UAA Executive Director, Shared Services Page 2 Profile of the Institution and Position

The University of Anchorage invites applications and nominations for the position of Executive Director of Shared Services. Reporting directly to Vice Chancellor of Administration, the new Executive Director is expected to join in the fall of 2021.

Surrounded by natural beauty in an urban environment, the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) offers a gateway to innovative thinking, learning and exploration. With a total student population of approximately 15,000, UAA is the largest of Alaska’s three public post-secondary institutions in the University of Alaska system. While the main campus is in Anchorage, UAA includes community campuses in Homer, Kodiak, Palmer, Soldotna, and Valdez, as well as Middle Colleges for high school students in Anchorage, Palmer and Soldotna.

UAA is a comprehensive university whose core missions are excellence, student success, access, and workforce development. UAA offers programs leading to the associate, baccalaureate, master’s and doctoral degrees, as well as vocational and professional certificates. UAA students experience a hands- on education, in and out of the classroom, with unique opportunities in academics, research and leadership, both locally and globally. UAA’s students and faculty come from diverse backgrounds, yet the university community is firmly rooted in Alaska. Together, the community celebrates the cultural richness of its Southcentral Alaska location, the ancestral homelands of the Dena’ina Athabascan, Ahtna Athabascan, Alutiiq/Sugpiaq, and Eyak peoples.

The University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) transforms lives through teaching, research, community engagement and creative expression in a diverse and inclusive environment. Serving students, the state and the communities of Southcentral Alaska, UAA is a comprehensive, open access, public university established on the ancestral lands of the Dena’ina, Ahtna Dene, Alutiq/Sugpiag, Chugachmiut and Evak peoples.

Former Alaska Governor has been selected to serve as the next chancellor of the University of Alaska Anchorage. Mr. Parnell succeeds UAA Interim Chancellor Bruce Schultz and will assume his new position on June 12, 2021.

Currently, Mr. Parnell is an attorney in the Anchorage office of Holland & Hart LLP, and has 25 years in the active practice of law. Mr. Parnell was elected to two terms in the Alaska House of Representatives, serving there from 1992 until 1996 when he was elected to the Alaska Senate (1996-2000). In 2006, he was elected Lieutenant Governor and served as Governor of Alaska from 2009 to 2014. UAA Executive Director, Shared Services Page 3 Profile of the Institution and Position

Mr. Parnell earned a bachelor's degree in business administration in 1984 from Pacific Lutheran University and a J.D. (Juris Doctorate) degree in 1987 from the University of Puget Sound School of Law (now known as University School of Law). He is admitted to the bar in both Alaska and Washington, D.C.

Dr. Denise Runge became the Provost in July 2020. She previously served as Dean of the Community & Technical College since 2016, following one year at the UAA Prince William Sound College (PWSC) as the associate director of academic affairs and associate professor of business and public.

Prior to joining UAA, Dr. Runge served as associate dean of academics at Helena College, a two-year college in the Montana University System offering certificates and degrees in career and technical education, as well as general transfer degrees.

Her background includes academic leadership experience as vice president of academic affairs at Oglethorpe University and dean of the College of Arts & Letters at the University of Southern Mississippi (USM). In addition, she taught at USM, as well as community colleges in Georgia and Alabama. Dr. Runge brings considerable experience in the areas of fiscal management, fundraising, community and industry partnership building and leading during organizational change. She holds a Ph.D. in political science with an emphasis in public policy and administration from the University of Alabama.

Bill Jacob was appointed Interim Vice Chancellor for Administrative Services in June 2020. He provides strategic and operational leadership for UAA’s financial, capital, digital, and other business-related activities.

Prior to joining UAA, Mr. Jacob served in executive leadership roles in the aerospace and energy (oil and gas) industries in Alaska, the lower 48 states, and globally. His extensive experience includes multiple chief information officer and information technology director roles where he led business-wide ERP transformation projects, global IT strategy, enterprise process improvement, and supply chain management improvements. He is the executive sponsor of the UAA Shared Services implementation effort and has led several corporate shared services initiatives. Mr. Jacob holds a Masters degree of International Management from the American Graduate School of International Management and a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the University of Phoenix. UAA Executive Director, Shared Services Page 4 Profile of the Institution and Position

The UAA 2025 Strategic Plan provides a framework to define, communicate, and clarify expectations for UAA’s mission, vision, values and shared goals. It builds on UAA’s strengths and focuses attention and resources on delivering tangible value to stakeholders and creating areas of distinction. It clarifies UAA’s mission, sets an aspirational vision for the future, establishes the values that shape behaviors and decisions, and results in a set of goals and objectives that reflect UAA’s ambitions and priorities, focuses its investments, and guides continuous improvement efforts. The elements of this plan are cascaded throughout the academic and administrative units in Anchorage and UAA Community Campuses to align efforts and maximize the shared contribution to success.

