Academic Career & Executive Search is pleased to assist Boise State University in its search for Vice Provost for Inclusion and Belonging.

For best consideration, please apply by January 31st.

With a trailblazing, innovative character, Boise State University is dedicated to being a premier student-success driven research university innovating for statewide and global impact. Learn more about Boise State and the City of Boise at https://www.boisestate.edu/about/boise-and-beyond/. Boise State University is building an inclusive community of faculty and staff whose unique skills, cultural contributions, work history, and perspectives create a rich and rewarding academic experience for our students. Research demonstrates that people thrive when they feel welcome, respected, and inspired. We seek applicants who are committed to helping us achieve our vision of a diverse and inclusive community. Applications from members of historically marginalized groups, including women, BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color), those with disabilities, members of the LGBTQ+ community, those who have served in the military, and members of other underrepresented communities are strongly encouraged.
 
Position Overview: 

Reflecting a core tenet of the University's educational mission, the newly created Vice Provost for Inclusion and Belonging serves as a senior official charged with leading and coordinating the efforts in Academic Affairs to support a richly diverse, inclusive, and welcoming environment for all students, staff, and faculty.  This position provides visionary and collaborative leadership, working with the President, Provost, Deans, other academic leadership, and Human Resources to facilitate an integrated vision and shared responsibility for advancing institutional goals of fostering a healthy, supportive campus culture for all. 
Through key collaborative partnerships, the Vice Provost's areas of focus include high level coordination within Academic Affairs of initiatives related to strategic planning; training, education: research; policy development; compliance; climate issues; and communications meant to foster an equitable and inclusive environment for all.
The Vice Provost for Inclusion and Belonging must demonstrate a deep commitment to improving the wellbeing of all the diverse populations served in Academic Affairs at Boise State, as well as the capacity to engage members of our academic community in improving climate and outcomes for all students, faculty, and staff in Academic Affairs. 

Duties and Responsibilities: 

Strategic Leadership (30%) 

• Collaborate with a broad range of campus stakeholders to assist in ensuring that our mission—to provide an “innovative, transformative, and truly equitable educational environment,” in which all people thrive, regardless of background, identity, or experience— becomes a central theme in the strategic plans and operations throughout Academic Affairs.
• Lead efforts in establishing performance metrics for units within academic affairs to ensure an inclusive environment dedicated to closing equity gaps for students and for faculty and staff throughout Academic Affairs.
• Advise the Provost, President, Human Resources, and other academic leaders, on tactical approaches, to execute and achieve targeted goals.
• Build bridges between Academic Affairs and external stakeholders (business community, non-profits, government, alumni, etc.) to catalyze broad-scale efforts around creating equitable and inclusive environments for all.

Capacity Enhancement (30%) 

• In collaboration with Human Resources, assist academic colleges and departments in the development of robust faculty recruitment and retention plans with the goal of creating a thriving community for all. 
• Provide training and support to departments in the execution of faculty recruitment and retention plans.
• Collaborate with the BUILD (Boise State Uniting for Inclusion and Leadership in Diversity) Program, the Center for Teaching and Learning and other university structures to provide faculty development opportunities for fostering richly diverse perspectives into the curriculum and adopting inclusive teaching practices.
• Assist in the development of programs to address equity gaps as identified by the Idaho State Board of Education and Boise State’s strategic enrollment and retention plan, which will include working with leadership in the Division of Student Affairs and Enrollment Management and other campus leaders.
• Assist in the development and implementation of strategies to recruit, support, and retain students from diverse backgrounds.
• Working with leadership in the Division of Research and Economic Development and other campus leaders, to assist in the development and implementation of strategies which support inclusive research practices and scholarship.
• Actively participate as part of a team that assists in the development and implementation of structures and processes to respond to hate-based incidents on campus. 

