Vice President of Instruction Search

ACC has announced a national search for the College’s Vice President of Instruction is underway. We invite all highly qualified individuals to apply. The College is seeking a progressive, energetic leader who facilitates a highly collaborative work environment engaging other areas to implement and actualize improved equitable outcomes for students. This is an exciting opportunity for a successful individual to play a key leadership role in a dynamic, inclusive, innovative and responsive institution.

ACC is especially interested in considering applicants from historically marginalized populations (people of color, LGBTQ+ community members, veterans, first generation graduates, people with disabilities, etc.) and applicants who have experience engaging and supporting these populations.

About the College

In 1965, Arapahoe Junior College became the first 2-year college in the greater Denver area. Ever since, ACC has been the place of choice for students who want to Move Mountains. Known as Arapahoe Community College since 1970, ACC serves the South Metro Denver Area with campuses in Littleton and Castle Rock, as well as programs at DCSD Legacy Campus in Lone Tree. Each campus provides its unique community with academic supports that seriously focus on student success. Whether a student is in high school, just leaving high school, climbing their career ladder, or seeking new skills, they will find dedicated staff, committed professors, and top-notch facilities that will get them to their goals. ACC has true partnerships with 8 service area school districts, 4-year Colorado Colleges and Universities and community economic development teams. ACC currently educates more than 10,000 students and maintains the highest number of Concurrent Enrollment students in the State of Colorado. ACC is a part of the 13-institution Colorado Community College System (CCCS).

About the Community

Arapahoe Community College serves three unique communities and two counties in the South Metro Denver Area. The City of Littleton, in Arapahoe County, offers spectacular panoramic views of the Colorado Rockies. Littleton embodies a strong sense of community through its historic downtown, volunteerism, entrepreneurial spirit and numerous community events. Littleton’s vibrant art community is supported by ACC’s Colorado Gallery of the Arts and makes it the perfect location for ACC’s Art and Design Center with Fine Art, Design and Technology programs.

Thirty miles south of downtown Denver is the ACC Sturm Collaboration Campus in Douglas County. The county has been ranked as one of the friendliest, happiest, and healthiest in the nation with some of the lowest jobless rates. Castle Rock offers a small-town atmosphere, spectacular mountain scenery, and an historic downtown shopping district. The Sturm Collaboration Campus allows students to start college classes in ACC's Concurrent Enrollment Program, earn an ACC associate degree or certificate, a bachelor's degree from ACC or Colorado State University - Pueblo, or join with one of our community industry partners in an apprenticeship program all at one location in Castle Rock.

About the Position

The Vice President of Instruction (VPI) is the chief academic officer of the College and provides dynamic leadership and administrative oversight to the College's academic units and instructional support services. The VPI works collaboratively with faculty and staff to advance teaching and learning excellence as measured by post-completion outcomes with equity at the forefront. The VPI guides continuous improvement and innovation of transfer and CTE programs to meet the needs of diverse students and community partners on behalf of a multi-campus college.

Essential Duties of the VPI of INSTRUCTION include (but are not limited to):

Leadership & Collaboration – 45%

• Provides leadership, oversight and supervision to functional areas, meeting with deans and faculty on planning, budgets, and personnel; leads assessment by interacting directly with faculty across disciplines to understand their perspectives and identify exceptional teaching and learning practices.
• Advances teaching and assessment excellence by investing in targeted professional development, allocating resources strategically, and visibly recognizing exceptional pedagogy, while facilitating innovation in technology, multimodal approaches, and equity-minded instruction.
• Anticipates and embraces change in concert with faculty and instructional staff to promote College and System initiatives through transparent communication and timely decision-making; collaborates with the president/CEO and senior team to communicate the urgency and potential for advancing equitable student success.
• Collaborates with internal and external partners to leverage collective talents, skills, and assets in advancing the College's mission.
• Directly supervises academic deans to maintain educational standards and accreditation compliance.

Student Success – 30%

• Shares responsibility for student success by ensuring faculty engagement and collaboration with Student Affairs to align academic enterprises—including strategic scheduling, pathways to completion, and early alert initiatives—with student goals.
• Works collaboratively with faculty, Student Affairs, Workforce leaders, and Concurrent Enrollment partners to understand learner needs through data analysis and learner/advisor voices, informing course schedule design that serves students' complex lives.
• Implements retention and persistence strategies to improve success rates, creates seamless student pathways, and exceeds performance metrics by regularly using data and qualitative evidence to make program decisions, evaluate effectiveness, and communicate priorities.
• Ensures program design prepares students for careers and transfer by working closely with Workforce to support strong partnerships with regional employers and university transfer institutions. 