Established in 1917, The University of Alaska is a land-, sea- and space-grant system of higher education that serves more than 26,000 full-and part-time students. The UA system’s three universities— University of Alaska Anchorage, University of Alaska Fairbanks, and University of Alaska Southeast—are separately accredited institutions with 13 community campuses and extended learning centers across the state.

The University of Alaska Board of Regents is the governing board of the University of Alaska system. The Board consists of 11 members appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Alaska Legislature. Members serve an eight-year term, with the exception of the student regent who is nominated from their campus and serves a two-year term. The Board was established through the Alaska Constitution and is responsible for University of Alaska policy and management through the University President.

The University of Alaska’s System Governance Council provides a forum and mechanism whereby faculty, staff and students may present issues and positions for discussion throughout the university system; may seek mutual support, may speak with a common voice, and may act together on issues affecting the general welfare of the university system community as a whole. Council members are elected from the system-wide Faculty Alliance, Staff Alliance, and Coalition of Student Leaders which, in turn, are comprised of members of the Faculty Senate, Staff Council, and student government organizations from the three universities. (At UAA, the Union of Students is the recognized governing body for students.) The Alumni Associations from each campus also elect members to represent them on the System Governance Council.

While the System Governance Council is a collaborative body examining and discussing issues of interest across the university system, faculty governance responsibility for curriculum, degree requirements, academic policy, etc. resides at UAA.

UAA Executive Director, Shared Services Page 5 Profile of the Institution and Position

UAA supports Alaska’s workforce development by educating traditional undergraduate students as well as a large number of working degree-seeking students, enrolling nearly 13,000 at the Anchorage campus and across the community campuses. About 60% of students are female and 40% male, and 91% of students are Alaska residents. Roughly 43% identify as a racial or ethnic minority. Half of UAA students are above age 25. * There is an opportunity to increase UAA’s number of students served from out of state. UAA is largely a commuter community, and approximately 80% of students work full or part time.

UAA’s intercollegiate athletics program plays an integral role in engaging the community and state. UAA Athletics has routinely ranked in the top 10 percent nationally in the prestigious Learfield Director’s Cup and is headquartered in the Center, UAA’s on-campus 5,000-seat, state-of-the-art sports complex. In the last ten years, Seawolf Athletics has produced 224 All-Americans, 43 Conference Team Titles, 221 Individual Conference Champions, and 15 Individual National Championships. Students engage in over 100 clubs and organizations on campus including academic and social, as well as five Greek organizations. UAA boasts an amazing on-campus housing community that features a variety of housing and dining options. UAA is also home to a variety of engaging student-run organizations, such as Concert Board, KRUA 88.1 FM radio station, Seawolf Debate, The Northern Light newspaper, and USUAA. The Union of Students of the University of Alaska Anchorage (USUAA) is recognized by the University of Alaska Board of Regents as the governing body for students enrolled at UAA.

Student Affairs and Academic Affairs collaborate regularly to plan and review enrollment strategies, and to ensure supportive and developmental experiences that help students establish a deep sense of belonging, connections with the campus, and activities that synthesize curricular and co-curricular learning experiences.

*UAA Office of Institutional Research, Fall 2019 Closing Data

The University of Alaska Anchorage is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (reaffirmed in Feb. 2019). Prior to 1974, UAA existed as an extension of the University of Alaska with no separate accreditation status. Since the merger of the University of Alaska and Community College systems in 1987, a single accreditation status has applied to all campuses of UAA. Following the 2018 self-study and site visit, in January 2019 the Board of Commissioners of the UAA Executive Director, Shared Services Page 6 Profile of the Institution and Position

Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities reaffirmed UAA’s institutional accreditation. Planning is already underway for the next cycle, including NWCCU’s new Eligibility Requirements and Standards. In addition, more than 40 of UAA’s academic programs have been recognized for the high quality of their programs through approval and/ or accreditations based on discipline or professional standards.

