Academic Coach

Universities of Wisconsin•River Falls, WI

About The Position

The TRIO Student Support Services (SSS) Academic Coach helps program participants develop the skills needed to earn a bachelor’s degree. The coach maintains a caseload of approximately 70 participants, providing individual academic guidance through ongoing monitoring, evaluation, and reporting of academic progress; appropriate interventions; and referrals to on- and off-campus support services. The role supports the daily delivery of SSS services, maintains participant records, and helps plan, organize, implement, and coordinate academic success courses and events or workshops on topics such as financial literacy, career exploration and development, and graduate school. The Academic Coach ensures participants meet SSS grant requirements for active program involvement; maintains database records; collects and synthesizes participant data; and contributes to regular reports on student outcomes, including Annual Performance Reports to the U.S. Department of Education. The position supports and coaches SSS scholars in learning and practicing academic skills to succeed and graduate from UW-River Falls, while working with scholars and campus partners to incorporate high-impact practices into SSS programming and events. The position reports to the Project Director for SSS.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Education, Social Work, Psychology, Communications, or a related field.
Excellent verbal and written communication, interpersonal, and organizational skills.
Significant experience working with students at academic risk, limited-income students, first-generation students, and students with disabilities.
Experience planning and facilitating events or workshops.

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree in Education, Student Affairs, Counseling, or a related field.
Significant experience in student assessment and creating individualized academic plans to support academic achievement.
At least two years of work experience in an educational setting.
Experience in data analysis, specifically student success metrics and outcomes.
Knowledge of and experience with Microsoft suite products, Navigate, and PeopleSoft platforms, as well as familiarity with database management, spreadsheets, and forms generation.

Responsibilities

Provide academic advising, mentoring, proactive advising, and overall support to a caseload of approximately 70 SSS participants.
Monitor, plan, and facilitate student success plans and academic progress.
Plan and implement courses, workshops, academic and social programming, panel discussions, program orientations, financial literacy activities, student development opportunities, and educational and career opportunities.
Collect, maintain, and analyze participant data to support institutional reporting and assist the Program Director with Annual Performance Reports to the U.S. Department of Education.
Serve on relevant university-wide committees and build partnerships across campus.
Supervise and mentor SSS student workers.
Attend role-related professional development, including state, regional, or national conferences and training as required.
May assist with FAFSA completion and/or provide financial aid and scholarship information.
Maintain accurate student records, including contact logs, case notes, and files.
Partner with academic advisors, faculty, staff, students, and administrative personnel to track analytics and identify risk indicators that support data-informed retention and transfer strategies.
Follow the established plan of operation, curriculum, process policy, program procedures, and applicable federal regulations.
Communicate with students, assist them, and monitor their progress.
Recommend improvements to retention efforts and advocate for campus-wide retention initiatives.
Refer participants to appropriate campus resources.