Program Administration & Evaluation – 25%

• Leads development of instruction and learning support programs; provides oversight to academic/transfer/CTE programs and assessment activities including accreditation compliance while championing learning assessment as a critical tool for faculty and disciplinary leaders to improve student learning at course, program, and college-wide levels.
• Develops and administers the instructional budget collaborating with others (within Instruction & other units) in developing financial strategy, budgets, and financial practices aligned to the college/university's Strategic Plan and increased student post-completion outcomes.  
• Administers continuous improvement in instruction and learning support through curriculum and program development, faculty professional development in equity-minded pedagogies, student learning assessment, and responsive programming based on community workforce demands. 

Other Functions

Every ACC faculty and staff member is expected to participate in the assessment process of the College, utilizing the results of the assessment for continuous institutional improvement.

Working Relationships

Reports to the ACC College President. Supervises instructional deans and an executive assistant. Will work with internal and external constituents and vendors, to include directors, students, staff, faculty, campus administrators, Colorado Community College System (CCCS) staff, and staff at other CCCS institutions.

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities

• Communication – Effectively communicates information verbally and in writing, tailoring messages to the audience and situation. Listens actively, interprets written and technical information accurately, and presents information in a clear, organized, and professional manner.
• Collaboration – Establishes and maintains productive working relationships, collaborates effectively with diverse stakeholders, shares knowledge and resources, and contributes to achieving common goals through teamwork, communication, and mutual accountability.
• Self-Management – Sets well-defined and realistic personal goals, displays a high level of initiative, effort, and commitment towards completing work in a timely manner, works with minimal supervision, is motivated to achieve, and demonstrates responsible behavior.
• Interpersonal Skills – Shows understanding, courtesy, tact, empathy, and concern, develops and maintains relationships, may deal with people who are difficult and/or distressed, relates well to people from varied backgrounds and situations, and is sensitive to individual differences.
• Budget & Financial Responsibility – Effectively manages budgets and financial resources by monitoring expenditures, maintaining fiscal accountability, analyzing financial data, and ensuring responsible use of funds in support of organizational objectives.
• Problem Solving and Reasoning – Identifies problems, determines accuracy and relevance of information, and uses sound judgment to generate and evaluate alternatives and to make recommendations. Identifies rules, principles, or relationships that explain facts, data, or other information, analyzes information, and makes correct inferences or draws accurate conclusions.
• Planning and Evaluating – Organizes work, sets priorities, determines resource requirements, determines short or long-term goals and strategies to achieve them, coordinates with other organizations or departments, monitors progress, and evaluates outcomes.
• Diversity – Is sensitive to cultural diversity, race, gender, and other individual differences in the workforce.
• Conflict Management – Manages and resolves conflicts, grievances, disagreements in a constructive manner to minimize negative impact.
• Integrity / Honesty – Contributes to maintaining the integrity of the organization, displays high standards of ethical conduct, understands the impact of violating these standards on an organization, self, and others, and is trustworthy.

Required Qualifications

• Earned Master's Degree from a regionally accredited college or university.
• Seven years of progressively responsible leadership/administrative/supervisory experience in higher education that includes the development, monitoring, and administration of budget.
• Experience developing, managing, and evaluating employees.   
• Demonstrated understanding and facilitation of teaching and learning working collaboratively with faculty and others with evidence of championing teaching excellence.
• Demonstrated ability to analyze and use data and qualitative evidence to inform decision-making, evaluate program effectiveness, and communicate institutional priorities.
• Experience fostering collaboration with and between multiple units to align academic enterprises with student goals.
• Demonstrated commitment working and serving diverse communities including, but not limited to, students from underserved and/or underrepresented backgrounds, adult learners, students of color, Veterans and first generation. 

Preferred Qualifications

• Progressively responsible leadership/administrative/supervisory experience in community colleges having served as a senior level director/dean that includes the development, monitoring, and administration of a budget inclusive of grants.   
• Experience using learning assessment as a tool for continuous improvement at course, program, and institutional levels, with demonstrated success engaging faculty in assessment practices.
• Demonstrated success collaborating with faculty, Student Affairs, and Workforce partners to understand student and community needs through data and stakeholder voices, resulting in responsive scheduling, program design, and pathways that prepare students for careers and transfer.
• Proven ability to collaborate across all levels—interacting directly with diverse faculty to understand perspectives and identify exceptional practices, while working with senior leadership to communicate the urgency and potential for advancing equitable student success.
• Experience leading and engaging others in instructional strategic planning, program review, and assessment initiatives to improve and advance student outcomes.
• Commitment to creating and fostering a college climate and culture of empathy, understanding and care for and with others. 

Salary Range

$157,746 - $178,920 DOE

Work Environment

Work is generally performed in a standard office environment. 

Physical & Cognitive Demands

• Occasionally moves, positions, and transport standard office supplies and equipment weighing up to 10 lbs.
• This is largely a sedentary role. This position operates in an office environment and constantly uses a computer, and routinely uses standard office equipment including phones, copiers, etc.
• The person in this position constantly communicates with internal and external constituents and students. Must be able to exchange accurate information in these situations.
• Cognitive demands include comparing, copying, computing, compiling, analyzing, coordinating, synthesizing, negotiating, communicating, instructing, and interpersonal skills.
• May require the ability to travel to and between any ACC campus locations.