The UAA campus in Anchorage offers a full complement of programs and courses, including in high- demand fields such as engineering, health, business and education, as well as in the liberal arts and sciences. UAA career and technical education programs are closely aligned with Alaska’s core industries, such as tourism, aviation, geology, fisheries, oil and gas. Many courses are designed with the flexibility to accommodate students who work or have a family, and the campus houses a range of student success and support centers. A growing number of programs and courses are delivered using asynchronous and hybrid in-class/ distance delivery modalities.

For additional information about University of Alaska Anchorage, please visit www.uaa.alaska.edu.

UAA Shared Services is a consolidated administrative service organization whose mission is to deliver efficient, effective, and customer-friendly administrative services to support the university’s teaching, research, and public service missions.

UAA Shared Services was launched on March 14, 2021, with its work focusing on the university’s financial, travel, procurement, human resources, and research administration activities. UAA Shared Services is performing work under current processes while setting priorities and protocols for major process improvement and customer service. UAA Shared Services is comprised of a team of almost 50 experienced administrative professionals from across the university’s colleges and major divisions. The Executive Director will provide critical leadership in building and maintaining a strong UAA Shared Services Team, developing priorities and standards, overseeing the portfolio of process improvement projects and their implementation, and ensuring outstanding customer service.

The purpose of the UAA Shared Services Advisory Board is to support the provision of high-quality shared services and assure customer satisfaction. It is an influential advisory group that represents customers across the university by providing input and feedback on customer satisfaction, plans for service and process improvement, and service design and delivery. Its perspective is intended to be broad, and to reflect the common needs, interests, and concerns of all customers. The Advisory Board will assure the long-term success of UAA Shared Services and distinguishes it from a centrally-managed administrative support unit.

This is a senior management position that will report directly to the Vice Chancellor for Administrative Services. Under long-range administrative direction, the individual in this position is responsible for overall leadership of a complex and mission-critical organization, including planning and goal setting, UAA Executive Director, Shared Services Page 7 Profile of the Institution and Position

operational planning, personnel and financial management, establishment of the unit’s norms and culture, and inter-departmental relationships. The executive director has broad impact on the administrative reputation of the university and will strongly influence the establishment of administrative procedures and policies. The executive director currently leads a four-member management team and a part-time project management staff.

This is a professional administrative management position appointed at a full-time equivalence (FTE) of 100%. This position is located in Anchorage, Alaska.

● Leadership and Direction: Provide overall leadership and direction for the UAA Shared Services management team and workforce. Work with the UAA administrative leadership team to be a thought partner in campus-wide administrative services strategy, policy and opportunity gathering.

● Strategic planning: Participate in campus wide strategic planning, and develop shared services plans and priorities in support of campus goals, as reflected in the University’s Strategic Plan (UAA 2025).

● Relationship development and enhancement: Communicate and build relationships with college/divisional leaders and functional experts in the areas of fiscal management, travel, procurement and human resources. In addition, meet regularly with customer groups to gather customer service feedback and address issues.

● Creation of Service Development Plans: Work with the UAA Shared Services management team, university leaders, and others to identify needs and priorities. Lead the creation of service development plans, and update those plans periodically. Develop performance metrics, goals and monitoring tools for success for the UAA Shared Services organization, to inform continuous improvement initiatives, gain efficiencies and improve customer satisfaction.

● DEI: Support and enhance a climate of diversity, equity, and inclusion with faculty, staff, and students.

● Collaborative work across UAA and UA: Work collaboratively with UAA leadership, UA System, Board of Regents and State of Alaska officials to influence appropriate administrative policy changes and implement valuable process improvements. Remain informed about service models in peer organizations and across higher education to identify and implement best practices.

● Manage UAA Shared Services unit and workforce: Attend carefully to the UAA Shared Services workforce, ensuring strong and comprehensive onboarding support, development a strong sense of team and emulate the spirit of customer service. Create budget and staffing plans for UAA Shared Services, conduct performance evaluations, provide mentorship and feedback, and ensure recruitment strategies to meet the unit’s needs.

