Executive Director - Academic Program Excellence

Since 1911, City Colleges of Chicago has been connecting students from across Chicago’s neighborhoods to economic opportunity. By offering a quality education at an unprecedented value, City Colleges provides our students and alumni with a pathway to upward mobility. City Colleges of Chicago is the city’s most accessible higher education engine of socioeconomic mobility and racial equity—empowering its students to take part in building a stronger and more just city. As Illinois’ largest community college system, City Colleges is comprised of seven colleges and five satellite sites across Chicago. 

PRIMARY OBJECTIVE 

Reporting to the Vice Chancellor – Academic Programs, the Executive Director – Academic Program Excellence advances the quality, relevance, impact, and continuous improvement of CCC’s academic program portfolio. The Executive Director supports the implementation of strategic academic priorities by coordinating districtwide processes, strengthening program quality frameworks, and helping ensure CCC’s credit programs remain aligned with student needs, institutional goals, and labor market opportunity. 

This role serves as a strategic partner who helps move complex initiatives forward, provides continuity for the Academic Programs division, and builds systems that support long-term effectiveness across curriculum processes, program review, labor market integration, Centers of Excellence (COE) activities, and Future Ready initiatives. 

ESSENTIAL DUTIES 

Strategic Execution & Partnership 

• Translates strategic academic priorities into coordinated plans, structured workflows, and measurable milestones with clear timelines. 
• Aligns districtwide academic workstreams by preparing analyses, synthesizing information, and identifying operational opportunities and challenges. 
• Serves as a designee of the Vice Chancellor in meetings or discussions when requested, ensuring continuity of communication and follow-through. 
• Prepares data, insights, and recommendations to inform decision making. 

Program Quality, Review & Continuous Improvement 

• Leads the districtwide program review cycle for credit programs, ensuring compliance with state requirements, alignment with Perkins expectations, and integration of student outcomes data. 
• Establishes and implements a continuous evaluation and improvement cycle that drives accountability, program improvements, and strategic academic decisions. 
• Identifies and implements changes to the current program review systems and practices to drive quality and efficiency. 
• Provides training and technical assistance to college teams to support effective program evaluation.  

Curriculum Development, Governance & Academic Operations 

• Supports the curriculum development and approval process, working closely with faculty facilitators, PACC teams, and district leaders to maintain momentum and resolve process barriers. 
• Oversees the integrity and accuracy of the academic catalog and curricular documentation across all platforms, engaging necessary stakeholders such as IT, Marketing, and Academic Affairs. 

• Monitors and recommends improvement to tools and systems supporting curriculum, catalog, and academic process management. 

• Ensures compliance with applicable ICCB policies and CCC academic requirements. 

Centers of Excellence (COE) & Academic Initiatives 

• Manages planning, implementation, and tracking of Centers of Excellence (COE) model execution, ensuring alignment with economic opportunity, enrollment potential, and institutional goals. 
• Drives districtwide components and evaluation of district-wide academic strategic initiatives such as Future Ready, including program selection, outcomes tracking, and coordination with cross-functional partners. 
• Maintains documentation, timelines, and accountability structures for COE- and career-focused initiatives. 
• Leads and coordinates new major academic initiatives through structured project management, including charter development, timeline creation, milestone tracking, and risk identification. 
• Facilitates cross-functional workgroups to promote shared understanding, problem solving, and sustained progress. 
• Coordinates communications, training, and resource development that support successful project adoption. 

Labor Market Insight & Program Relevance 

• Oversees the integration of labor market data and trends into program review, program development, and strategic planning processes. 
• Works with vendor partners and district analysts to prepare dashboards, summaries, and recommendations that support senior leadership and decisionmakers. 
• Supports colleges and district teams interpret and use labor market insights to strengthen programs and identify opportunities. 
• As needed, engages external partners to understand responsiveness of academic programs to employer needs. 

Process & Systems Improvement 

• Identifies and advances opportunities to streamline academic processes and improve the student and faculty experience related to curriculum, program review, and catalog workflows. 
• Drives process mapping, documentation, and implementation of improved procedures and workflows. 
• Collaborates with IT and operational teams on systems enhancements, integrations, or new functionality to support academic operations. 

Stakeholder Engagement & Communication 

• Builds effective working relationships with faculty, deans, college administrators, and district teams to ensure coordinated academic implementation. 
• Develops communications, trainings, and support materials that clarify expectations and strengthen understanding of academic systems and processes. 
• Promotes transparency and timely communication across Academic Programs initiatives. 

REPORTING RELATIONSHIPS 

Reports To                Vice Chancellor – Academic Programs 

Direct Supervision        TBD 

QUALIFICATIONS 

• Master’s degree from an accredited college or university in Education, Public Policy, Business Administration, Social Sciences, Management, or a related field required. 
• A minimum of five (5) years of progressively responsible experience in higher education operations, academic administration, project management, process improvement, or related fields, preferably within a community college environment. 
• Three (3) years of experience in process redesign, cross functional coordination, or systems implementation preferred.  
• Demonstrated experience leading cross-functional initiatives or enterprise-level projects involving multiple stakeholders desirable. 
• Experience with curriculum, program review, or academic program operations preferred with the willingness and ability to develop expertise in these areas. 
• Strong knowledge of CCC’s organizational structure, systems, and processes, or comparable experience navigating a similarly complex institution. 
• Understanding of how academic operations connect to student pathways, compliance requirements, and institutional priorities. 
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with the ability to integrate data into actionable insights and executive-level recommendations. 
• Effective project management skills, including planning, coordination, communication, and milestone tracking. 
• Excellent written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills. 
• Ability to rapidly acquire working knowledge of curriculum, program review, and catalog policies and systems and apply that knowledge independently and accurately. 
• Ability to build productive partnerships with faculty, administrators, and staff across diverse roles and campuses. 
• Proficient in the use of Microsoft Office 365 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Teams) and the ability to learn enterprise academic systems, reporting platforms, or similar tools (e.g., catalog and curriculum development platforms, Labor Market Information platforms, Tableau/Power BI, etc.). 

WE OFFER: Excellent health and welfare benefit package and long-term savings and investment programs including 403(b) & 457(b) Investment Plans and a pension plan with the State University Retirement System (SURS) Plan. Generous vacation, holiday, personal and sick days, and tuition reimbursement. For a more detailed overview of benefits, please visit the benefits page of our website.

We are an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer. Chicago residency is required for all full-time employees within 6 months of hire. Thank you for your interest in CCC!

Offered salary will be determined by the respective collective bargaining agreement and applicant's education, experience, knowledge, skills and abilities.        

Benefits information is found at https://www.ccc.edu/departments/Benefits/

Job Family 110

Salary Range Starting at $104,775