Program Officer, I&E Education & Curriculum Design

About The Role:

Are you experienced in developing and managing immersive learning experiences in the fields of STEM Innovation and Entrepreneurship (I E)? Are you passionate about enhancing inclusive innovation ecosystems with institutions of higher education, industry and government? Do you want to join a dynamic and growing Higher Education Innovation Ecosystems department? If so, VentureWell has an exciting opportunity for you.

The Program Officer (PO) is responsible for designing and managing immersive learning experiences to support the organization’s growth in higher education ecosystem development. By facilitating learning models for higher education administrators, faculty, industry professionals, and I E researchers, this role will be critical in enhancing the knowledge, skills, abilities, and competencies of ecosystem leaders to advance Research Development translation and STEM entrepreneurship, innovation, and commercialization in regions across the country. The candidate will have demonstrated experience and passion for broadening STEM Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Commercialization pathways.

This position will join the Higher Education Innovation Ecosystems Team, which is responsible for collaborating and interfacing with ecosystem leaders (universities, innovation practitioners, workforce developers, investors, and federal agencies) to drive equitable and inclusive innovative ecosystems.

At VentureWell, we strive to advance the impact of regional partnership networks by supporting higher education institutions as catalysts for innovation ecosystems and innovative training strategies are key to addressing these goals. Candidates should have a proven track record in STEM Innovation, Entrepreneurship Commercialization professional development, including delivering and overseeing the execution of customized training models, conducting needs assessments and designing STEM Innovation Entrepreneurship focused curricula and learning materials to address audience needs. We value staff members who are curious, and have experience working with Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs).

The Program Officer reports directly to the Director, Higher Education Ecosystems, and is expected to travel about 25% of the time.

Responsibilities:

Program Administration (50% of time)

Serves as an internal subject matter expert in the field of instructional design; designs, develops, and delivers, a wide range of STEM Innovation, Entrepreneurship, Commercialization, Ecosystem Development curricula and training programs to create customized learning solutions that are aligned with VentureWell’s strategy

Leads the development and management of immersive experiences such as STEM Innovation Entrepreneurship Communities of Practice, customized trainings/workshops and convenings

Manages the logistics successful program implementation of activities and programs

Attend conferences and meetings to serve on panels and/or present insights, strategies, and best practices to various audiences

Leverages experiences and knowledge to coordinate, develop and implement new and existing delivery methods and synthesize lessons learned to improve learning outcomes

Incorporate social learning principles into programs to support the diffusion of ideas and best practices

Defines competency models and skills frameworks for various audiences in higher education, industry and government by translating Invention, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship content into easy-to-understand learning objectives and materials

Provides recommendations to support continuous improvement and organizational learning

Implements defined program objectives, using domain experience to deliver programming – including group conversation facilitation, presenting and teaching directly in a “front of classroom” role, and one-on-one engagements with participants (e.g. students, faculty, professionals, etc.)

Collaboration Project Management (40% of time)

Actively participates in internal (and external) collaboration and communication to ensure program success through use of project management tools and practices including project kick-off and ongoing management

Contributes in collaboration and partnerships with external subject matter experts, consultants and vendors

Designs, plans and facilitates effective meetings

Prepares and syntheses written material and reports to funders

Departmental Collaboration and Relationship Management (10% of time)

Gathers and synthesizes critical information and builds strategies for project expansion and/or new project development

Contributes to program design, evolution and renewals through provision of content for and authorship of reports to funders

Relationship Management (5% of time)

Identifies new strategies to engage IHEs into programming with a focus on assessing the unique training needs of these audiences

Maintains relationships with university leadership and faculty to understand institutional goals, prior…