Assistant Director of Student Services New Student Experience

South College•Nashville, TN

About The Position

South College is seeking an Assistant Director of Student Services New Student Experience to join the Institutional Student Services team! This position reports to the Executive Student Services leadership and provides institutional leadership for all aspects of the New Student Experience. The role is responsible for strengthening and supporting new student campus practices, including online orientation, Welcome Sessions, and the South Ambassadors program. The position ensures consistent, high-quality communication, materials, and student support across campuses and modalities. Through collaboration, data review, and continuous program evaluation, this role identifies opportunities to enhance new student engagement, connection, and readiness, ultimately improving first-term student success.

Requirements

Bachelor’s Degree required (Education, Organizational Leadership, Psychology, Communications, or related field preferred).
Three to five years of experience in student services, student affairs, onboarding, first-year experience, or student success roles required.
Demonstrated experience managing cross-departmental initiatives or committees.
Strong communication and facilitation across students, staff, and cross-departmental partners.
Effective project and time management, with the ability to coordinate multiple initiatives and deadlines.
Collaboration and relationship-building with campus leadership and institutional departments.
Data-informed decision making, using engagement metrics and survey results to guide improvements.
Training and coaching skills to support campuses in implementing consistent new-student practices.
Adaptability and problem-solving, with a student-centered and detail-oriented approach.

Nice To Haves

Master’s Degree preferred (Higher Education, Student Affairs, etc. preferred).
Experience leading or developing orientation, first-year experience, or new-student programs strongly preferred.
Experience with LMS platforms, online module creation, or process improvement preferred.

Responsibilities

Provide institutional leadership for the New Student Experience, ensuring a consistent, engaging, and supportive onboarding process for all incoming students across campuses and modalities.
Co-chair the South College Orientation Committee, guiding agendas, timelines, decisions, and implementation follow-up.
Lead the redesign, maintenance, and continuous improvement of the required online Student Orientation, coordinating updates with IDT, General Education, Student Affairs, Career Services, Marketing, and IT.
Oversee onboarding communication flows, including orientation messaging, welcome communications, reminders, and transition programming.
Serve as an institutional facilitator for the online orientation experience, engaging with new students through communication and support.
Ensure orientation content remains accurate, compliant, and aligned with academic and student-support expectations, including timely campus-specific updates.
Engage with students, identifying questions, concerns, and needs, referring them to appropriate resources.
Develop institutionally consistent materials, templates, toolkits, and training resources to support Welcome Sessions, new student communications, and transition programming.
Partner with Directors of Student Services, ADOSS, and campus leadership to ensure local new student practices align with institutional standards.
Provide consultation and training campus staff on new student acclimation strategies and workflows.
Provide institutional oversight for the South Ambassadors mentoring program, including branding, expectations, participation tracking, training, and recognition.
Coach campuses on program implementation to ensure consistent, meaningful peer engagement.
Evaluate program outcomes and recommend enhancements.
Oversee collection and analysis of data related to orientation progression, Welcome Session participation, Ambassador engagement, and student support needs.
Assess student needs through interactions during orientation, mentoring, Welcome Sessions, and communications.
Analyze new-student survey data to identify trends, satisfaction indicators, and improvement opportunities.
Provide leadership with insights and recommendations to improve new student acclimation, support services, and first-term success.
Maintain documentation, templates, and communication workflows.
Travel up to 25–35% as needed to support campus Welcome Sessions, new student events, training, and initiatives.