Position Detail - Head of Academic Technologies

Position Type: Staff Full-Time (Hybrid)

Hours per week: 37.5   

Weeks per year: 52

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 8:30 am -5:00 pm; occasional nights and/or weekends as needed 

Department Summary & Job Purpose:

Mount Holyoke College’s Library, Information and Technology Services (LITS) division empowers a diverse and inclusive learning community equipping every person to purposefully engage the world. We connect people with the information, expertise, spaces, and technologies that enhance their work and fuel scholarly endeavors.

Reporting to the Director of Technology Infrastructure and Systems Support (TISS), the Head of Academic Technologies (AT) manages a team of technical professionals responsible for administering and maintaining a portfolio of academic technologies and applications. They lead the team in ensuring a user-focused mindset around architecting, integrating, and delivering services. They partner with other areas of LITS in supporting an outstanding technical environment for teaching, learning, research, and managing digital collections.

This position is a member of the TISS group, which focuses on providing the technology foundation and its accompanying framework for the infrastructure, resources, and services that support the College. TISS group includes data center and PaaS operations, networking, web application support, business intelligence, academic technologies, and administrative computing.

Core Job Duties and Responsibilities: 

• Oversees the department and actively engages in the management and maintenance of applications and technologies that advance the academic, research, and pedagogical goals of the College. Ensures service reliability, through well-organized and defined change management processes, support workflows, and communications with end users and stakeholders.
• Mentors, guides and supports their staff with a focus on excellent service and a cooperative mindset in support of institutional priorities. Fosters and encourages professional growth and ensures cross-training in critical systems and services. Sets and maintains high standards of service quality, ensure continuous assessment, and prepares annual and periodic reports of department activities.
• In consultation with LITS partners and campus stakeholders coordinates the evaluation, integration, testing, development, configuration, securing, and overall integrity and accessibility of the College's academic applications and services. This includes leading the development of project plans, budgets, policies, standards, and workflows.
• Analyzes and evaluates products and services, and makes recommendations to TISS and LITS leadership. Formulates annual goals and objectives in partnership with LITS and campus stakeholders.
• Serves on committees and project teams for College-wide and Five College Consortium academic technology and digital library initiatives, contributing to digital repository strategy leadership. May lead aspects of projects and coordinate the work of staff across the institutions to achieve stated goals.
• Develops additional strong working, collaborative partnerships within LITS, with the College, Five Colleges, and the broader higher education community to proactively identify, recommend, facilitate and implement appropriate and effective policies, services, resources, support, and procedures that improve the ability of the College community to accomplish its teaching, learning and research goals.
• Ensures compliance with professional and technology standards; license and regulatory requirements; accessibility standards and practices and other College standards, policies, and procedures.
• Actively works with colleagues in LITS to create a welcoming, inclusive, accessible, and user-centered environment in which a diverse population of students, faculty, and staff can thrive.
• Evening and weekend work, as necessary. In some circumstances, it may be important to assist during adverse weather and emergency situations to ensure essential services and service points are covered.
• Attends and contributes to major campus-wide or LITS-sponsored events, which may be held at night, on weekends or holidays, and which are part of every employee’s core responsibilities.

Qualifications: 

• Bachelor’s Degree or combination of education and experience that supports the job functions and responsibilities of the position.
• Three to five years of progressively responsible leadership and/or supervisory experience related to the duties and responsibilities of the position.
• Working knowledge of a range of platforms and technologies supporting teaching, research, and scholarly efforts. Examples include tools such as Drupal, WordPress, Moodle/Canvas, Islandora or ResourceSpace
• Demonstrated ability to imagine, plan and implement innovative, effective, and sustainable actions to advance successful academic technology.
• Excellent oral and written communication, organization, and problem-solving skills and the ability to work independently with minimal supervision.
• Creativity, with a passion for supporting a collaborative work environment.
• Demonstrated commitment to valuing diversity and contributing to an inclusive working and learning environment.
• Enthusiastic service orientation with sensitivity to the needs of users at all skill levels; the ability to convey technical information to a non-technical audience is essential.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Proven ability to manage and lead projects within a higher education environment.
• Flexibility to accept, manage and incorporate change and the ability to manage multiple tasks and priorities simultaneously and effectively in a fast-paced environment.
• Maintain a professional and tactful approach in all interactions, ensuring confidentiality and an individual’s right to privacy regarding appropriate information.
• Ability to travel as needed to participate in consortia and professional meetings and events.

License/Certifications:

Compliance Requirements: 

Physical Demands: 

Sedentary work: Exerting up to 10 pounds of force occasionally and/or negligible amount of force frequently or constantly to lift, carry, push, pull or otherwise move objects. Sedentary work involves sitting most of the time. Jobs are sedentary if walking and standing are required only occasionally and all other sedentary criteria are met.

The employee is required to have close visual acuity to perform an activity such as: preparing and analyzing data and figures; transcribing; viewing a computer terminal; and extensive reading.

Hearing: Perceiving the nature of sounds at normal speaking levels with or without correction. Ability to receive detailed information through oral communication, and to make the discriminations in sound.

Sufficient clarity of speech required includes those which permit the employee to discern verbal instructions and communicate effectively in person and by telephone.

This position may require travel in order to participate in consortial and professional meetings and events.

Working Conditions: 

The employee is not substantially exposed to adverse environmental conditions (such as in a typical office or administrative work).  

Background Checks:

Mount Holyoke College is committed to providing a safe and secure environment, supported by qualified employees that will allow all of its students, faculty, staff, and those associated with them to successfully carry out the mission of the college. As a condition of employment, the College will conduct appropriate background checks for all new hires. Mount Holyoke has designated the Office of Human Resources as the office responsible for ensuring that background checks (CORI, SORI, Credit History, & Driver Credential) are completed and utilized in the hiring process and Five College Office of Compliance and Risk Management as the office responsible for facilitating background checks as articulated in this policy.

Special Instructions for Applicants: 

Apply online; application materials must include:

1. A cover letter summarizing interests and qualifications
2. A complete resume or curriculum vitae
3. Contact information for 3 professional references

Mount Holyoke College is a women’s college that is gender diverse. The College is committed to providing equal access and opportunity in employment and education to all employees and students. In compliance with state and federal law, Mount Holyoke College does not discriminate on the basis of race, ethnicity, color, genetic information, sex, national or ethnic origin, religion, age, physical or mental disability, marital status, sexual orientation, pregnancy, gender identity or expression, ancestry, veteran or military status, or any other legally protected status under federal, state or local law. The College does not discriminate on the basis of gender in the recruitment and admission of students to its graduate program.

Mount Holyoke College is an Equal Opportunity Employer.