UAA Executive Director, Shared Services Page 8 Profile of the Institution and Position

Although no candidate will possess all of the key attributes listed here, the ideal candidate for the founding Executive Director of Shared Services will possess several of the following:

● A bachelors degree from an accredited institution is required. A masters degree or higher in a related field is desirable.

● A record of progressively responsible management experience in administrative service units. Experience working within a consolidated shared services unit in a higher education environment in a public institution is preferred.

• Exceptional organizational skills as evidenced by integration of functions into efficient complementary operations that provide cost effective, customer friendly services.

● Exceptional interpersonal skills, including the ability to listen carefully and communicate clearly with leaders at all level of the university, including Deans, Directors, Vice Chancellors, and leaders at the UA statewide office, and with all members of the Shared Services team and customers.

• Experience in building effective teams that operate with a clear sense of purpose and exhibit high morale.

● Collaborative leadership style that engages academic, administrative, student and community leaders to build a shared commitment to the institution’s vision.

● Extensive knowledge of internal controls, business ethics and information security principles and practices.

● Understanding of organizational and workforce behavior, including strong skills in conflict management and resolution.

● Demonstrated ability to think systemically, holistically, and strategically, in bringing effective solutions that meet university needs. Demonstrated flexibility that allows one to work well within defined boundaries or create and innovate outside the ox as required.

● Detailed knowledge of transactional processes in finance, travel, procurement and human resources activities.

● Demonstrated ability to work independently and under long-range administrative direction, performing fluently in a digital environment. UAA Executive Director, Shared Services Page 9 Profile of the Institution and Position

Anchorage is the largest city in Alaska with an ethnically and culturally diverse population of about 300,000. Residents have access to world-class arts, entertainment, restaurants and recreational activities, including two planetariums, the Imaginarium Science Discovery Center, the Anchorage Museum, and the Alaska Native Heritage Center. The Anchorage School District is one of the 100 largest in the and one of the most diverse in the nation, with over 100 languages spoken by students.

Located between the Chugach Mountains and Cook Inlet, Anchorage has a moderate, northern maritime climate with average winter temperatures around 20 degrees F and average summer temperatures around 65 degrees F. On the summer solstice, Anchorage receives 20 hours of daylight compared to the winter solstice where it receives about five and a half hours. Anchorage offers year-round outdoor recreation and natural beauty with ready access to state and national forests and parks, as well as a network of 259 miles of hiking, biking, skiing, and dog-mushing trails, and more than 120 municipal parks.

UAA is located in the University and Medical (UMED) District, which is the second largest employment center in Alaska. The UMED District includes two of the largest hospitals in the state as well as the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, the state psychiatric hospital, the largest juvenile justice facility, and two universities. UAA maintains strong relationships with its UMED partners for community engaged teaching, research, and service, including the Consortium Library which serves both UAA and Alaska Pacific University. UAA’s main campus also maintains close connections with Anchorage-based government, business, and nonprofit employers, giving students a wide range of opportunities for UAA Executive Director, Shared Services Page 10 Profile of the Institution and Position

internships, research and real-world experience. The Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport is the largest airport in Alaska, offering flights to destinations in the lower 48 and to international destinations.

Review of applications will begin immediately and continue until an appointment is made. To assure full consideration, application materials should be received by July 30, 2021 and include a letter of interest addressing why the applicant is interested in this position and how the responsibilities and requirements described in the position profile are met, a resume, and five professional references with email addresses and telephone numbers. References will not be contacted without prior authorization of the applicant. Application materials and nominations should be sent electronically (Microsoft Word or PDF format) to: [email protected]

Please direct nominations and inquiries to:

Margaret Plympton: [email protected] / 484.554.4542 Richard Wueste: [email protected] / 540.431.5131

The University of Alaska is an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer and educational institution. The University of Alaska does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, citizenship, age, sex, physical or mental disability, status as a protected veteran, marital status, changes in marital status, pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, parenthood, sexual orientation, gender identity, political affiliation or belief, genetic information, or other legally protected status. The University's commitment to nondiscrimination, including against sex discrimination, applies to students, employees, and applicants for admission and employment. Contact information, applicable laws, and complaint procedures are included on UA's statement of nondiscrimination available at www.alaska.edu/nondiscrimination.