Associate Professor/Program Director, Physician Assistant Program

Mission Driven, Community Focused About | Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science (cdrewu.edu)

Charles R. Drew University is located in the Watts-Willowbrook area of south Los Angeles and was founded in 1966 in the wake of the Watts uprising. CDU was founded to address inadequate medical care in the region and to provide equitable medical education opportunities for under-represented students.

CDU offers the only historically black Doctor of Medicine program west of the Mississippi and is strongly invested in the local and regional community. The university leads multiple partnerships and programs to provide equitable healthcare resources in a variety of south Los Angeles neighborhoods.

Position Summary

The Program Director of the Master of Science Physician Assistant (PA) Program provides academic, administrative, and strategic leadership for the program.

Reporting to the Dean of the College of Science and Health, the Program Director is responsible for the organization, administration, fiscal management, continuous programmatic review and analysis, communication, and ongoing adherence to the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant (ARC-PA) Standards and policies. The Program Director works collaboratively with program faculty and institutional leadership to advance the program mission, goals, and competencies; ensure the quality and effectiveness of the curriculum; support student achievement; oversee faculty and staff; maintain appropriate academic and clinical resources; and promote continuous program improvement.

The Program Director is assigned to the PA Program on a 12-month, 1.0 FTE, full-time basis, with at least 50% of the position devoted to administrative responsibilities for the program, consistent with current ARC-PA requirements.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Provide overall leadership for program organization, administration, planning, development, implementation, and continuous improvement.
• Working with program faculty, develop, review, and revise the program mission statement, goals, and competencies as necessary.
• Ensure ongoing adherence to ARC-PA Standards and policies and applicable University and College policies and procedures.
• Lead and manage accreditation activities, including required applications, reports, self-studies, responses, documentation, accreditation reviews, and site visits.
• Provide fiscal leadership for the program, including development, monitoring, and management of the program budget and resources.
• Lead continuous programmatic review and analysis and ensure assessment data are collected, retained, analyzed, and used to evaluate program effectiveness and guide continuous quality improvement.
• Provide effective communication among program faculty, staff, students, College and University leadership, clinical partners, preceptors, and other stakeholders.
• Design, implement, coordinate, evaluate, and continuously improve the didactic and clinical curriculum in collaboration with program faculty.
• Ensure student learning outcomes, program competencies, instructional methods, and assessment processes are current, appropriately aligned, and regularly evaluated.
• Oversee development, review, and implementation of PA Program policies, procedures, student handbooks, clinical education materials, and preceptor resources.
• Oversee standards and processes for student recruitment, admission, selection, progression, retention, and graduation; participate in applicant selection.
• Participate in student instruction and evaluation and ensure appropriate academic counseling, advising, and availability of remedial instruction.
• Ensure appropriate written, practical, and clinical assessment methods are used to evaluate student performance and readiness for progression and graduation.
• Oversee clinical education to ensure adequate supervised clinical practice experiences, clinical sites, preceptors, monitoring, and evaluation processes.
• Supervise all individuals serving in the roles of medical director, principal faculty, instructional faculty, and program staff in activities directly related to the PA Program.
• Participate in the recruitment, hiring, onboarding, development, evaluation, and retention of faculty and staff; assign responsibilities and monitor workloads in accordance with institutional policy and program needs.
• Promote faculty development, effective teaching, scholarship, service, professional growth, and engagement in program evaluation and improvement.
• Serve as a faculty member with responsibilities for teaching, scholarship, service, and other academic activities consistent with the faculty appointment.
• Maintain current knowledge of PA education, contemporary PA practice, accreditation expectations, and relevant laws and regulations.
• Develop plans for acquisition of external funds and other resources that support and enhance the program mission, when appropriate.
• Perform other duties consistent with the responsibilities of the Program Director and as assigned by the Dean.

Supervisory Actions

• Supervise faculty and staff assigned to the PA Program, including activities directly related to the program performed by the medical director, principal faculty, instructional faculty, and staff.
• Assign and schedule work activities and responsibilities.
• Monitor workloads, performance, and completion of assigned responsibilities.
• Review and evaluate work and provide performance counseling and coaching.
• Participate in recruitment, hiring, onboarding, retention, and development of employees.
• Address performance concerns and disciplinary matters in accordance with University policies.
• Recommend personnel actions, including promotion, salary actions, and other employment actions as appropriate.
• Plan, evaluate, and document employee performance.

Faculty Responsibilities

• Maintains teaching load as assigned.
• Participates in scholarship and professional development.
• Serves on university committees as assigned.

Maintains Faculty Responsibilities

• Participates in research and scholarly writing.
• Member of the Nursing Program and College Committees as assigned.
• Mentors junior-level faculty as assigned.
• Consults with the curriculum committee on curriculum development and modifications.

Other Duties and Responsibilities

• Performs other related duties as assigned.

Education and Professional Qualifications

• Graduate degree from an institutionally accredited institution required; earned doctoral degree preferred.
• Graduate of an accredited Physician Assistant/Associate educational program.
• Must be a Physician Assistant/Associate who holds current or emeritus National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA) certification status.
• Current California Physician Assistant licensure or eligibility for California licensure, when required for assigned clinical responsibilities.
• Eligibility for an academic appointment and privileges comparable to other faculty with similar academic responsibilities within the University.

Experience

• At least three (3) years of full-time higher education experience at the time of appointment is required.
• Demonstrated leadership and administrative experience in higher education, preferably in PA or health professions education.
• Experience in curriculum development, student assessment, program evaluation, and continuous quality improvement.
• Experience with accreditation and regulatory compliance; direct experience with ARC-PA accreditation processes strongly preferred.
• Experience supervising faculty and/or professional staff preferred.
• Demonstrated clinical experience as a practicing PA; recent clinical practice experience preferred.
• Previous service as a PA Program Director, Associate Program Director, Academic Director, Clinical Director, or comparable PA education leadership role preferred.

Knowledge/Ability/Skills

• Comprehensive knowledge of PA education, program planning, curriculum development, administration, assessment, and fiscal management.
• Knowledge of current ARC-PA Standards, policies, accreditation processes, and expectations for continuous compliance.
• Knowledge of programmatic assessment, data analysis, student outcomes assessment, and continuous quality improvement.
• Knowledge of contemporary PA practice, professional standards, applicable PA practice laws and regulations, and health professions education.
• Demonstrated leadership, management, supervisory, organizational, analytical, planning, and problem-solving skills.
• Excellent written, verbal, interpersonal, and presentation skills with the ability to communicate effectively with diverse internal and external constituencies.
• Ability to prioritize multiple responsibilities, meet deadlines, maintain accurate records, and lead complex accreditation and academic processes.
• Demonstrated instructional effectiveness and ability to support faculty development and student learning.
• Ability to foster a collaborative, respectful, student-centered academic environment and work effectively with a diverse community.

Physical Demands

• Physical demands are representative of those required to perform the essential functions of this position. Reasonable accommodations may be made for qualified individuals with disabilities.
• Work may require sitting, standing, walking, reaching, speaking, hearing, seeing near and far, and use of a computer and other standard office equipment.

Work Environment

• Position is on-site unless specific authorization from the manager
• Work is performed in academic, office, laboratory, simulation, and clinical education environments, as applicable to assigned responsibilities.
• Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of the position.

Mental Deman