Merced College is a midsized community college located in California's Central Valley. Founded in 1962, the college serves more than 16,000 students with room to expand on its 267 acre main campus and 120 acre Los Banos site. Merced, incorporated in 1889, offers historical sites, affordable housing, access to the Bay Area and Sacramento, and is the Gateway to Yosemite National Park and the Sierra mountains as well as home to the University of California Merced campus. Our tree-shaded, growing community of just over 80,000 includes multiple biking and walking trails as well as access to several lakes – large and small – throughout the county.

Merced College serves the educational needs for both incarcerated and formerly incarcerated students. Our program currently provides instruction for incarcerated students at two State Institutions: Valley State Prison and Central California Women’s Facility, along with Juvenile Hall and the United States Federal Penitentiary (Atwater). We are seeking a socially-conscious, equity-minded individual to assist in the continued development and expansion of our Rising Scholars Program. The successful candidate will bring a passion for this marginalized student population, ultimately providing administrative direction and oversight for all functions and activities of the program. This position seeks to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts programmatically and institutionally.

Merced College Vision

Merced College will provide transformative and empowering educational experiences to meet student and community needs.

Merced College Mission

Growing our community through education and workforce training:

• lifelong learning
• basic skills
• career technical education
• transfer
• degree/certificate programs

Ensuring student success through equitable access, continuous quality improvement, institutional effectiveness, and student achievement.

General Description:

This is an educational administrator position. Under the direction of an instructional dean, plan, organize, administer, develop and direct the day-to- day operations, programs, and activities of Rising Scholars and related programs, which serves currently incarcerated and system impacted students. The Assistant Director of Rising Scholars provides leadership for program development and works directly with the area dean, the faculty coordinator and student services to administer the program. This position is responsible for coordinating all related activities for the program and ensuring the program services demonstrate sensitivity to the needs of a culturally, economically, and linguistically diverse student population. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives. The Director will also be responsible for designing streamlined and integrated DEI training and accountability systems.

Representative Duties:

• Provide leadership and coordination over all elements of the Rising Scholars program
• Plan, manage, and oversee the daily functions, operations, and activities of the Rising Scholars Program
• Provides direct supervision of assigned Rising Scholars staff
• Promote, communicate, and facilitate partnerships with the instructional site administrators in the Rising Scholars program
• Collaborates with appropriate college departments and areas in the development, marketing, advertising, and promotion of Rising Scholars in all formats and modalities
• Participate in community, state and national organizations and meetings related to the program development of Rising Scholars to serve the needs of system impacted students
• Maintain current knowledge of new developments and innovations in community colleges with regard to Rising Scholars programs to meet student and community needs
• As directed, prepare reports to comply with federal, state, and local mandates
• Prepare a variety of reports and correspondence appropriate to the assignment
• Develop the program budget and manage financial resources consistent with District policy and sound financial management principles
• Evaluate classified staff in accordance with proper management practices and implement articles of collective bargaining agreements
• Accurately interpret and apply laws, regulations, district procedures, and collective bargaining contracts provisions
• Encourage cultural and ethnic diversity in staffing, the program, and services
• Assist with other closely related and aligned programs and services

Knowledge of:

• Higher education in community colleges, including the mission of the California Community Colleges
• Strategic enrollment management
• Implementation of collective bargaining agreements
• Budget preparation and control
• Successful interpersonal skills, organizational leadership, team building, staff development and communication techniques
• District organization, operations, policies, and objectives
• Successful oral and written communication skills
• Computer based systems for administrative, business, and educational functions
• Community college or school business management, including budgeting, grants, auditing accounts, and faculty load accounting
• Principles and practices of administration, supervision and training
• The changing educational needs of the diverse student base and the business community
• Instructional techniques and strategies related to system impacted students
• Online/distance education learning management systems and online content resources to support online curriculum
• Methods and techniques of program development and administration
• Principles and procedures of report preparation

Ability to:

