Native American Center Director

Compensation:

$73,000/annual

Compensation Type:

Exempt

Employment Type:

Regular

Scheduled Weekly Hours:

40

Grade:

E12

Department:

Position Summary

The Native American Center Director is the key representative responsible for fostering internal and external relationships with Tribal governments and nations in New Mexico. This role's primary functions include intergovernmental management, community engagement, research, writing, project management, policy analysis, special events coordination, and public presentations.

The ideal candidate will exhibit confidence in establishing and defining this role. The leader in this position will be able to build, maintain, and nurture existing and new relationships with the community and staff at all levels and with other agencies. This position requires a strategic thinker who is not only collaborative but also approachable, responsive, and trustworthy.

Duties & Responsibilities

• Provide overall direction and leadership for the Native American Center, including cultural events and activities, student advising, tutoring, student club advisement, collaborating with campus partners, and retention strategies.
• Provide programs and activities facilitating student success, personal wellness, and leadership opportunities across campus.
• Contribute to the college’s recruitment and retention efforts to reach potential high school students and tribal community members within the Eight Northern Pueblos in our service area and beyond, including the Southern Pueblos, the Jicarilla Apache Reservation, and the Navajo Nation. This includes creating support and student development programs for the successful matriculation of Native American students.
• Serve as a college liaison with Native American communities and organizations, especially area tribal Directors/Coordinators of Education.
• Collaborate with students, colleagues, alumni, and tribal community members to develop and implement cultural events.
• Serve as the staff advisor to the Native American Student Organization (AISO).
• Serve as an advisor to the Administration, faculty, and staff regarding emerging issues, trends, incident response, and best practices regarding Native American tribal cultural activities.
• Maintain the collaboration between NNMC and the tribal entities to ensure the continuity of the tuition waiver and other services as identified.
• Maintain Native American student scholarship listings.
• Perform other duties as assigned.

MINIMUM JOB REQUIREMENTS:

• Bachelor’s Degree from an accredited institution of higher education.
• Minimum of two(2) years of working with Native Americans/Alaska Natives in some capacity of outreach, advocacy, recruitment, retention, advising, programming, education, or other competencies that indicate transferable skills for this position.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Master’s Degree from an accredited institution of higher education.
• Two (2) years of working with Native American/Alaska Native student programs in a collegiate setting.
• Two (2) years of experience in supervision.
• Experience working in direct outreach with one or more tribal communities.
• Experience with the operations of a Native American Center on a college campus.
• Experience designing and implementing recruitment, retention, transition, and cultural programs for Native American/Alaska Native students and others.
• Experience successfully interacting with tribal communities.
• Knowledge and understanding of the critical elements of Inter Local Agreements, including but not limited to Memos of  Understanding (MOUs). 
• Experience working with multiple agencies, including tribal, municipal, county, state, federal, and non-profit.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILL, and ABILITIES:

• Ability to communicate effectively, both orally and in writing.
• Ability to collect, analyze, and interpret qualitative and quantitative data.

Ability to prepare, manage, and oversee budgets.

• Professional experience in program development and assessment.
• Demonstrated success in grant writing for external funding.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS:

The physical demands described here represent those that must be met by the employee to perform the essential functions of this job successfully. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to stand, sit; talk, hear, and use hands and fingers to operate computer and telephone equipment
• Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision requirements due to computer work
• Light to moderate lifting is required

WORK ENVIRONMENT:

The work environment characteristics described here represent those that an employee can expect while performing the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential functions.

• Moderate noise (i.e., business office with computers, phones, printers, and light traffic).
• Ability to sit at a computer terminal for an extended period.

Best consideration date: June 20, 2025

APPLICATION PROCEDURE:A complete application must include 1) a letter of interest, 2) a resume, 3) a copy of unofficial transcripts conferring the required and preferred degree, and 4) names, addresses, and phone numbers of three professional references.

Required application materials should be uploaded to the "Resume Drop Box" of the application.

Candidates who are invited for interviews will be required to submit official transcripts.

References will be contacted in conjunction with interviews. 

EEO STATEMENT: NNMC is an equal opportunity employer.