Academic Program Administrator Jobs in California

Working Title: Director of Undergraduate Public Health Practice and Experiential Learning

The Director of Undergraduate Public Health Practice and Experiential Learning provides leadership, coordination, and management of experiential learning opportunities for undergraduate students majoring and minoring in public health. Specific responsibilities include oversight, advising, and facilitating credit-bearing community engagement internships and field placements that fulfill the community engagement requirement; developing and expanding research apprenticeship resources that connect undergraduates with faculty-mentored research; coordinating the administration of the capstone experience for undergraduate public health majors; and teaching undergraduate public health courses. The incumbent manages program and administrative support, which may include the supervision and training of graduate student employees (e.g., teaching assistant, Public Health Academic Mentors). The incumbent provides leadership in working with faculty, departments, the Dean’s Office, and campus stakeholders on matters related to undergraduate public health practice and experiential learning and is a key member of the leadership team for the School’s undergraduate academic programs.

The incumbent provides administrative and strategic leadership for experiential learning opportunities and programs that seek to expand and improve the quality of education for students enrolled in one of the School’s undergraduate major and minor programs. The incumbent is expected to: (1) establish and maintain relationships with community organizations to provide undergraduate internships; (2) oversee the public health community engagement course (Public Health 120); (3) work with instructional support units—Teaching and Learning Center, International Education Office, Summer Sessions, Undergraduate Research Centers—to enhance programmatic and curricular opportunities for students related to public health practice and experiential learning; (4) conduct regular evaluations of programs and report to School and program leadership; (5) represent the interests of Fielding School of Public Health (FSPH), the Dean, and undergraduate education when working with faculty, administrators, and students from across campus; (6) develop and build research apprenticeship resources, in collaboration with FSPH faculty, to expand undergraduate access to faculty-mentored research (Public Health 196), including identifying apprenticeships with embedded community engagement that may satisfy the community engagement requirement; and (7) develop, maintain, and regularly update the experiential learning Bruin Learn site so that undergraduate students and academic advisors have ready access to current information and resources on internships, field placements, and research apprenticeships. The incumbent also works closely with the FSPH Office of Public Health Practice in coordinating outreach and communication with community organizations and partners.

The incumbent assumes a lead role in working with the FSPH undergraduate program faculty leadership on developing the capstone requirement for undergraduate public health majors. The incumbent is expected to administer an undergraduate capstone program that (1) supports students developing a plan and timeline for completing the capstone project; (2) encourages a guided, reflective process that helps students identify areas of interest based on experiences inside and outside the classroom; (3) ensures capstone outcomes reflect sound methodological principles and provide broad context by integrating knowledge from across public health disciplines as well as experiences inside and outside the classroom; and (4) conduct regular evaluations of capstone outcomes as directed and report findings to School and program leadership. The incumbent is expected to teach or co-teach the two-quarter capstone sequence (Public Health 185A and 185B).

The incumbent is expected to lead the public health community engagement course (Public Health 120) and teach or co-teach the two-quarter capstone course sequence (Public Health 185A and 185B). The incumbent is also encouraged to teach an additional undergraduate public health course on occasion which would be either an introductory public health course or in a specific area of public health related to academic or professional expertise.

As a normal requirement, the appointee should have the terminal or top degree in the appointee’s field, e.g., Ph.D., M.D., D.D.S., D.V.M., or the highest degree that is commonly expected for appointment in the activity. In the field of Nursing and related activities, for example, the M.P.H., M.N., or M.S. may usually be accepted as a top degree. The successful candidate should have at least five years of relevant experience working with community organizations, establishing community partnerships, teaching undergraduate courses, including leading experiential learning initiatives in undergraduate education with a focus on public health. It is also desirable that candidates have experience working with academic policy and programs at a large public research university; understanding the principles of “shared governance;” skills in information retrieval and data management; and demonstrated leadership abilities.