Program Director, Health Professions Education

Summary: The Program Director serves as a supervisor, leader, mentor, and role model to students and personnel in the Health Professions Education degree program. The Program Director is responsible for developing, implementing, and evaluating the Health Professions Education program.

The Program Director provides strategic academic leadership for a doctoral-level program preparing healthcare professionals for roles in academic leadership, faculty development, and educational innovation. The Program Director ensures curricular coherence, dissertation progression, student engagement, and alignment with institutional and accreditation standards.

The Health Professions Education Program Director will coordinate full-time and adjunct faculty and scheduling for all assigned degree programs. The Program Director will have responsibilities in coordinating and ensuring quality in-person and online education, as evidenced by existing and future accreditation bodies. The Program Director will also take an active role in program growth and outreach. Program Directors hold an academic administrative faculty rank and appointment in their respective areas of expertise.

ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS

• Provide leadership to the academic department to ensure appropriate development, ongoing success, and administration.
• Responsible for the design, development, implementation, and assessment of the program(s) curriculum.
• Assist with recruitment and retention efforts, advisement, evaluation, counseling and external partnerships to grow and sustain degree program(s) as appropriate.
• Collaborate with college deans, student support services, and other stakeholders to coordinate support for faculty, students, and potential students.
• In consultation with the Dean, recruit and retain quality faculty, including maintaining an adequate adjunct faculty pool.
• In partnership with the Dean, design, develop, and implement new faculty orientation and faculty development opportunities.
• Create equitable faculty loads in alignment with the Faculty Handbook.
• Cultivate a learning-centered environment through faculty evaluation and development that supports dynamic and engaging classroom experiences, research and scholarly activities, and service that enhance student learning and advance the health profession.
• Help faculty create professional development plans that foster growth toward short- and long-term goals and evaluate them annually.
• Provide leadership, oversight, and mentoring of faculty related to faculty/student conflict resolution.
• Participate in department/college-level strategic planning and budgeting.
• Develop innovative clinical/internship opportunities (where appropriate) for students and embed them into the curriculum.
• Monitor courses to ensure quality and adherence to course rubrics, competencies, and pedagogy.
• Provide analysis and assessment to determine support needed to improve the quality of degree program(s).
• Understand and maintain compliance with all state and federal laws and regulations pertaining to distance learning, including State Authorization, NCSARA, HLC, and ADA.
• Lead implementation and continuous refinement of a doctoral education model, ensuring developmental progression across coursework and dissertation milestones.
• Oversee dissertation-in-practice processes, including proposal development, committee assignments, milestone tracking, IRB compliance, and defense preparation.
• Ensure integration of research methodology, scholarly writing, and applied leadership competencies throughout the curriculum.
• Recruit and mentor faculty with demonstrated expertise in health professions education, academic leadership, and applied research.
• Facilitate calibration of dissertation standards, research expectations, and doctoral-level assessment practices.
• Promote faculty and student scholarship, including publication and conference dissemination, to enhance program visibility and impact.
• Develop and execute strategies to expand external enrollment and the EdD program's national market presence.
• Collaborate with marketing and enrollment teams to articulate the program’s identity as a healthcare academic leadership doctorate.
• Lead preparation of substantive change submissions, program reviews, and accreditation documentation related to doctoral program structure and delivery.
• The standard teaching load for a Program Director is a minimum of 9 credit hours and a maximum of 12 credit hours annually.
  • Any teaching assignments that exceed 12 credit hours annually will be compensated separately through an adjunct faculty appointment as supplemental pay.
  • Teaching load may be adjusted to account for dissertation supervision and administrative oversight responsibilities.
• All other duties as assigned.

ADDITIONAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Assumes additional responsibilities, performs special projects, and assists with other duties as needed or requested.
• Exhibits student-centeredness in the performance of all job duties.
• Treats all others with respect; understands the impact of culture/background on the behavior of others; respects differences among the Logan community and demonstrates inclusive behavior.
• Anticipates, listens to, understands, and responds to customer needs. Delivers work products and services to customers in a way that reflects positively upon the department and the University.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS:

Education, Training, and Experience

• Earned doctorate (EdD, PhD, or equivalent) in Health Professions Education, Higher Education, Educational Leadership, or closely related discipline.
• Demonstrated experience in doctoral-level teaching and dissertation supervision.
• Evidence of scholarly productivity (peer-reviewed publications, presentations, or funded research).
• Experience in academic leadership, faculty development, or program administration preferred.
• Experience with learning management systems (Canvas, Jenzabar, etc.).

Knowledge, Skills, Abilities, and Personal Characteristics:

• Consistently utilize effective interpersonal and communication skills.
• Ability to maintain mental concentration for extended periods of time.
• Ability to perform multiple duties in addition to departmental responsibilities with frequent interruptions and time pressures.
• Possess the ability to tolerate and implement changes.
• Ability to perform and function in a manner consistent with mentoring faculty and students.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS:

• The nature of work requires an ability to operate standard business office equipment.
• Requires the ability to communicate and exchange information, collect, compile, and prepare work documents, and set up and maintain work files.
• Must be able to lift 25 lbs.

WORKING CONDITIONS

• Work is performed in a general office environment, either on campus or in a remote location.

Note: This job description is not intended to be a complete list of all responsibilities, duties, or skills required for the job and is subject to review and change at any time, with or without notice, in accordance with the needs of Logan University.