Assistant Director, Rice Emerging Scholar Program

Rice University•Houston, TX

2d•Onsite

About The Position

The Assistant Director of the Rice Emerging Scholars Program (RESP) helps plan, deliver, and assess a comprehensive summer program for incoming first-year STEM students. The position coordinates non-classroom elements of the summer program and leads advising, training, and supervision for upper-class students serving as RESP Student Fellows. During the academic year, the Assistant Director serves as the primary advisor to RESP Scholars and collaborates with other Assistant Directors to provide academic and student-transition support throughout students’ time at Rice. The role advises approximately 65 scholars and provides sustained, individualized, holistic, developmentally appropriate coaching to support their academic, social, leadership, and interpersonal development. This is a full-time, exclusively on-site position at Rice University. The stated annual hiring range is $60,000–$65,000, contingent on qualifications and experience. The position is exempt from overtime under the FLSA.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree.
At least 2 years of experience providing student support in a college or university setting; additional related education beyond the required degree may substitute on an equivalent year-for-year basis.
Knowledge of student-development, learning, and identity-development theories, and professional experience applying these frameworks.
Ability to solve problems and advise or support students experiencing personal and/or academic challenges.
Strong communication and relationship-building skills, including experience collaborating with faculty, staff, students, families, and administrators.
Ability to multitask and manage multiple projects with competing deadlines.
Understanding of students’ experiences in transition and strategies that facilitate their success.
Experience and comfort working with diverse student populations, including first-generation college students, low-income students, and underrepresented student groups.
Strong coaching, instructional, and organizational skills, attention to detail, and ability to quickly assess the effectiveness of interventions.

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree, preferably in college student personnel, counseling, student affairs, or a related field.
Familiarity with student-transition issues, particularly in highly selective academic environments.
Experience with social media platforms and website management.
Experience working with new or first-year student populations.
Experience working with underrepresented student populations, particularly in STEM disciplines.
Experience in event planning and execution.
Experience providing academic support, leadership development, and program development.
Experience advising and supporting students with complex and diverse needs.
Experience using proactive and intrusive advising strategies.
Experience supporting student-success and undergraduate-retention initiatives.
Experience working with faculty.
Experience in a fast-paced, results-oriented environment.
Strong interpersonal communication skills and ability to build rapport and sustain relationships with students.

Responsibilities

Assist with planning, execution, and assessment of all components of the RESP summer program for incoming first-year STEM students.
Coordinate all elements of the summer program outside the classroom.
Advise, train, and supervise upper-class students serving as RESP Student Fellows.
Serve as the primary academic-year advisor to RESP Scholars and collaborate with other Assistant Directors to provide academic and student-transition support.
Identify and advise approximately 65 RESP Scholars, providing sustained, individualized, holistic, developmentally appropriate coaching for academic, social, leadership, and interpersonal development.
Help first- and second-year students develop road maps for university success, using strategies to support goal identification and implementation.
Monitor student academic performance and progress toward graduation; prepare reports and maintain student records as needed.
Keep current with best practices in proactive and holistic advising, student-success coaching, and higher education/student affairs, and integrate them into advising practices.
Help develop student-success interventions, workshops, and other programs that facilitate the transition to college.
Develop training programs to educate student leaders, faculty, and staff about the populations served and strategies for supporting successful student transitions.
Collaborate with residential college Magisters, Wellbeing Services, academic departments, Campus Life departments, and other campus resources to ensure comprehensive student support.
Provide support as needed for Student Success Office initiatives, including New Families Orientation, Orientation Week, marketing through social media and the website, and programming for first-generation and low-income students.
Perform other duties as assigned.