• Communicate effectively both verbally and in writing with faculty and staff, students and community members
• Establish and maintain a productive and constructive rapport with students, administrators, faculty and staff from multi-cultural backgrounds and promote access and equity
• Train, select, direct, supervise, and evaluate personnel
• Collaborate with faculty to implement professional development that improves program outcomes
• Analyze, interpret, apply, and explain laws, regulations, labor contracts, policies, and procedures
• Maintain current knowledge of program rules, regulations, requirements, and restrictions
• Analyze situations accurately and adopt an effective course of action
• Plan, organize and implement multiple projects and programs and provide updates to the Vice President of Instruction regarding progress towards completion
• Compile and present narrative and statistical reports in a concise and comprehensive manner
• Analyze problems, identify alternative solutions, project consequences of proposed actions, and implement recommendations in support of goals

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

Required:

Education/Training/Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university in any discipline AND one year of formal training, internship, or leadership experience reasonably related to the administrative assignment
• A demonstrated sensitivity to and understanding of the diverse academic, socioeconomic, cultural, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, and ethnic backgrounds of community college students

License or Certificate: A valid California Class “C” driver’s license or ability to obtain within 90 days of hire date. Travel to locations throughout the District may be required.

Desired:

Education/Experience

• Master’s degree
• Experience working in or with a carceral setting
• Experience working with justice system impacted individuals

PHYSICAL DEMAND AND WORKING ENVIRONMENT

The conditions herein are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individual with disabilities to perform the essential job functions.

Environment:

Work is performed primarily in an office environment with some travel to different sites; incumbents may be required to work extended hours including evenings and weekends.

Physical Ability to:

• Hear and understand speech at normal levels
• Communicate so others will be able to clearly understand normal conversation
• Read printed matter and computer screens
• Stand or sit for prolonged periods of time
• Bend, twist, stoop, kneel, crawl, push, and pull
• Reach in all directions
• Work at a desk, conference table or in meetings of various configurations
• Operate office equipment requiring repetitive hand movement and fine coordination including use of a computer keyboard

Vision:

See in the normal visual range with or without correction.

Hearing

Hear in the normal audio range with or without correction.

How to Apply:

• Submit a complete application by the closing date/time on the Merced College career pages at https://www.governmentjobs.com/careers/mccd

Required Documentation:

• Letter of interest addressing your qualifications for the position (cover letter)
• Resume
• List of three professional references (no reference letters permitted)
• Legible unofficial college transcripts (undergraduate and graduate); transcripts must include the degree major and date the institution granted the degree; official copies are not required unless applicant is hired
• Diversity Statement: The Merced College District has a diverse staff and student population. As such, applicants must demonstrate sensitivity to the needs of a diverse academic, socioeconomic, cultural, disability and ethnic backgrounds of community college students and the community at large. Please describe your leadership efforts and professional experience promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in a work setting. Please do not include any personally identifying information. Limit your response to one (1) page.

If Applicable:

• Foreign transcripts must include a U.S. evaluation and translation completed by an approved organization per the State of California Commission on Teacher Credentialing http://www.ctc.ca.gov/credentials/leaflets/cl635.pdf (Download PDF reader)
• Equivalency Review Form (Required for applicants who do not possess the stated minimum educational qualifications and are seeking consideration on the basis of equivalency) http://www.mccd.edu/offices/hr/jobs/eqforms.html

Only the required documentation as listed above will be accepted for this recruitment. Any additional documentation will be removed from your application profile.

Interview Information: Those applicants deemed highly qualified for the position will be invited to appear for oral interviews before a screening committee. A limited number of candidates will be invited to interviews. Interviews may be scheduled via Zoom or onsite. Applicants are required to ensure access to the necessary technology to participate in a Zoom interview and will be responsible for their travel expenses, if necessary.

Employee Benefits: Health benefits for the employee and all their eligible dependents cost employee’s only $12 per month and provide access to PPO medical coverage, PPO dental coverage, VSP Vision coverage, and more! Please visit our Merced College Benefits website for more details about our incredible employee benefits. In addition, sick leave and retirement benefits are also provided.

Condition of Employment: The selected candidate must be fingerprinted and tested for tuberculosis at his/her own expense prior to the start of employment. In compliance with the Immigration Reform Act of 1986, all new employees are required to verify their identity and the right to work in the United States. Merced College does not sponsor visas. All offers of employment are subject to approval by the Board of Trustees. The applicant must be able to perform the essential functions of the position with or without reasonable accommodations.