Director of Community & Continuing Education (Open to Current PLU Faculty/Staff Only)

Posting Details

Posting Details

Posting Number: 0603117 Recruitment Type: Open to Current PLU Faculty/Staff Only Position Title: Director of Community & Continuing Education (Open to Current PLU Faculty/Staff Only) Position Type: Staff Benefits Status: Benefits Eligible FLSA: Non-Exempt Hiring Range: $34.86-$39.66 per hour Location

Tacoma, WA 98447

Department: University Relations Posting Date: 08/06/2026 Closing Date 8/10/26 Work Schedule:

Monday - Friday

8am-5pm

Some evenings and weekends may be required

General Description:

Pacific Lutheran University seeks a dynamic, visionary, and learner-centered leader to serve as the inaugural Director of Community & Continuing Education. This role is responsible for establishing the strategic vision for the role, and for the development, implementation, and oversight of non-degree programs, continuing education, professional development certificates, and community-facing educational initiatives. This position reports to the Associate Vice President for Constituent Engagement.

The Director will bridge the gap between traditional academic offerings and the evolving needs of the regional workforce and community. Guided by PLU's mission to educate students for lives of thoughtful inquiry, service, leadership, and care, the Director will expand access to high-quality learning experiences for diverse populations of adult learners, professionals, and community members.

In addition to managing permanent, core offerings, the Director will establish an institutional hub for innovation. Functioning as an educational incubator, the Director will research, design, and deliver highly experimental, cutting-edge pilot programs. While core lifelong learning initiatives will remain under the Director's long-term purview, those specific innovative pilots that prove successful, scalable, and better suited for integration into the broader university ecosystem will be systematically handed off to other institutional homes.

Guided by PLU's mission to educate students for lives of thoughtful inquiry, service, leadership, and care, the Director will leverage deep local roots to expand access to high-quality learning experiences, building education-to-employment pathways that promote community resilience and South Puget Sound regional workforce development.

Essential Functions and Responsibilities:

• Strategic Leadership & Program Development: Design and execute a comprehensive strategic plan for non-traditional and lifelong learning programs that align with PLU's institutional mission and market demand.
• Curriculum & Instruction Alignment: Oversee the development of diverse educational opportunities, including certificates, badge programs, professional development courses, and personal enrichment classes.
• Community & Corporate Partnerships: Cultivate partnerships with regional businesses, K-12 school districts, non-profits, and government agencies to identify workforce gaps and build custom educational solutions.
• Marketing & Student Recruitment: Partner with Institutional Research to implement targeted outreach and recruitment strategies for adult and non-traditional learners.
• Pilot Program Incubation & Transition: Establish guidelines for conceptualizing, piloting, and assessing experimental, short-format educational programs. Identify which successful pilots have matured to a point of institutional scale and collaborate with leadership to smoothly hand them off to permanent academic divisions, while maintaining the Center's core continuing education programs.
• Strategic Advisory Board Leadership: Establish and facilitate an external Advisory Board of regional community, school district, and business leaders to align programming with workforce needs, foster philanthropic networking, and secure strategic collaborations.
• Partnerships & Workforce Integration: Cultivate deep, equity-centered partnerships with regional businesses, K-12 school district leadership, and community organizations. Design wraparound education-to-employment pathways that support diverse student populations, adult learners, workforce re-entry, and career pivoters.
• Personnel Supervision & Leadership: Hire, supervise, mentor, and evaluate program instructors. Foster a collaborative, high-performing team culture dedicated to learner success and programmatic excellence.
• Fiscal & Operations Management: Build, manage, and oversee the department's complex organizational budget. Ensure financial sustainability and growth through strategic resource allocation, revenue generation, financial analysis, and compliant transaction reporting.
• Alumni & Student Connections Partnership: Work in tandem with the Alumni & Student Connections team to expand and market opportunities for alumni learning and career development, as well as identify pathways for alumni to serve as advisors, volunteers and mentors.
• Cross-Campus Collaboration: Partner closely with existing PLU departments to maximize institutional resource sharing and promote lifelong learning opportunities.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Deep knowledge of adult learning principles as well as instructional design across face-to-face, hybrid, and fully online formats.
• Strong entrepreneurial mindset with the ability to identify emerging workforce trends and rapidly translate them into viable pilot programs or micro-credentials.
• Excellent interpersonal, written, and verbal communication skills to effectively collaborate with university faculty, staff, and external partners.
• Ability to utilize data and financial reporting to drive programmatic decisions.
• Excellent interpersonal, written, and verbal communication skills to effectively collaborate across academic divisions, university faculty, staff, and external executives during program development and hand-off phases.
• Highly organized and detail-oriented, with the ability to prioritize tasks, manage time effectively, meet deadlines, and delegate responsibility within a collaborative team.
• Proficiency with Google Suite, Microsoft Office (Word, Excel), and modern educational technologies/social media platforms to drive program recruitment and digital engagement.

Required Qualifications:

• Education: Bachelor's degree in Education, Higher Education Administration, Curriculum and Instruction, or a closely related discipline required.

• Leadership & Director Experience:

• Minimum of 3 years of experience in a Director or Executive Director role managing the strategic objectives and daily operations of an educational program or outreach organization.

• Proven track record of successfully recruiting, supervising, guiding, and managing staff and/or volunteers.

• Demonstrated experience providing organizational budget planning, execution, reconciliation, and financial oversight.

• Teaching Expertise:

• Experienced K-12 teacher and/or college-level instructor, including developing curriculum for and teaching to a diverse range of learners.

• Community Engagement & Equity Focus: Proven track record of working effectively within diverse student populations and community groups. Strong ability to interact with constituents across all stakeholder groups.

• Finalist applicants must satisfactorily complete pre-employment background checks.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Master's degree in Education, Higher Education Administrartion, Curriculum and Instruction, or a closely related discipline.
• Experience both teaching K-12 and college-level instruction.

Work Conditions: Physical Requirements: Special Instructions to Applicants: Other Information:

PLU is a small, private university where caring means more than kindness and consideration - it means a bold commitment to expanding well-being, opportunity, and justice. Because PLU is a community committed to the creation and advancement of knowledge through diversity and inclusion, the university actively recruits a diverse faculty, staff, and student body. PLU is an equal opportunity employer and welcomes applications from members of historically underrepresented and minoritized groups, women, veterans, persons with disabilities, and others who would bring broadly diverse perspectives, experiences, and backgrounds in educational, research or other work activities.

PLU offers an excellent benefits package including tuition remission for employees and their dependents, retirement plan, medical, dental, paid vacation and sick leave, major holidays off (including Christmas/New Year's break), additional flexible time off, and many other great university benefits. PLU is a qualifying employer under the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program as a 501(3) tax-exempt organization. Click here for detailed benefits information.

For general application questions or if you need accommodations at any point in the application and/or interview process, please contact the Human Resources Office at 253-535-7185 or humr@plu.edu.

Supplemental Questions

Required fields are indicated with an asterisk (*).

• • This position is only open to current PLU Faculty and Staff. I am a:

• Current PLU Faculty or Staff

• Student Employee

• None of the above

• • Do you have a Bachelor's degree?

• Yes

• No

• • Are you 18 years of age or older?

• Yes

• No

• • Are you legally eligible to work in the United States on your hire date AND legally authorized to work in the United States for Pacific Lutheran University without sponsorship now and indefinitely into the future?

• Yes

• No

Applicant Documents

Required Documents

• Cover Letter
• Resume

Optional Documents

• Curriculum Vitae
• Letter of Reference 1
• Letter of Reference 2
• Letter of Reference 3
• Teaching Philosophy
• List of Three References