Assistant Director of Graduate Training Administration

Universities of Wisconsin•Madison, WI

2d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Assistant Director of Graduate Training Administration provides strategic leadership and centralized operational oversight for graduate program administration within the Interdisciplinary Biological and Health Sciences Consortium (IBHSC). This role is responsible for supervising IBHSC graduate program managers, standardizing administrative processes, and ensuring consistent, equitable support for graduate students across IBHSC-affiliated programs. Working collaboratively with graduate program leadership, fiscal and HR units, and SMPH stakeholders as relevant, the Assistant Director of Graduate Training Administration streamlines core administrative workflows, improves communication channels, and supports sound fiscal and personnel practices. The position plays a critical role in ensuring operational excellence, compliance, and transparency while supporting the academic mission of the IBHSC and the broader academic and research training mission of the School of Medicine and Public Health (SMPH). The Assistant Director of Graduate Training Administration will unify program administration into a cohesive, collaborative, and high-functioning shared administrative model, while preserving the unique academic identities of individual programs. This position may require some work to be performed in-person, onsite, at a designated campus work location. Some work may be performed remotely, at an offsite, non-campus work location.

Requirements

3 years of professional experience in higher education administration, including oversight of graduate student services, academic program operations, or related administrative functions.
Experience supervising, mentoring, and/or developing students or staff.
Demonstrated experience leading process improvement or standardization initiatives, including developing administrative workflows, documentation, and operational best practices.
Excellent communication, organizational, and collaboration skills.
Ability to manage multiple priorities simultaneously and meet deadlines in a fast-paced environment.
Ability to manage complex operational and administrative processes.
Strategic planning and change management skills.

Nice To Haves

Experience supporting graduate education or graduate program administration
Experience with administrative processes related to graduate student appointments and funding
Experience collaborating effectively across faculty, administrative, HR, fiscal, and academic leadership groups
Experience with fiscal oversight and budget management

Responsibilities

Serves as the primary point of contact and expert resource for the Interdisciplinary Biological Health Sciences Consortium
Coordinates workshops for students to train them how to write and submit NIH, NSF, and private foundation fellowships
Supports the academic mission of the Interdisciplinary Biological Health Sciences Consortium by managing centralized graduate program functions
Helps develop processes and procedures to improve the unit
Ensures that related policies, procedures, and standards are maintained
Exercises supervisory authority, including hiring, transferring, suspending, promoting, managing conduct and performance, discharging, assigning, rewarding, disciplining, and/or approving hours worked of at least 2.0 full-time equivalent (FTE) employees
Evaluates, designs, and implements operations to align with the strategic direction
Engages in strategic planning and policies to ensure the strategic direction supports the needs of stakeholders
Assists with the establishment of goals and priorities for the annual budget for all revenues and expenditures