Job Description

The Yellow Ribbon Advance Director provides vision, leadership for Yellow Ribbon Advance, a military-to-civilian career transition program. The program provides opportunities for military affiliated students and their families to transition to careers with supported placements working employers regionally and nationally while completing their degree. The Director is the University expert on work based learning and other career ready/career transition programming for active military, veterans and their family members and brings significant understanding of workforce and competency-based learning models to the university. The Director ensures the goals and objectives of the federally funded project are achieved.

Responsibility #1: PROGRAM LEADERSHIP â“ Design and Operations

• Ensures a robust Military-to-Civilian Career Transition Program for veterans, actively serving the military and those planning to transition to post-secondary degree program. 

• Responsible for ensuring military-to-career curriculum supports program goals.

• Oversees the contractual relationships to advance initiatives of the program.

• Serves as the institutionâ™s subject matter expert for military-to-career transitions and work-based learning for veterans and adult learners.

• Works collaboratively to advance credit for prior learning and other competency-based credit initiatives to assist military-affiliated students and their families to complete their degree and/or obtain work-based learning placements.

• Supports efforts to generate funding to sustain project and program initiatives.

• Supports initiatives on institutional risk and resolves problems needed to effectuate the project across the University for military-affiliated career-ready and degree completion programs.

• Manages conflict resolution within the framework of the University, consulting with the Senior Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs and the Executive Director of rants and Sponsored Programs.

• Establishes Employer Readiness program - Designs the courses for regional employers, industries, municipalities and chambers to be partners.

• Provides partial supervision to the Assistant Director of Employer Relations.

• Establishes Veteran and Active-Military Career-Ready program - designs virtual and in-person platforms and programs to build career readiness for veteran students, military-affiliated students and their family members.

• Responsible for publicizing programs to engage students, employers, and academic programs.

• Oversee marketing to diverse external military and military-connected constituencies, regional employers and national industry sectors and to entities and education offers within the United States Armed Forces.

•  Supervises the Yellow Ribbon Digital Marketing Specialist and provides guidance on marketing efforts.

• Budget authority: two million dollars over a period of two to three years.

Responsibility #2: PUBLIC LEADERSHIP â“ Project Management for Private Public Partnership

• Recruits partner institutions, chambers and regional employers and industry sectors to establish Yellow Ribbon Advance Employer Ready Network.

• Oversees strategic development, outreach and digital media plan creating a public-private partnership, recognizable and known throughout the region.

• Recruits partner institutions, chambers and regional employers and industry sectors to establish Yellow Ribbon Advance Employer Ready Partners.

• Organizes Yellow Ribbon Advisory Board comprised of United States Armed Service representatives, MSUM executive academic leadership and regional employers.

• Reports initiatives and outcomes to Yellow Ribbon Advisory group comprised of MSUM executive academic leadership, United States Armed Service representatives, executive academic leadership and regional employers.

• Provides consistent and timely updates to public partners: economic planning, Armed Services, the Yellow Ribbon Advisory group, partners and stakeholders.

• Develops and manages detailed project schedules and work plans for the project. Monitors progress and ensures timely completion workplans and assessment of project strategies.

Responsibility #3: Work-Based Learn and Earn Model Management

• Oversee the development of the Universityâ™s Work-Based Learn and Earn model serving business, industry, and military-affiliated students.

• Determines and implements the necessary infrastructure and resources to assess workplans, engage partners, organize personnel, and ensure effective evaluation and continuous improvement of the model.

• Standardizes operations and all aspects of the Model including data collection, student placements, career-ready evaluation and continuous improvement.

• Creates seminars, workshops, and other events needed to recruit and develop veteran ready employers as sustainable partners in the Yellow Ribbon Advance military service-to-career programs. 

• Promotes efforts towards recruitment for active military enrollment in accelerated undergraduate to graduate programs including creating virtual information sessions to active and transitioning military students by communicating and delivering a âœcohort-to-career❠course.

Responsibility #4:  Grant Management

• The Director is responsible for the day-to-day management of the U.S. Congressionally Designated Spending grant provided through United States Department of Education Office of Postsecondary Education for specific goals and objectives.

• Ensures successful project implementation, including student and employer recruitment.

• Ensures project activities are implemented in accordance with the activity plan outlined in the grant proposal, and that progress is made toward achieving project objectives.

• Conducts regular briefings and presentations to academic leadership, project team members and the Grants and Sponsored Programs Office to keep them appraised of project progress.

• Serves as a primary point of contact with the United States Department of Education (USDE) and is responsible for the timely completion of all USDE project and financial reporting documents.

• Monitors spending and provides regular, timely analysis and multi-year projections of the available funding.

• Works closely with the project evaluator for monitoring and reporting.

• Helps to facilitate the institutionalization of project lessons learned and best-practice activities to ensure a successful transition to University and partners at the conclusion of the grant.

• Manage project closure and the transition to new funding sources.

• The Director as authority to conduct routine fiscal transactions up to $5,000 and budget allocations from the federal award exceeding two million dollars.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Masterâ™s degree plus three years of advanced professional experience in the field of business, project management, nonprofit management, career services, workforce development or a related field: or a Bachelorâ™s degree plus four years of advanced professional experience in the fields above; or, an equivalent combination of post-secondary training, education and advanced professional experience.

• Advance working knowledge around creating, directing, or managing career-readiness, workforce/career development or job placement programs for veterans and/or other minority groups.

Preferred Qualifications: 

• Masterâ™s degree or higher from an accredited institution.

• Certified Associate Project Manager (CAPM)

• Project Management Professional (PMP) certification.

• Prior experience with creating job placement programs for veterans in higher education setting.

• Prior demonstrated success leading public and private partnerships together with highly specialized knowledge and experience in creating career-readiness, workforce development programs or career-development or job placement programs.

• Three years or more experience managing multi-year projects with nonprofit or for-profit entities.

• Two years or more experience with demonstrated results engaging business and industry for shared outcomes

• Two years or more experience with creating or designing curriculums and training in higher education settings.

Other Requirements

• Overnight travel to attend conferences or meetings may be required.

Work Shift (Hours / Days of work) Monday - Friday 8:00am - 5:00pm

Telework (Yes/No) N/A

About Minnesota State University Moorhead

MSU Moorhead is an inclusive university that pushes you to forge your own path. We embrace diversity of ideas and people with our core values of grit, humility and heart. Professors and peers will inspire you to blaze your own trail, supporting you every step of the way.

About Minnesota State Colleges and Universities, System Office

With its 31 institutions, including 24 two-year colleges and seven state universities, the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system is the largest single provider of higher education in the state of Minnesota. The colleges and universities operate 54 campuses in 47 Minnesota communities and serve about 250,000 students in credit-based courses. Overall, the system produces about 33,500 graduates each year. In addition to credit-based courses, the system offers customized training programs that serve about 153,200 employees from 6,000 Minnesota businesses each year. The law creating the system was passed by the Minnesota Legislature in 1991 and went into effect July 1, 1995. The law merged the state's community colleges, technical colleges and state universities into one system. The system is separate from the University of Minnesota.

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