The Director of Community Engagement is the primary contact for community service and service-learning initiatives at the university.  This position collaborates with students, faculty, staff, and community partners to coordinate service opportunities that enhance student learning and develop leadership opportunities that support and align with the Samford mission to positively impact the community.

The Director of Community Engagement reports to the Vice President of Student Affairs and provides oversight, management, and leadership for the strategic and intentional efforts to engage with the community. This position selects, trains, and supervises a coordinator, as well as various student and employee teams involved in service learning, collaboration, and partnerships on and off campus.  This position will work closely with departments in the division of Student Affairs, student organizations, faculty, and staff to achieve the goals of the programs.

The Director of Community Engagement is responsible for strategic planning, budget management, and developing a strategic plan for community engagement. This position requires the ability to collaborate with employees, external partners, and constituents to provide meaningful programs for students and employees, and strategic opportunities for involvement with the community in multiple ways, all of which support the Christian mission of the university.

Community Partnerships

• Develop, track, manage and cultivate authentic and intentional relationships with community partners and constituents in the local and regional area, on behalf of the university. These relationships should align Samford resources, especially students and employees, with local community needs. 

Student Programming

• Collaborate with student affairs to advise student leaders and organizations, to coordinate ongoing and one-time service opportunities.  These could include roles of serving as advisors for PACT (Partners Acting in the Community Today), Samford’s student-run service organization, which coordinates the university’s community engagement initiatives through local partnerships; developing and planning service learning and service programs, including Samford Gives Back, cadres, service-learning partnerships, and community-based initiatives.

Academic Support

• Collaborate with faculty to develop, support, promote, assess, and sustain the integration of service-learning initiatives in all colleges and schools.
• Determine appropriate academic partnerships on campus to provide educational and enrichment opportunities for service-learning activities such as lecturers, speakers, training, events, and programs.

Assessment and Strategic Planning

• Develop strategies, goals, and initiatives complementary to the university's Strategic Plan for reaching institutional goals related to community engagement.
• Develop and implement a framework for assessing and improving outcomes for community partners, students, and employees participating in programs. 
• Determine appropriate measures for enhancing and supporting the Samford brand, including national reports and assessment instruments.

Marketing

• Communicate service initiatives and opportunities to various stakeholders and constituencies, internal and external, including current students, prospective students and families, faculty, staff, alumni, and community partners through the website, social media, email, and print media.

• Master’s degree.
• At least four years' experience in planning and coordinating community service and/or service-learning partnerships and programs.
• Appreciation for and support of Samford’s Christian mission as central to a premier community engagement program.
• Experience working with external constituents to assess opportunities for collaboration and programming.

• Doctoral degree in higher education leadership, or the equivalent, with five years' progressive employment experience with university-community engagement, community service, and developing and/or implementing service-learning courses. 
• Experience in the assessment of learning outcomes, strategic planning, and implementing program objectives.
• Experience with the Carnegie Classification for Community Engagement process, through the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.