Position Purpose

The Carnegie Foundation is looking for an Associate to establish, cultivate, and provide strategic and operational leadership and support to the Foundation’s Postsecondary Consortium. This Consortium aims to increase recognition, support, and advocacy for new modalities of secondary learning, as well as tools, experiences and pathways that capture  competency and validate learning that occurs beyond the classroom. The Consortium will be hosted by the Foundation and include stakeholders such as students, presidents, trustees, deans of admissions, and higher education professional associations and organizations.

Essential Responsibilities

Strategic development, planning, and execution (20%)

• Co-create and implement a vision and strategy for the Postsecondary Consortium in support of the Carnegie’s Center for Postsecondary Innovation, other portfolio areas, and broader organizational mission

Convening Design & Execution (20%)

• Design and execute convenings and other professional learning events (virtually, in-person, hybrid), in close collaboration with Carnegie colleagues and external partners
• Provide technical expertise on convening design for diverse audiences, institutions, and modalities, including ideas for relevant activity structures that seek to achieve specific and measurable outcomes
• Develop, maintain, and update an archive of convening designs and materials such as facilitator guides, PPT presentations, curriculum, templates, and other resources
• Gather and analyze data from convenings to inform future event designs and other improvements

Field building (20%)

• Support the development of and testing of scalable tools and resources that enable students to demonstrate a broader range of competencies and coursework beyond test-scores and Carnegie-unit transcripts
• Continuously learn about innovative approaches and frameworks to helping underrepresented learners acquire postsecondary credentials and access upwardly mobile careers
• Design and develop a research agenda as well as knowledge products to inform the broader field (e.g., playbooks, journal articles, blogs)

Community Engagement  (20%)

• Develop a postsecondary market and increase demand for new, community- and experiential-based models of secondary learning
• Foster district, school, and university support for post-Carnegie unit learning ecosystems
• Cultivate and facilitate a strong community of postsecondary leaders and stakeholders that result in collaborative learning, support, and problem solving
• Coach partners on their use of continuous improvement and innovation methods to solve local and equity-related problems of practice
• Support the process of initiating and developing professional learning and networked improvement communities to mobilize collective action that achieves shared aims

Contribute to the vision and success of the Center and Foundation (20%)

• Broker access to resources that help advance the work of the Center and Foundation
• Contribute to the Center’s and Foundation’s ongoing strategy development
• Collaborate with other Foundation staff to help realize the vision and mission of the Foundation

Required Education & Experience

• Bachelor’s degree required
• Master’s degree or doctorate preferred in Education/Higher Education, the social sciences, or relevant field

Required Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs)

• Demonstrated passion and commitment to the Carnegie Foundation’s vision, mission, and values
• Commitment to and experience leading efforts and strategies focused on educational equity, including those that promote the postsecondary success and socioeconomic mobility of underrepresented students
• 5+ years of experience in postsecondary education, including experience working collaborative with diverse stakeholders from a variety of institutions, including K-12 systems, to address challenges facing students’ postsecondary access, persistence, and completion
• Demonstrated ability to
  • lead projects with multiple work streams to success
  • set goals and priorities, facilitate decisions, and manage people and resources effectively
  • foster productive team dynamics and be able to work in highly collaborative and interdependent teams
  • switch between work that requires high-level strategic thinking, and work that is more focused in logistics, operations, and execution
• Experience in
  • applying adult learning theory to build the capacity of professionals to lead, innovate, and collaborate
  • designing and facilitating productive workshops, large group convenings, as well as smaller task forces and workgroups
  • fostering community and collaboration among organizations and individuals from different sectors working on shared problems
• Strong quantitative and qualitative analytic skills
• Demonstrates superb communication and presentation skills, both verbal and written
• Excellent listening skills with a capacity to take feedback to continuously improve
• A lively, curious, and creative intellect
• Exceptional decision-making abilities, tenacity, passion for excellence, and attention to detail
• Consistently finds and promotes joy in the work

When applying, please be prepared to respond to the inquiries below.

• Why are you interested in this position at the Carnegie Foundation at this time in your career?
• Specifically, which experiences in your work history make you a leading candidate for this position?
• We are looking for someone with an ability to lead large, complex projects to success by setting goals and priorities, facilitating decisions, and managing people and resources effectively. How have you demonstrated these abilities in your past work? What would you identify as your growth areas?
• Describe an example of how you have fostered community and collaboration among organizations and/or individuals from diverse sectors in your work.

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