Penn State Job Catalog

Additional levels that exist for this job profile can be seen below.
Missing levels within the leveling matrix can be added based on business need.

The defined natural career progression within or between job profiles.

Student Success

The Student Success Manager provides strategic leadership for student success initiatives, academic support programs, and retention efforts designed to enhance student learning, persistence, academic achievement, and graduation outcomes; directs the development, implementation, assessment, and continuous improvement of comprehensive student support services and collaborates with faculty, academic advisers, counselors, and campus partners to identify student needs and create effective interventions; designs and evaluates evidence-based academic support programs, develops best practices and operational procedures, and fosters partnerships across the University to advance student success goals; serves as a subject matter expert on student success strategies, learning support services, and retention initiatives, while supervising and developing professional staff responsible for delivering academic support programs and services.

• Direct the design, implementation, assessment, and continuous improvement of student success programs and services that promote academic achievement, retention, persistence, and graduation
• Develop strategic plans, goals, performance metrics, and assessment frameworks to evaluate program effectiveness and student outcomes
• Collaborate with faculty, academic advisers, counselors, and other student support professionals to identify academic support needs and develop targeted interventions
• Establish and maintain processes and procedures to identify, evaluate, and deliver academic support services aimed at improving student success
• Analyze assessment, retention, engagement, and academic performance data to identify trends, achievement gaps, and opportunities for program enhancement
• Champion student success initiatives, including learning communities, guided study groups, tutoring services, supplemental instruction, peer mentoring, and other academic support programs
• Design and oversee academic support programs and services that integrate pedagogical expertise, evidence-based learning strategies, and best practices in student development
• Collaborate with faculty and instructional teams to develop academic support models that align with curriculum and learning outcomes
• Establish goals, assessment measures, and reporting mechanisms to evaluate program effectiveness and inform decision-making
• Develop strategies and initiatives to increase student engagement, strengthen learning outcomes, and support diverse student populations
• Ensure programs and services are responsive to evolving student needs and institutional priorities
• Serve as a campus resource and subject matter expert on student success practices, learning support strategies, and student retention initiatives
• Consult with faculty, instructional teams, academic departments, and learning support professionals on effective interventions and student success approaches
• Develop and facilitate workshops, presentations, training programs, and professional development opportunities for faculty, staff, peer educators, and students
• Foster collaborative partnerships across academic and administrative units to advance student success goals and improve the student academic experience
• Develop and oversee assessment plans to measure program participation, student engagement, learning outcomes, retention, and academic success
• Manage, forecast, plan, monitor, and approve program budgets and expenditures; allocate resources effectively to support operational needs
• Lead, supervise, mentor, and develop professional and support staff responsible for delivering student success programs and services
• Establish performance expectations and accountability measures aligned with departmental and institutional goals
• Manage recruitment, hiring, onboarding, training, coaching, performance evaluation, and employee development activities
• May teach credit-bearing or non-credit courses, seminars, workshops, or special topics related to academic success, learning strategies, or student development

Level:

– Manager

Base Description:

– Manages direct reports where primary duty is the management of a working unit.

Level Summary:

– Demonstrates proficient ability in work design, project management, financial planning and development of goals for accomplishing unit assignments. Reviews and guides work to ensure conformity to policy and effective approaches. Evaluates employee performance and recommend development opportunities. Demonstrates ability to coach employees. Presents and communicates key university indicatives and connects it to unit contributions. Provides broad guidelines. Develops, evaluates, enhances, and/or implements quality improvement practices. Recommends innovative solutions.

Supervisory Responsibilities:

– Oversees a team (typically 4 or more; no fewer than 2) full
– time direct reports of individual contributors and/or first level supervisors.

Fiscal Responsibilities:

– Monitors and tracks department/area budget
– May plan, forecast, and/or assist in developing budgets
– May have final signature authority for specific area

Problem Solving:

– Encounters varied and complex problems
– Helps to develop creative and/or novel approaches to resolve problems that are difficult in nature but within limited scope
– Modifies, adapts, or refines guidelines if necessary to resolve issues or problems

Independence of Action:

– Works independently on complex or strategic assignments
– Uses existing practices and advanced working knowledge to determine appropriate work methods for the team
– Reviews completed work of others for conformity to policy, and effectiveness of approach
– Delegates advanced tasks to others

Communication and Collaboration:

– Communicates with both internal and external audiences
– Collaborates closely with team members and various areas across the University
– Prepares written and/or verbal presentations or proposals on complex issues and delivers to a broad variety of audiences
– Communicates key university initiatives and how unit’s work contributes to their achievement
– Presents ideas, concepts and instructions in a clear manner, and uses persuasion and negotiation to build consensus and cooperation
– Establishes and maintains networks to facilitate successful communication among units

• Comp Grade – 10
• Minimum – $65,508.00
• MidPoint – $80,244.00
• Maximum – $94,980.00

• Consulting
• Forecasting
• Mentoring
• Operations management
• Presentation Skills
• Program management
• Project Management
• Resource allocation
• Stakeholder engagement
• Teaching