Join The Wright Institute Team
Position Title: Director of Student Affairs
Department: Clinical program
FLSA Status: Exempt/Full-Time
Reports to: Program Director
Location: 2728 Durant Ave., Berkeley - In-person
Compensation: $145-165K
Revision Date: July 8, 2025
This job description is not a contract of employment and its provisions are not intended to imply a contractual relationship. It does not alter your at-will employment relationship with The Wright Institute.
While this position is currently open for applications, the review of resumes will begin in approximately 6–8 weeks. We appreciate your interest and patience as we complete internal planning and timelines. All applicants will be contacted once the review process begins.
Position Summary
The Director of Student Affairs leads efforts to support student success through developing and managing institute support services by developing and managing institute support services. This role helps create a welcoming and effective learning environment that promotes academic success, professional growth, and emotional resilience. The Director of Student Affairs manages student support services (except the Office of Accessible Education), including mentoring, the writing center, supporting student leadership, and coordinates referrals for additional support. The Director of Student Affairs also coordinates student-student conflict resolution and collaborates around faculty-student conflict resolution. This position is responsible for developing campus wide training, collaborating on student programming, and helping students engage in the program. This position is centered around providing support to students in order to assist them to meet the program requirements, develop as highly competent, self-reflective, ethical, and culturally humble psychologists-in-training, while upholding the standards established by the faculty and the APA Commission on Accreditation. In addition, this position acts as a liaison to advise faculty and staff on student concerns, needs, and emerging issues. The Director of Student Affairs meets with individual students to support professional development, research development, provide letters of support and other issues as needed. When necessary, the Director of Student Affairs works with the program director and other relevant administrators to develop, implement, and monitor developmental and remediation plans. This position reports to the Clinical Program Director.
ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES include the following. Other duties may be assigned.
- Leadership
- Serves as a key member of the Clinical Program leadership team, contributing to strategic planning initiatives that enhance student services and align with institutional and accreditation standards.
- Advises faculty and administration on student trends, emerging needs, and concerns that impact student engagement, wellbeing, and academic progress.
- Collaborates with faculty and administration to develop and implement student-centered policies, procedures, and systems that support professional and academic success.
- Participates in decision-making processes regarding student probation, dismissal, and other accountability measures, ensuring alignment with program expectations and ethical standards.
- Partners with the Program Director and other administrators to ensure student support services meet APA Commission on Accreditation expectations and contribute to the development of competent, ethical, and culturally responsive psychologists-in-training.
- Assists the Program Director with additional duties as assigned.
- Student Support
- Oversees student support services (except for the Office of Accessible Education) including mentoring, the writing center, student affiliation groups, and student led programming. Manages student support service staff.
- Advises faculty and other administrators on matters related to student success, engagement, and wellbeing.
- Works with students to understand and implement student perspectives on what leads to student academic success, engagement, and wellbeing in the school and to develop their own competencies in the program., including professional development, ethical conduct, etc.
- Supports conflict resolution for students (i.e., student-student, faculty-student).
- Ensures quality of student support services by tracking key metrics and improving resources and systems of support.
- Develops and supports programming, events, workshops and student groups designed to create a campus environment that supports student success, belonging, development, and learning.
- Communicates resources, opportunities, events, and information to the student body.
- Provides feedback, information, and concerns to the Institute to address the needs of the student body.
- Provides leadership to the institute in responding to local, national and international events that may impact students.
- Identifies and develops resources for faculty and other administrators that help support student success, engagement, and wellbeing.
- Guides students in navigating policies, procedures, and resources in response to issues impacting their studies including interpersonal difficulties, physical and behavioral health issues, immigration/international student concerns, and professional conduct.
- Collaborates closely with Program Director and Director of Academic Affairs to advise on and make determinations about student needs, disciplinary concerns, and academic or clinical problems.
- May develop and monitor developmental plans for students, including hosting growth meetings with students.
- If needed, works with the program director and other administrators to develop, implement, and monitor remediation plans for students.
- Maintain relationships with local individuals and organizations that may provide students with resources (e.g. local housing organizations, psychotherapy and coaching providers, public resources through UC Berkeley, libraries and so on).
- Participate in decisions about probation, dismissal, or other accountability action with respect to a student.
- Process Oversight
- Provide case management support, including supporting and monitoring students with informal developmental or formal remediation plans, to students facing barriers to being successful in the Clinical Program.
- Collaborate with and keep other administrators informed about matters brought by students that are relevant to their roles.
- Provide support to student members of governance committees and the annual election process.
- Manage conflict resolution (student-student, faculty-student), and develop and manage programs to prevent such conflicts.
- Provide support to student groups.
- Attend some meetings of the Diversity Committee, Case Conference Leaders, and other key groups as needed in order to understand the needs of the students.
- Attends Executive and Steering Committee meetings to report on how student needs are being addressed, and participates in other committees, as needed.
- Meet with the lead faculty of multi-section classes regularly to discuss student support concerns.
- Stay abreast of new directions in the field of student affairs, especially in relation to students from under-represented groups, and translate new knowledge into improved services for recruitment, retention and graduation.
- Manage conflict resolution and student conduct processes, including DEI complaints or concerns.
- Policy & Document Responsibilities
- Collaborates on strategic planning efforts to align student services with institutional goals and ensures compliance with accreditation standards and reporting requirements.
- Develop and manage policies and procedures related to student support.
- Maintain documentation of student concerns.
- Maintain relevant websites, calendars, postings, and/or portal pages.
- Develop policy as needed for staff supervision.
COMPETENCIES AND SKILLS
- Effectively manage sensitive, complex, and stressful situations.
- Skilled at conflict resolution, event management, workshop facilitation, supervision.
- Prioritize duties when faced with interruptions, distractions, and fluctuating workload.
- Work collaboratively across multiple constituencies to establish rapport and trust, facilitate teamwork, and build consensus.
- Promote diversity, equity, and inclusion and understand the complexity of intersectionality.
- Ability in problem identification, reasoning, ability to develop original ideas to solve problems in a fast-moving environment, and persuasion.
- Use motivational interviewing/enhancement and solution focused techniques to engage students in conversations about change and help students build coping and self-regulation skills.
- Set and enforce limits and engage in difficult conversations.
- Work independently and collaboratively to make administrative decisions.
- Evaluate strategies, recommend changes, and analyze results.
- Write concise reports and progress notes.
- Organizational and planning skills with the ability to prioritize workload.
- Analytical skills with the ability to analyze complex issues and provide recommendations.
- Interpersonal skills with ability to work collaboratively with others, foster a team environment and be adaptable to change.
- Employ excellent verbal and written communication skills.
- Intermediate to advanced skills in Microsoft Office Suite and Google Suite.
QUALIFICATIONS
- Doctoral degree in psychology.
- 5+ years of progressively responsible experience in higher education (working with students, developing curriculum, developing academic policies and procedures, familiarity with accessible education, etc.).
- Prior leadership experience in an academic setting, particularly within Student Affairs or Student Services.
- An equivalent combination of education and experience may be considered.
PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS
The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.
Physical requirements include the ability to lift and reach for light objects with or without assistance (up to 20lbs); close visual acuity to prepare and analyze data, text, and figures; ability to do computer work: ability to travel to outside locations; ability to communicate and exchange information; ability to move about the office to access file cabinets and office equipment; and the ability to remain stationary and work at a computer for extended periods of time as a primary job function. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate.
Application
Please submit the full application, a CV, and letter of interest using the form below.
Questions may be sent to hr@wi.edu. References will be requested upon invitation to interview.