Reasonable Accommodation Statement

Arapahoe Community College provides reasonable accommodations for applicants and employees with disabilities on a case-by-case basis. If you need a reasonable accommodation for any part of the application and hiring process and/or during the course of employment, please contact Angela Johnson, Vice President of Human Resources, at 303.797.5715 or angela [dot] johnson [at] arapahoe [dot] edu (angela[dot]johnson[at]arapahoe[dot]edu). 

Equity Statement

We welcome and value the identities and experiences of our students, staff, faculty, and surrounding communities. We seek to engage and support historically marginalized groups whom higher education has traditionally failed to serve. We work to foster an equitable and inclusive learning and work environment that supports our students and employees through professional development, programming, reflection, and transformational change of ACC practices, procedures, services, and teaching. We collectively commit to holding ourselves accountable to our equity goals through assessing these efforts with multiple strategies that include voices of those impacted by this work.

EOE Statement

The Colorado Community College System believes when all human qualities are regarded with dignity and respect and when everyone has access to the individualized support they need, all will have the opportunity to thrive. In all aspects of the employment process, decisions are made based on merit, competence, performance and business need without regard to race, color, religion, sex, disability, age, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, pregnancy, creed, ancestry, national origin, marital status, genetic information, military status, or any other protected status in accordance with applicable law.

This is a confidential search process. To ensure full consideration, application materials should be received no later than August 16, 2026. The position will remain open until filled.

To apply, visit our Jobs page and upload your documents.

Candidates will need to have the following information or materials available to complete the application:

1. Resume
2. Detailed letter of interest (cover letter) addressing the job announcement. Please include any experiences you may have embedding equity and inclusion in your work.
   1. At ACC, we seek to hire candidates who are committed to fostering respectful, welcoming, and supportive environments for all individuals. In your cover letter, please describe how you have worked to create such environments in your current or previous roles, and share what this commitment means to you in your professional practice. Finalists may be required to submit unofficial transcripts.

Apply Now

For additional information, nominations or confidential inquiries please contact:

Miranda Wayne
ACC Talent Acquisition Partner
Human Resources
303.734.3709
miranda [dot] wayne [at] arapahoe [dot] edu

Notice to all Applicants

• Final candidate will be subject to successful completion of a background check, and, if applicable, a motor vehicle record review.
• Former employees of the Colorado Community College System, or one of its 13 colleges, who were disciplinarily terminated or resigned in lieu of termination, must disclose this information in their application material.
• Final candidate may be required to submit unofficial transcripts to verify education.
• Direct deposit of payroll is a condition of employment.
• All ACC employees, except student employees, contribute to Colorado PERA at a fixed percentage of their earnings and do not contribute to Social Security.
• Finalist must be willing to make Colorado their primary workplace.

• August 16, 2026: Deadline to apply
• August 31 - mid-September, 2026: Search Committee will review applications
• October 2, 2026: Semi-finalist interviews with Search Committee
• October 15 and 16, 2026: Finalist in-person interviews and public forums
• January 4, 2027: Preferred start date (negotiable)

Members of the Vice President of Instruction Search Committee:

• Angela Johnson, Vice President of Human Resources
• Terry Harrison, Biology Faculty / Faculty Senate President
• Veronica Chavez, Humanities Department Chair and faculty
• Kimberly Hawkins, Administrative Assistant III, Math and Sciences
• Pamela Thompson, Interim Vice President of Instruction
• Amy Nave, Director, Center for Innovation in Teaching & Learning (CITL)
• Shao Yeung, Dean of Workforce & Community Programs
• Brandon Tinker, Director of Facilities Operations
• Sarah Homer, Senior Campus Navigator at Sturm Collaboration Campus
• Sam Haynes, Associate Vice President of Student Affairs

Arapahoe Community College, founded in 1965 as Arapahoe Junior College, was the first 2-year college in the greater Denver metro area. The college grew out of a grassroots effort by Littleton residents who wanted to provide post-high school education in the area. In addition to the campus in Littleton, ACC has a campus in Castle Rock and offers concurrent enrollment (high school) programs and adult career and technical pathways at DSCD's Legacy Campus in Lone Tree. 

Student Demographics

Student Demographics: provides information for the most recent Fall term student demographics - ethnicity/race, full-/part-time number, student type, average age, gender, and degree status for Arapahoe Community College.

Fall 2025 Student Demographics

Ethnicity of Our Students

*Note: These categories represent the federal (IPEDS) race / ethnicity definitions.

Full- / Part-Time Status

*Note: Full-time is 12 or more credits per semester.

Student Type

Average Age of ACC Students

Gender of Our Students

Degree Seeking Status of ACC Students

*Students who were not concurrent enrollment / high school students

*Note: Percents do not add to 100% because degree type of Degree-Seeking Students is also detailed.

First-Generation ACC Students

*Note: First generation is when the student's parent or parents do not have a Bachelor's degree.