 
Campus Climate Development (30%) 

• Assist in the development of campus climate monitoring mechanisms (e.g., surveys) to be implemented with regular frequency.
• Provide leadership in addressing tension points that may not rise to the level of a policy violation but impair the creation of a thriving academic community for all. 
• Track national trends (climate studies, demographic data, policy analyses, etc.) relating to campus issues and provide advisement on these critical areas to university leadership.
• Advise the Provost, President and other academic leaders regarding emerging climate issues and tactical approaches to addressing them.
• Collect, analyze, and regularly present data on climate related to faculty, staff, and students within Academic Affairs.
• Engage key campus stakeholders to review university policies with an eye toward an equitable and inclusive environment, while ensuring academic freedom and space for robust and tough conversations on sensitive topics.
• Assist in developing and managing mechanisms within Academic Affairs for individuals who experience discrimination, antagonism, or protected-class-based bias to seek advice, support, and confidential counsel.
• Integrate programming that supports the development of an inclusive and equitable community into broader structures, including federal law (including Affirmative Action, Title IX, the American with Disabilities Act, etc.).
• Assist Academic Affairs in its ability to foster difficult conversations around sensitive topics while upholding our commitment to academic freedom for all faculty and students.  

 
Other Duties as Assigned (10%) 

Minimum Qualifications:  

• Graduate degree from a regionally accredited institution of higher education.
• Employment history, scholarship or academic training in areas fostering diverse, equitable and inclusive environments.
• A collaborative, inclusive, engaging, and transparent leadership style. 

Preferred Qualifications: 

• Earned doctorate from a regionally accredited institution of higher education.
• Experience as an organizational leader guiding and facilitating diversity, equity, access, community wellbeing, and inclusion efforts at an institution of higher education.
• A record of scholarly achievement and teaching in these same areas.
• A record of success in leading projects, strategic planning, and establishing and maintaining effective partnerships with and between campus and community constituencies.
• Demonstrated success in establishing and maintaining effective working relationships within various units of an organization. 
• Experience working directly with various student populations.
• Experience working in or partnering with Human Resources to promote truly diverse, equitable and inclusive work environments.

The successful candidate will possess the following knowledge, skills, and abilities: 

• Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively and collegially with a wide variety of diverse constituents across the University, and to successfully develop cultural fluency across a range of audiences of varying levels of understanding.
• Evidence of sensitivity to and understanding of individuals from various backgrounds.
• Excellent diplomacy, discretion, and listening skills.
• Ability to communicate sensitive information verbally and in writing to individuals at all levels. 
• Ability to appropriately respond to highly sensitive and confidential situations.
• Outstanding written and verbal communication skills with the ability to effectively convey complex information to a wide array of audiences.
• Excellent problem-solving skills with an ability to manage multiple, competing priorities.
• Interest, experience, and/or ability to promote cultural relevancy and/or diversity.

ABOUT BOISE STATE  

 https://go.boisestate.edu/join-our-team/
  
Boise State University is nationally recognized for its trailblazing innovation. Often described as “Blue Turf Thinking” after our iconic football field, this mindset shapes the scrappy, creative, and boundary-breaking style of our academic enterprise. The university fosters a culture of innovation by inviting and rewarding the engagement of the whole community in our evolution and by building structures that incentivize creativity and bold new ideas.  
  
Boise State provides an innovative, transformative, and equitable educational environment that prepares students for success and advances Idaho and the world.  
  
The university has experienced sustained growth for decades and has a keen focus on student success. A top choice for students from Idaho and across the West, Boise State has more than doubled its graduate programming in the past 15 years and has set records for the number of graduates for 10 straight years.  
  
Nationally recognized in the Top 50 for innovation by U.S. News & World Report and described by the Chronicle of Higher Education as a university that is “demonstrably on the move,” Boise State was also one of five universities in the nation recognized in 2017 by the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities for innovative approaches to improving retention and graduation rates.  
  
