to determine how to personalize the learning experience for your students. In addition to teaching content, you will support students with meeting the goals that they have for themselves and celebrate the lived experiences they bring to the classroom.

You are: Driven to Succeed

You are energetic and passionate about a diverse student body that includes many first-generation students. To be successful teaching in this program, you must be committed to excellence in teaching and learning in Higher Education. The position requires you to be agile, creative, and engaging while offering an unparalleled experience to undergraduate students. Enthusiastic candidates have the belief that all students can be successful students. As an active team member, you believe in a supportive environment and a student-driven and data-informed culture.

You are ready to: Make an Impact

Each and every day, our Undergraduate College changes lives. You want to be a part of that meaningful innovation. You are someone that will always look for creative ways for students to earn success. We know this work is challenging, but we are in it together.

To be successful in this program, you must be committed to excellence in teaching and learning in higher education. The position requires you to be agile, creative, and engaging while offering an innovative, practice based curriculum and an unparalleled experience to undergraduate students. You believe in a supportive environment, a strengths-based approach to learning, and a student-driven culture. As an active team member, working closely with both internal and external partners, you are open to continued learning and self-reflection.

Curriculum:

• Curriculum Ownership: Serve as a Subject Matter Expert (SME) and oversee development of new courses and revisions in the discipline in accordance with accreditation standards. Maintain current and active knowledge in SME areas. Oversee a set of courses and maintain consistency across them through development, implementation, and revision.
• Leadership of Day-to-Day Curriculum Implementation and Department Team Planning: Lead weekly or bi-weekly department team meetings to develop an effective student experience, reviewing curriculum implementation and student data to inform ongoing planning.
• Data-Driven Course and Major Planning: Review course/major data quarterly and annually, in collaboration with UGC administration and department faculty team, in order to inform ongoing course and major enhancements and to explore opportunities for course/concentration/major additions.
• Scheduling: Use an efficient scheduling model to ensure students have enough course options to continually progress toward graduation, class sizes that maximize resources, and flexible enough to customize academic pathways.

Faculty:

• Hiring: Collaborate with Human Resources to regularly create and maintain a hiring network in subject area creating a pool of hiring options for full-time and adjunct faculty positions, reviewing candidates, perform initial interviews and make recommendations for hire to UGC leadership.
• Staffing: Choose/select instructors to staff for all courses in the content area (contracting done by UGC administration).
• Ongoing Performance Management: Supervise and meet with faculty on a regular basis to ensure progress on their goals and instructional excellence. Perform classroom observations and provide constructive feedback for faculty (FT and adjunct). Coach faculty, as needed. Conduct annual performance reviews.
• Leadership in Professional Development (PD) to Drive Teaching Excellence: Collaborate with UGC administration and UGC faculty to ensure a comprehensive approach to faculty PD is in place. Create, attend and actively participate in PD to build a stronger instructional model for the UGC. Includes on-boarding of new faculty as well as ongoing PD and support of all faculty.

Administration:

• Support Assessment, Accreditation and Compliance: Work with UGC and University administration to ensure that content area maintains all appropriate approvals and accreditation and compliance with all relevant university policies and regulatory guidelines. Includes but is not limited to maintenance of course syllabi, University Course Outlines (UCO), PD, etc. 
• Support the team through Council for Social Work Education (CSWE) compliance processes, including the support of the Educational Policies and Accreditation Standards (EPAS) alignment, curricular assessment plan, annual reporting and re-affirmation of accreditation status. 
• Support Resolution of Student Issues: Support UGC administration in resolution of student issues in content area, such as academic appeals and readmissions of returning students.
• Administrative Planning and Engagement: Ensuring ongoing communication and alignment between UGC administration and content area team. Engage in administrative planning as needed, e.g., in budget recommendations, providing input on marketing materials and enrollment strategies, and participation in UGC-wide efforts such as admitted student days and UGC-wide team meetings. Participate in faculty governance at college/university level.

Teaching:

• Demonstrate excellence in teaching: This includes demonstrating best practices in teaching and learning with a teaching load potentially across modalities while also helping to develop excellence in the practice of others. The Chair serves as an exemplar for the model of teaching in the UGC: student-focused, culturally relevant, and equity-driven. 
• Collaborate with the faculty team to develop an effective student experience for students. Facilitate courses by delivering engaging instruction in a blended and online classroom environment. Empower students to develop competency by sharing a passion for the subject and skills being taught. Utilize technology-based teaching platforms, including but not limited to an adaptive courseware engine to aid students in the development of competencies. Communicate professionally and relate well.
• Teach at least assigned number of courses per year based on workload policy calculations; collaborate with faculty team to develop an effective student experience for students; facilitate courses by delivering engaging instruction in a blended and online classroom environment; empower students to develop competency by sharing a passion for the subject and skills being taught; utilize technology-based teaching platforms to aid students in the development of competencies; and, communicate professionally and relate well to others

• Master's Degree in Social Work from a Council of social Work Education (CSWE) accredited program, Phd in Social Work or related field preferred.
• Six (6) years of full-time professional experience in social work.
• Three (3) years of professional experience as a practitioner.
• Three (3) years of administrative experience/leadership in a college/university setting.
• Demonstrated ability and passion to work with racially, culturally and economically diverse colleagues and students
• Demonstrated record of teaching excellence, ideally in a university or college setting
• Agile and creative in pedagogy and student support
• Ability to consistently connect instruction to its real world relevance, tying in concepts and theories in the classroom to students’ current and future work experiences and highlighting immediate applicability
• Technology proficient, including experience with digital tools for teaching, and teaching in either online or blended/hybrid formats
• Experience using data for improvement purposes

NLU UNDERGRADUATE COLLEGE CORE COMPETENCIES

• Student-Focused: Make decisions based on what is best for students with the belief that when all students have access, resources and support, they are empowered to achieve success.
• Expect Excellence: Hold high expectations for our students and for the adults to serve them and hold ourselves accountable for achieving excellence.
• Personalized Support: Take a holistic approach to providing individualized support that encourages students to realize their full potential in college and beyond.
• Data-Driven, Collaborative Environment: Work together as a unified team, utilizing real-time data and technology to adapt to student needs.
• Continuous Improvement and Innovation: Remain agile and open to changes and new ideas-incorporating data as well as student, faculty and administration voice-to ensure that we are continuously learning, improving, and innovating in all aspects of the student experience.

NLU Inclusion Statement:

National Louis University is deeply committed to serving its community, advancing access and equity, and ensuring that all individuals are welcomed and valued.  We are dedicated to fostering a culture where diversity, equity, and inclusion remain at the core of who we are. These are more than just words to us: they are truly a way of life for the NLU community. We recognize that differences in abilities, age, ethnicity, gender (identity and expression), race, religion, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, and background bring richness to our work environment. We affirm diverse perspectives, innovative contributions, and authentic presentations of self from every member within the NLU community. We believe inclusion is grounded in the actions we intentionally take each day. Our goal is to inspire and empower NLU employees and community members to cultivate an environment where we collectively focus on uplifting and advancing our institutional culture.

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 Undergraduate College are listed below:

2024 UGC 10-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.