Director, Academic Spine - (12 month Part-time Position)

OVERVIEW

The Director of Academic Spine is critically important to managing the curriculum for the Academic Spine (required for all SAIC undergraduate students) and hiring the cohort of faculty who deliver these courses for the Undergraduate Division. The Director ensures consistency and quality of learning outcomes across courses - spanning nearly all the departments at SAIC - and provides leadership in stewarding curriculum development, course-related exhibition operations, and the assessment of student learning goals and outcomes.

All undergraduate students are required to take 3 Academic Spine courses as a degree requirement. SAIC schedules more than 130 Spine courses in a given academic year with an estimated 100+ teaching faculty who require orientation to their Spine courses, access to faculty Canvas shared resources and assignments, curriculum and assessment tools, and general support.

The Director of the Academic Spine is a 12-month, part-time staff administrative position:

• Four 4 days a week (28 hours) with three days a week on campus; regular 9-5 office hours attending to the administrative duties of the role .
• An additional teaching load of two (2) Academic Spine courses, one each in the fall and spring semesters (compensated separately).

Please click on the links below to view our competitive, comprehensive benefits package:

• 80% of the following range: $44,500 - $54,960
• Benefits
• PTO Overview
• Job Classification: Part-Time Staff
• Grade Level: 8

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:

General

• Monitor and manage email correspondence regularly
• Review and approve payment requests for Spine course enhancements from faculty.
• Administration for the Academic Spine in alignment with institutional policy.
• Maintain organized digital filing systems to support efficient document retrieval, storage, collaboration, and archiving.

Schedule Planning

• Works in collaboration with the Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies to determine that adequate Spine courses are planned, scheduled, and aligned with departmental course schedules as they are developed for the next academic year. Follow up with Department Chairs as necessary.

Curriculum

• Conduct regular meetings with individual faculty and/or chair meetings to provide support or curriculum development for spine courses. Ensure that course content remains relevant, rigorous, and aligned with curricular objectives
• Engage in the ongoing curriculum review and development of the shared curriculum across multiple departments and disciplines, particularly with the interdisciplinary Undergraduate Division sections of Spine courses. Ensure the use of standard course descriptions across the curriculum to facilitate consistency and coherence.

Faculty Orientation

• New Faculty: 90-minute orientation for those teaching a Spine course for the first time or after a break of one academic year or more.
• Faculty Orientation for three different courses required each semester (29XX, 39XX and 49XX).
• CP Faculty Orientation for the shared assignments taught in CP 1021 Research Studio: Transfer.
• CP Faculty Orientation for the shared assignments taught in CP 1021 Research Studio: Transfer.

Course Materials

• Ongoing maintenance of Academic Spine Canvas course materials developed for all Spine courses (including their shared course level goals and outcomes) to provide resources and a flexible structure for curriculum development.
• Ensure that required assignments are updated and posted through CRIT to course Canvas pages at the start of each semester and that instructional faculty are notified.
• Maintenance of a table of contents, suggested workflows and/or related rubrics for all required/shared Academic Spine assignments such as the “Documentation of Practice” or “DIT Futures” assignments.
• Development and maintenance of an online presence of Academic Spine courses materials and resources for students including examples of syllabi checked for accuracy and shared assignments examples.

Senior Exhibition Capstone

• Act as primary liaison between Senior Capstone faculty and the Department of Exhibitions