The first hires for the planned University of Arkansas System online university would preferably have experience working in a startup culture, according to job advertisements posted earlier this month.
Startup experience “is actually fairly important in terms of being able to think creatively,” said Michael Moore, the UA System’s vice president for academic affairs. Systems and work processes must be developed from the ground up, he explained.
“We have a rare opportunity here to build something fresh, something new,” Moore said.
Three director-level positions have been posted, Moore said.
Last month, Moore unveiled the eVersity, as the online venture is known, in a presentation to the UA System board of trustees. He told trustees it will offer a high-quality, affordable education to learners who may have children and a job, with six-week courses and “career-relevant” degree options.
While the vision is for a new university, that will require a lengthy accreditation process. In the meantime, the eVersity will work in partnership with existing UA System schools - with a target date to begin offering courses in late 2015, said Ben Beaumont, the UA System’s director of communications.
Moore said the new hires must have an “all-hands-ondeck” approach to their jobs, adding that “frequently, in a startup, you wear multiple hats.”
Two positions will pay $120,000, while a third will pay $90,000, according to the job advertisements.
Positions vary greatly among universities, making salary comparisons difficult. The advertised position of director of student experience, with a $120,000 salary, pays about $18,000 below the average salary for somewhat comparable administrators at five UA System universities.
But Moore said that while titles and responsibilities may be similar, the day-today job duties will be different for new hires building something from scratch.
Time must be spent “mulling over the things we need to be fully operational,” Moore said. The initial leadership team must decide how to allocate resources, he said, making decisions about possibly outsourcing the answering of phone calls, for example.
The eVersity has yet to develop a budget, relying on some $3 million already in hand, which includes, Moore said, some state funding allocated by Gov. Mike Beebe.
“Probably more important for the salaries piece of it is we had some internal savings here at the system office,” Moore said.
Beaumont said there are no immediate plans to hire anyone above the director-level positions.
Moore said the director positions at times have responsibilities that don’t exactly match what one person might do at a traditional campus.
“Students need advising, they need tutoring, they need mentoring,” Moore said. “They need ways of building engagement outside the classroom and need resources to help them plan their careers as they enter new professions.”
The posted job description for director of student experience states the person must be responsible “for developing, leading, and managing the student experience from recruitment to alumni status,” and must also have a “willingness to explore and implement unconventional and innovative approaches to traditional challenges.”
In describing the eVersity to the UA System board, Moore noted that students will be welcomed even if they have spotty academic records.
“It’s incumbent on us to have services,” Moore said. Online students deserve the same access and quality of services as face-to-face students, he said. The eVersity will also make “heavy use of learning analytics to try to identify students who are at risk before they’re deeply in trouble,” Moore said.
The posted description for director of student on-boarding and records states the person will be responsible for “application processing, transcript receipt and processing, admission decision making, initial and ongoing course registration, degree plan audit and graduation certification.”
Among other responsibilities, the person must assess student readiness. The ideal candidate would also have “experience evaluating and working with third party vendors to support corebusiness functions.”
The other position, director of online learning, will pay a salary of $90,000, according to the job posting. The eVersity aims to have faculty at various UA campuses develop its courses and programming. The person hired for this position will work with faculty members, Moore said.
“We want them to have somebody working alongside them that helps them convert their expert knowledge on whatever subject that is, in a way to deliver it online,” Moore said.
The application period has closed, but Moore said the pool of applicants has yet to be thoroughly evaluated. No interviews have yet taken place, with hiring expected before fall, he said.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 9 on 04/24/2014