Boise State makes a huge positive impact on our state. Home to Idaho’s largest graduate school, we also enroll more than one-third of all students in Idaho’s public higher education system and confer nearly half of all bachelor’s degrees awarded by the state’s public universities.  
  
Boise State has risen on a stunning trajectory from a community college to a doctoral research university. It now embodies the best of both worlds—a strong focus on students and their wellbeing, alongside the transformative potential of research and its impacts on both student outcomes and on the world around us through discovery. Founded in 1932 by the Episcopal Church as Boise Junior College, it transitioned to an independent junior college in 1934. Later, it evolved to Boise College, then, Boise State College and, since 1974, as Boise State University. It began awarding baccalaureate degrees in 1965 and master’s degrees in 1972. Doctoral degrees have been awarded by the university since 1997. Only seven presidents have led Boise State University during its 88-year history; Dr. Marlene Tromp is the current president.  
  
Boise State has earned a Carnegie Classification of a High Research Activity Doctoral Universities with over 58% growth in research awards over the last five years and many of Boise State’s academic programs have achieved accreditation or approval by specialized professional organizations and agencies.  
 
BOISE STATE’S MISSION  
 
Boise State provides an innovative, transformative, and equitable educational environment that prepares students for success and advances Idaho and the world.  
  
BOISE STATE’S VISION  
 
To be a premier student-success driven research university innovating for statewide and global impact. The trailblazing, innovative character that has always defined Boise State will help us foster student success, advance Idaho, and Idahoans, and strengthen our culture of innovation and impact.  
   
LIVING IN THE AREA 
 
Year after year, the city of Boise earns accolades from across the country as a wonderful place to work, play, raise a family, grow a business, and enjoy life. With a population of more than 225,000 within a surrounding metropolitan area of nearly 750,000, the capital city and its high-tech economy are driving the development of the fastest-growing state in the nation.  
  
Boise is one of the most geographically isolated cities in the nation and prides itself on its homegrown culture, businesses, education, and outdoor amenities. The entrepreneurial spirit that has launched and housed companies like Albertsons, the J.R. Simplot Co., Morrison-Knudsen, and Micron Technology pervades today among the next generation of business pioneers.  
  
The Boise Greenbelt runs more than 25 miles along the Boise River past downtown and the Boise State campus. From Bogus Basin Mountain Resort to a brand-new Whitewater Park, the city’s network of parks, trails and open space to help ensure access to Idaho’s great outdoors will remain a key element of the Boise lifestyle.  
  
The city is home to the Idaho Shakespeare Festival, the Treefort Music Fest, the Boise Philharmonic, the Velma V. Morrison Center for the Performing Arts, and much more. It is one of the few cities in the nation to have a full municipal department dedicated to arts and history.  
  
Boise State has been recognized as one of the top three universities in the country for Outdoor Adventure and fly fishing – you can hook a trout in the shadow of Bronco Stadium. A walk or ride down the Greenbelt takes you across the city and through a variety of beautiful terrains.  
  
Boise hosts two farmers’ markets downtown, and a fabulous menu of local and national restaurant options from food trucks and steak houses to unique international cuisine. We’re supportive of local business and commerce while growing a healthy mix of economic development and industry.   
  
Families enjoy Boise’s excellent public schools – and many find comfortable homes among our diverse religious communities. Our many cultures love to share with each other: from the Jewish Deli Days to the Greek and Russian food festivals to the huge gathering of Basques from around the world every five years in Boise, the city loves to come together for special events.  
 
To Apply  
 
For best consideration, please apply by January 31st
 
Please do not email applications.  
 
Applications will be reviewed as they are received and should include a cover letter and curriculum vita. Ideally cover letters should not exceed two pages. All applications are treated confidentially. 
 
Inquiries, referrals, and nominations are treated confidentially: 
 
Inquiries and questions: Please send to BoiseStateVPIB@acesrch.com  
Nominations and referrals: Please send to nominations@acesrch.com